The Work and Role of Extracurricular Clubs in Fostering Student Creativity

Abstract

Extracurricular activities play an important role in the educational process as they provide students with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and develop various skills, meet their creative needs and acquire the culture of free time. They also provide space for a closer relationship between the club coordinators and students, for students’ spontaneous behaviour, and freedom in organizing and performing activities. Such activities abandon the traditional teacher-centred teaching what makes them conducive for fostering student creativity. The purpose of this research was to determine the role of literary, poetry recitation, drama, journalist (radio) and film clubs in fostering the student creativity. First, by reviewing the 2014/2015 curricula of primary and secondary schools in Osijek (Croatia), the paper identifies: (1) the types of clubs that are active in the schools, (2) the most common types of clubs and (3) their representation in Osijek primary and secondary schools. Then, based on informational semi-structured interviews and active observation, the work of 21 extracurricular clubs related to Croatian language and literature teaching is described and analysed in an attempt to determine to which extent the clubs influence the literary, poetry recitation, drama, journalist and film related creative work of students. The research revealed that clubs in the focus of research were very popular in primary and secondary schools in Osijek, especially literary, poetry recitation, drama and journalist clubs. More importantly, it was shown that they do foster student creativity which was confirmed by the concrete examples in practice, i.e. students’ creative results.