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Title
Author(s)
Opportunities and challenges for nurturing creativity in Hong

Kong's international school students : students' and teachers'
perspectives
Hulland, Dawn Louise
Citation
Issued Date
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Rights
2015
http://hdl.handle.net/10722/223649
Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License
Nurturing Creativity
Opportunities and challenges for nurturing creativity in Hong Kongs

international school students: Students and teachers perspectives
by
HULLAND Dawn Louise
(2013883528)
A dissertation submitted for the degree of Master of Education

in the Faculty of Education
at the University of Hong Kong
June 2015
II
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this dissertation represents my own work and that it has not been
previously submitted to this university or any other institution for admission to a
degree, diploma, or other qualifications.
________________________
Dawn Louise HULLAND
June 2015
III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Mantak Yuen, for his
commitment, support, and professional guidance for the duration of my study. His
knowledge, patience, and advice have been motivational in enabling me to
complete my study to the best of my abilities. Additionally, I would like to thank
Ms Fang Lue for her time, assistance, and expertise in statistical data analysis.
I would also like to thank the Head of School, parents, teachers, and students who
participated in this research. Recognition for the initial motivation for embarking
upon my Master of Education course is given to Mr. Grant Ramsay and Mr. Ian
Hunt, for encouraging me to pursue this study.
Finally, the support, love, and belief of Mr. Nicholas Prynn, my family, and friends
have been invaluable in encouraging me to persevere with my study. As a result of
this Master of Education program I have expanded and deepened my knowledge
as a classroom practitioner, facilitator of creativity, and lifelong learner.
IV
Abstract
There is a wealth of research in the field of creativity in education. It has been
suggested that students and teachers backgrounds may affect their perceptions of
creativity, their creativity styles, and in how they develop as creative learners. The
purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of creativity in students and teachers
at an international school in Hong Kong. The differences in creativity styles between
gender and grade were also explored. Demographic data was collected from 130
students from Year 4, Year 5, and Year 6, who participated in questionnaires regarding
their opinions of their creativity styles. The Total Scale, the Creativity Capacity
Subscale, Use of Other People Subscale, Environmental Control/Self-Regulation
Subscale of the Children version of the Creative Styles Questionnaire demonstrated
satisfactory reliability. 18 of these students took part in further group interviews. Nine
teachers from Kindergarten, Primary, and Secondary campuses were interviewed
individually, and commented on how they develop creativity through their teaching
styles. Findings from the study showed that there are differences in boys and girls
Use of Techniques, and Year 5 students perceive themselves to be more creative than
students from Year 4 and Year 6. Interview data highlighted commonalities and themes
between the teachers across campuses, and in students learning preferences.
Implications of the findings for teaching and learning at the case school, and for future
research are discussed.
Keywords: creativity; creativity styles; culture; international school
Table of Content
Page
Declaration
II
Acknowledgement
III
Abstract
IV
Table of Content
List of Figures
IX
List of Tables
List of Appendices
XI
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1
Background of the Study
1.2
Research Aims and Questions
1.3
Contributions and Limitations
1.4
Definitions of Terms
1.5
1.4.1 Creativity
1.4.2 Creativity Learning
1.4.3 Creativity Fostering Practices
1.4.4 Creativity Styles
1.4.5 Culture
1.4.6 International School
Summary
10
Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1
Definitions and Concepts of Creativity
11
2.2
Theories of Creativity
13
2.3
Nature and Characteristics of Creativity
19
2.4.
Creativity Styles
23
2.5
Gender Differences in Creativity
24
2.6
Grade Differences in Creativity
24
2.7
The Relationship Between Creativity and Culture
25
2.8
Creativity, Teaching, and Learning
26
VI
2.9
Students Creativity Learning
28
2.10
Teachers Creativity Fostering Practices
29
2.11
Summary
29
Chapter 3 Method
3.1
Research Design
30
3.2
The Sample School
31
3.3
Research Ethics
31
3.4
Participants
3.5
3.4.1 Students
32
3.4.2 Teachers
32
Instrumentation
3.5.1 Children version of the Creative Styles Questionnaire (CSQ-C)
33
3.5.2 Student Focus Group Interview Guide
35
3.5.3 Teacher Individual Interview Guide
38
3.6
Procedures
40
3.7
Analysis of Data
3.8
3.7.1 Quantitative Statistical Analyses
40
3.7.2 Qualitative Coding Analyses
40
Summary
41
Chapter 4 Findings of the Student Survey

4.1
Introduction
43
4.2.
Samples Demographic Characteristics
43
4.3
Students Creativity Styles
45
4.3.1
Creativity and Gender
50
4.3.2
Creativity and Grade
51
4.4
Summary of Findings
52
Chapter 5 Findings of the Interview Study

5.1
Introduction
53
5.2
Student Interviews
53
5.3
5.4
VII
5.2.1 Year 4 Students
58
60
62
Teacher Interviews
64
5.3.1 Kindergarten (Early Years)
69
5.3.2 Primary
71
5.3.3 Secondary
74
Summary of Findings
75
Chapter 6 Discussion
6.1
RQ 1) What are the creativity styles profiles of the students?
79
6.2
RQ 2) Are there differences in the creativity styles between
79
boys and girls?

6.3
RQ 3) Are there differences in the creativity styles among Year 4,
80
Year 5 and Year 6 students?

6.4
RQ 4) From the students perspective, what are the personal and
80
environmental factors that appear to influence students creativity

learning in the classroom?
6.5
RQ 5) From the teachers perspective, what are the personal and
80
environmental factors that appear to influence teachers creativityfostering practices in the classroom?
6.6
Culture and Creativity
81
6.7
Creativity in an International School
81
6.8
Creativity in Hong Kong
83
6.9
Creativity in Asia
84
6.10
Global Creativity
85
6.11
Limitations and Future Study
86
6.12
Practical Implications for Teachers and Administrators in
87
VIII
International Schools
6.13
Concluding Remarks
88
Chapter 7 Conclusion
7.1
7.2
Implications
7.1.1
For the School
91
7.1.2
For Creative Learners
92
Evaluation of the Research Methodology

7.2.1
Strengths of the Research Methodology
94
7.2.2
Limitations of the Research Methodology
95
7.3
Future Research Directions
95
7.4
Conclusion
96
References
98
Appendices
109
IX
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1
Systems Approach Model of Creativity, (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996)
16
Figure 2
Componential Model of Creativity, (Amabile, 1996)
17
Figure 3
Investment Model of Creativity, (Sternberg & Lubart, 1999)
17
Figure 4
Comparison between teachers who have received training on
23
Creativity and those who have not, (Joint Research Centre, 2010)
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 3.1
Semi-structured interview questions and probes used in
35
student focus group interviews

Table 3.2
Semi-structured interview questions and probes used in
38
individual teacher interviews

Table 3.3
Summary of methodology
41
Table 4.1
Student and family characteristics
44
Table 4.2
Frequency of student nationalities
44
Table 4.3
Students creativity styles
47
Table 4.4
Descriptive statistics and reliabilities of the Creativity
49
Styles Questionnaire (Short Form)

Table 4.5
Gender differences in creativity styles
50
Table 4.6
Grade differences in creativity styles
51
Table 5.1
Characteristics of Year 4 interview focus group students
58
Table 5.2
Characteristics of Year 5 Interview Focus Group students
60
Table 5.3
Characteristics of Year 6 interview focus group students
63
Table 5.4
Characteristics of individual teachers
65
Table 5.5
Summary of student and teacher interview responses
75
XI
LIST of APPENDICES
Page
Appendix 1
Ethical Approval Letter
109
Appendix 2
Permission letter from Professor V. K. Kumar
110
Appendix 3
Creativity Styles Questionnaire-Revised
112
(Kumar & Holman, 1997)

Appendix 4
Creativity Styles Questionnaire-Children
118
Appendix 5
Informed Consent Form for School Principal
121
Appendix 6
Informed Consent Form for Parents
123
Appendix 7
Informed Consent Form for Students
125
Appendix 8
Informed Consent Form for Teachers
127
Appendix 9
Semi-Structured Interview Questions Students
129
Appendix 10
Semi-Structured Interview Questions Teachers
131
Appendix 11
Transcription of Year 5 Student Focus Group Interview
133
Appendix 12
Transcription of Teacher D Interview
143
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study

A hot topic in education (and in business) in recent years is how best to encourage the growth
and application of creativity. Governments are always on the lookout for new ways of fostering
creativity in students by the effective delivery of appropriate curricula. However, in recent
months the UK Conservative government has looked to Mainland China as a source of
inspiration for improving the teaching and learning of mathematicsdue to the impressive
results obtained by Asian students in international surveys of mathematics attainment. Some
educators now fear that this Asian model of instruction will result in a return to 'chalk and talk'
methods in UK classrooms, instead of encouraging a more creative, collaborative style.
Robinson (2006) has even suggested that despite all children being naturally creative, they have
the creativity educated out of them by inappropriate methods at school, and later through lack
of incentives in society and in the workplace. Are teaching methods the reason that so many
students fail to reach their creative potential, or do children simply become less creative with
age? Can educators nurture creativity in all students regardless of curriculum subject, gender or
cultural background?
Creativity is a difficult area of research. Studies can be lengthy and it doesn't lend itself to more
traditional scientific methods of study and analysis (Kaufman & Sternberg, 2006). Schools
should encourage and cultivate the natural curiosity of children and not try to mold their young
minds in just one particular way. This attitude can be contrasted with education given in eastern
1
cultures like China where the main goal of teachers is to mold children to become responsible
members of the society (Biggs, 1996). While this type of education allows children to develop
mastery of basic skills, a lack of self-directed learning hinders their potential to be creative
(Amabile, 1983).
There was little creativity research until 1980 in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and
Singapore (Niu, 2006), with research has tending to focus on intelligence and giftedness. Only
two relevant masters theses were completed on the topic between 1956 and 1979. The 1980s saw
a boom in creativity research in all regions of the Chinese society. In Chinese-speaking
countries, therefore, a push to make society and its people more creative is evident, although
there are differences between countries. In China, creativity is viewed as an essential element of
giftedness.
Will educators have more freedom to use their own creative and professional skills, thus
promoting creative teaching and learning? "We live in a fast moving world. While employers
continue to demand high academic standards, they also now want more. They want people who
can adapt, see connections, innovate, communicate and work with others. This is true in many
areas of work. The new knowledge-based economies in particular will increasingly depend on
these abilities. Many businesses are paying for courses to promote creative abilities, to teach the
skills and attitudes that are now essential for economic success but which our education system
is not designed to promote" (NACCCE, 1999). Creativity is once again at the forefront of
educational psychology and pedagogy.
Guilford (1950) challenged psychologists to pay attention to what he believed to be a neglected

area of psychology: he reported that less than 0.2% of Psychological Abstracts entries up to 1950
focused on creativity (Lubart & Sternberg, 1999).
"In the last 50 years researchers have extolled the virtues of creativity regarding the intellectual,
educational and talent development of children" (Guilford, 1950; Renzulli, 1994; Torrance,
1962).
Creativity has become a key issue in education, (NACCCE, 1999) as new challenges are faced in
the twenty-first century. "Education throughout the world faces unprecedented challenges:
economic, technological, social and personal. Policy-makers everywhere emphasize the urgent
need to develop 'human resources', and in particular to promote creativity, adaptability and better
powers of communication" (NACCCE, 1999).
Nussbaum (2013) argued that creativity is an undervalued skill that anyone can cultivate,
believing everyone is born with a creative capacity, which can often not be nurtured in school.
Instead, she argued, it has to be relearnt.
Japanese and Chinese governments have begun to make methodical changes to their education
systems by bringing the issue of creativity to the forefront of their thinking into educational
policy. Similiarly, the UNESCO Observatory for Research in Local Culture and Creativity in
Education (RLCCE) was established in 2011 under the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts
and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
1.2 Research Aims and Questions

The methodology for investigating creativity has shifted since the 1990s, from large-scale studies
aiming to measure creativity towards how culture affects creativity and qualitative approaches
into social and cultural values and practices. There was an increase in research into creativity in
education in the latter part of the twentieth century. The focus of such research included the
conceptualising of creativity, the exploration of how creativity could be fostered and maintained,
and domain-specific creativity such as in information technology (Craft, 2005). The focus of
creativity research in Chinese societies focused on creativity and intelligence from the 1970s to
the mid-1990s. The National Cooperative Research Group for the Study of Supernormal Gifted
Children in China (NCRGSCC) undertook studies of children with high intelligence.
This study will explore the opportunities and challenges for nurturing creativity in students
attending an international school in Hong Kong, using data obtained from the teachers and
students perspectives. The aims of the study are:
1) To examine students and teachers perceptions of creativity.
2) To explore the possible gender and age differences in students perceptions of creativity and
in their creativty styles.
3) To explore how creativity can be nurtured in learning and teaching in the case school.
The research questions of the study are:
RQ 1) What are the creativity styles profiles of the students?
RQ 2) Are there differences in the creativity styles between boys and girls?
RQ 3) Are there differences in the creativity styles among Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 students?
RQ 4) From the students perspectives, what are the personal and environmental factors that
appear to influence students creativity learning in the classroom?
RQ 5) From the teachers perspectives, what are the personal and environmental factors that
appear to influence teachers creativity fostering practices in the classroom?
1.3 Contributions and Limitations

Whilst much has been written about creativity in education, there is still a pedagogical need for
more recent methodological contributions. The findings from this study will not only broaden my
own statistical and theoretical understandings, moreover they will contribute to the vision and
development strategy of my own teaching and learning practices.
It is anticipated that results from this research will be shared with participants (and my MEd
peers, some of whom are also educators in Hong Kong), as well as a paper to be submitted later
to a referred journal. In the case school, there have been recent changes due to a large number of
new staff and a new Head of School. This is an opportune time to use the findings from the study
to help with the strategic development and innovation in the current curriculum. It should ensure
that encouraging students creativity is given due attention in the vision and philosophy of the
school. Practical suggestions will also be made for teaching methods and approaches that can be
integrated into the school programme to foster creativity in all students. The research findings
can also provide students, educators, and parents with an insight into the importance of creativity
in teaching and learning, and thus inspire all key parties to unlock not only the creativity in
students, but also their own creativity.
Constraints of this study will be the small sample of teachers interviewed, in comparison with the
much larger student sample.
1.4 Definitions of Terms

1.4.1 Creativity
What makes this area of study so interesting is that there is no general consensus as to how
creativity can be defined. Whilst most definitions have included novelty and appropriateness as
key elements, more recent theories (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996; Amabile, 1996; Sternberg &
Lubart, 1999) present creativity as an interaction of several elements. (These models are
explored in more detail in the Literature Review). Research has shown some differences between
the Chinese and American interpretations of creativity. "Westerners emphasize more sense of
humour and aesthetic taste, whereas Chinese people tend to emphasize social influences, such as
being influential to others and contributing to the progress of society" (Sternberg, 2006).
Jausovec (1994) expanded the view of creativity beyond that of a cognitive aptitude, to
requiring motivation and interest thus affective by mood and personal propensity - in a social,
supportive, and collaborative setting.
In this study, creativity is deemed to be activities that move away from simplistic tasks and rote
learning. It is an essential higher order thinking skill (Bloom, 1956).
Sternberg (2012) defined creativity as a habit, an acquired behaviour pattern. According to his
investment theory, creativity is in large part a decision, suggesting that it can be developed. The
most common definition of creativity is that it is something both novel and useful (Sternberg &
Lubart, 1999). Nussbaum (2013) viewed creativity as a cognitive process of looking for patterns
6
and where connections are made. Its not a light bulb that goes off in your head. Before that
light bulb goes off, lots of things are happening. Lots of ideas. We need time to step back and
make connections between those things. We need to stop being hyperconnected and deliberately
take a moment to be mindful about what were doing."
1.4.2 Creativity Learning

Creativity is a teachable skill, utilizing cognitive and non-cognitive skills: problem-solving,
intuition, and curiosity are examples of these. The emphasis from Big C creativity the
innovation of Apples Steve Jobs to small c, everyday creativity has meant a shift in
pedagogical thinking and practice. Creativity is now at the forefront of many national
educational reforms, particularly in Asia.
1.4.3 Creativity Fostering Practices

Schools can encourage creativity in various ways, from curriculum design and questioning
techniques, to the way students are grouped and the classroom ethos. The interests and needs of
the students should be at the heart of any program of study. A balanced combination of
declarative knowledge (concepts, terminology, and facts) and procedural knowledge
(metacognition, inquiry, and reasoning) is vital in ensuring students can develop creativity across
all learning domains.
1.4.4 Creativity Styles

Kirton (1976) believed that every individual possesses certain cognitive and behavioural
characteristics, which play a role in their creativity styles. Kirton believed that creativity style
7
and creative ability and should be separated. This supported Torrances (1961) examination of
divergent thinking and the ability to generate creative ideas. In order to develop students
creative ability, teachers need to examine their learning styles. This will assist them in
understanding the methods and techniques that will work best with students in different learning
contexts.
1.4.5 Culture
In its broadest sense, culture is used as a label to identify some type of belonging to a group,
such as nation or an ethnic group (ODell, De Abreu, & OToole, 2004). Culture may be defined
as the set of ideas, behaviours, attitudes, and traditions that can exist within large groups of
people, in a social, religious, or family group. These ideas, behaviours and traditions, etc. are
passed on from one generation to the next and can be resistant to change over time. Tylor, (1871)
offered this definition: Culture or Civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that
complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Vygotskys theory defined a
process of enculturation how cultural ideas and practices that are located outside a person
become internalized into the persons mind and body through his or her participation in
meaningful (i.e., authentic) cultural activities using psychological tools. (1978).
1.4.6 International School

There has been an explosive growth in the international school market over the past decade;
globally, the number of international schools has more than doubled. In 2014, 345 new schools
were added to the thousands of international schools worldwide. ISC Research, a UK-based
8
organization dedicated to analyzing, researching and tracking developments in the international

school market, calculates that there are currently over 2.8 million students enrolled in
international schools around the world (Nagrath, 2015).
There is a dynamic international school sector in Hong Kong, currently with around 50
international schools offering non-Chinese curricula. These schools provide instruction mainly
for the large number of foreign nationals but also for Hong Kong Chinese families who wish
their children to receive a broader education. (Hong Kong Education Bureau, (2012). A transient
and multinational teacher and student population is a key feature of international school
education.
The case school is a large international school in Hong Kong. It is a unique international school
in that the majority of the students live in the local community. This means that most students are
able to walk to and from school with friends and family in a safe, secure, and happy
environment. Currently there are approximately 960 students on three campuses: Kindergarten,
Primary, Secondary, from nursery to Year 11. These students represent at least 41 different
nationalities. Teachers are recruited internationally, with the largest proportion being from the
UK, and also from Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. The National Curriculum of the UK
is followed, alongside the International Primary Curriculum, Mandarin, and intervention
programmes such as Read, Write, Inc.
1.5 Summary
The most recent research into creativity in education has tended to highlight gifted and talented
students, and the relationship between creativity and intelligence. In this study the aim is to
examine the perceptions of creativity from students and teachers in an international school in
Hong Kong. Future study could compare these findings with the perceptions of students and
teachers in similar schools outside of Hong Kong and in government schools in the United
Kingdom. Exisiting research has not delved deeply into the differences between Asian and
Western learners in terms of perceptions of creativity. In Wang & Greenwoods 2013 study, 100
Chinese undergraduate students were surveyed and results found that their generally perceived
themselves to be less creative than students from Western backgrounds.
This introductory chapter provides an outline of the study into perceptions of creativity: the
background, methods, contributions and limitations. It also provides clear definitions of key
terms creativity, creativity learning, creativity fostering practices, creativity styles, culture,
and international school used throughout this study.
Chapter Two will present a literature review of relevant research and theories into creativity and
culture, with particular emphasis on pedagogical contributions to creative thinking in teaching
and learning in Asian and Western learners.
10
Chapter 2 Literature Review
This chapter will examine the relevance of a number of eminent twentieth century creativity
theories and researches upon twenty-first century education. Different areas of research into the
relationship between creativity and culture will be discussed, with their implications for how
educators can best cultivate creativity for themselves and their students, regardless of, or taking
into consideration the cultures of their students.
2.1 Definitions and Concepts of Creativity

In past decades, creativity in education has tended to be assessed in terms of divergent thinking
tasks, where students repeatedly answer a question, generating a different response each time
(Mottweiler & Taylor, 2014). Creativity is associated with generating original ideas, being
flexible adaptable to new situations, and fluency and divergency of thinking, and creative
teachers and students are able to transfer knowledge between different domains, highlighting the
much researched area of creativity and intelligence (Morais & Azevedo, 2011). However, Silvia
et al. (2008) argued that divergent thinking tasks can be unreliable measurements of creativity, as
responses deemed to be unique can over-inflate creativity scores.
There are various definitions of creativity. Sternberg (2012) defined creativity as a habit, an
acquired behaviour pattern. According to his investment theory, creativity is in large part a
decision, suggesting that it can be developed. "Simply requesting that students be more creative
can render them more creative if they believe that the decision to be creative will be rewarded
rather than punished" (O'Hara & Sternberg, 2000-2001). Although creativity is an intrinsic part
11
of any understanding of human educational psychology, it was rarely explored in the last few
decades of the twentieth century. Was this due to the difficulty in defining creativity? Was
creativity viewed as a rarity, found only in the 'masters' of the arts - Picasso, Mozart, et al.? As
long ago as 1950 Guilford challenged psychologists to pay attention to what he believed to be a
neglected area of psychology, reporting that less than 0.2% of Psychological Abstracts entries up
to 1950 focused on creativity (Lubart & Sternberg, 1999). However, creativity is once again at
the forefront of educational psychology and pedagogy. The most common definition of creativity
is that it is something both novel and useful (Sternberg &Lubart, 1999). "To be truly creative
there must be some inherent utility in the product, whether it be for aesthetic consumption, to fill
a technological need, or to push our understanding of nature forward" (Haier & Jung, 2008). "In
the last 50 years researchers have extolled the virtues of creativity regarding the intellectual,
educational and talent development of children"(Guilford, 1950; Renzulli, 1994; Torrance,
1962). Creativity has become a key issue in education, (NACCCE, 1999) as new challenges are
faced in the twenty-first century. "Education throughout the world faces unprecedented
challenges: economic, technological, social and personal. Policy-makers everywhere emphasize
the urgent need to develop 'human resources', and in particular to promote creativity, adaptability
and better powers of communication"(NACCCE, 1999). The Hong Kong Curriculum
Development Council defined creativity as "the ability to generate original ideas and solve
problems appropriate to the contexts" (CDC, 2001).
12
2.2 Theories of Creativity

One of the earliest theories of creativity, penned in 1926 in Wallas' The Art of Thought, outlined
four stages of the creative thinking process: preparation, incubation, illumination and
verification. These phases are set within an assimilation of conscious and unconscious work.
Preparation: part research, part planning, this is where an issue or idea is observed, defined and
investigated;
Incubation: unconscious processing and the divergence of negative and positive elements;
Illumination: a flash of insight; the moment when a new idea finally emerges or clicks;
Verification: testing the validity of the idea.
This model suggested that creative and analytical thinking are complementary.
Sternberg (2000) identified a confluence of six creative resources:
* redefining problems and comparing information
* knowledge
* thinking styles
* personality
* motivation
* environment
with the three "knowledge-acquisition components of processes" of selective encoding, selective
combination and selective comparison used in learning, which he believed to be the bases of
"insightful thinking." He argued that human abilities + giftedness = successful intelligence rather
than IQ. In his view, schools value students with strong memory recall skills and tend to
13
disregard those with strong creative and practical abilities "testing methods need to change.
One-size fits all teaching is a poor fit for most students" (Sternberg, 2000). This is echoed by
Gardner's (1991) view that education needs to be individualized and the critical importance of
teachers knowing their students and the six developmental pathways:
* physical
* psycho-emotional
* social-interactive
* cognitive-intellectual
* speech and language
* moral
Are these pathways understood well enough to establish a more individual and personalized
curriculum for all students? In the PIFS (Practical Intelligence for School) Project, which was a
collaboration between Harvard Project Zero and Yale University, students were encouraged to
personalize their education and take more responsibility for their learning (Krechevsky & Seidel,
1998). Such exposure to a way of learning is at the heart of the Enrichment Studies curriculum at
the case international school. Enquiry-based learning projects are designed, planned, and
delivered for all 5-11 year old students in the primary school. Twice a year, students are
presented with a choice of four projects, which are separate from their classroom activities and
curriculum and they select which project they would like to participate in, for a period of up to
four days in one week. During this project time they are immersed in a variety of activities,
encompassing all aspects of learning and thinking skills. They are given opportunities to reflect
on their learning, develop new skills and also plan their own learning journeys in order to
14
maximize their learning power and not to be 'fed' facts, which they are likely to make cognitive
and synaptic links with. Students who would be considered to be the least likely to score highly
in academic tests as those who flourish in such projects as cartooning, digital photography, stopmotion animation, and specific art-based projects. Within the Enrichment 'bubble', not only do
they have time away from their usual subject-heavy timetable, but they also have the
opportunities to interact with different students from parallel classes, and the freedom and
autonomy to experiment with their own creativity and thrive on the creative skills of others.
Ultimately they can - and do - succeed. Their achievements are valued and shared in a supportive
and collaborative learning environment and with a wider audience including their peers and
parents. Such a curriculum draws on Gardner's (1991) notion of teaching subject matter in more
than one way, thus providing students with different entry points into learning a topic. However
there are implications for attempting to embed Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences into a
topic-based curriculum. Lessons can be contrived and weak links can be made between subjects
and activities. The content of topics needs to pertain to the students' understanding of the real
world, in order for them to make sense of what is being taught. Activities need to be authentic;
this is particularly the case for the use of technologies and the recent iPad explosion. Assigning
appropriate resources is key in order to best make use of students' time and to maximize their
learning power.
Whereas Vygotskys work on the development and use of creativity was a topic Piaget barely
touched upon, (Gardner, 1994), Vygotsky wrote two papers and gave a lecture focusing directly
on the development of creative ability: Imagination and Creativity in Childhood in 1930,
Imagination and Creativity in the Adolescent in 1931, and Imagination and Its Development in
15
Childhood in 1932. Smoulcha (1992) summarized this work, which claimed that creative
imagination is a goal-directed, culturally mediated psychological system, which internalizes
childrens play and the interweaving of fantasy and conceptual thinking. In his book Imagination
and Creativity in Childhood (1930/2004), Vygotsky described his view of the creative process of
human consciousness, the link between emotion and thought and the role of the imagination.
This brought to the fore the link between reality and imagination. A commonality in recent
theories of creativity is an interaction of several elements, as seen in Csikszentmihalyis Systems
Approach (1996), Amabiles Componential Model (1996), and Sternberg & Lubarts Investment
Model (1999).
Figure 1: Systems Approach Model of Creativity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996)
16
Figure 2:
Componential Model
of Creativity
(Amabile, 1996)
Figure 3:
Investment Model
of Creativity
(Sternberg &
Lubart, 1999)
17
Chan & Yuens (2014) small-scale study of 10 Hong Kong primary school teachers found that
four themes related to personal factors emerged when analyzing the teachers perceptions of
creativity:
- Personality traits
- Motivation
- Attitude
- Sense of purpose
Two themes relating to environmental factors emerged:
-
School
Community
There are various theories of creativity. Sternberg (2012) According to his investment theory,
creativity is in large part a decision, suggesting that it can be developed. "Simply requesting that
students be more creative can render them more creative if they believe that the decision to be
creative will be rewarded rather than punished" (O'Hara & Sternberg, 2000-2001). Although
creativity is an intrinsic part of any understanding of human educational psychology, it was
rarely explored in the last few decades of the twentieth century. Was this due to the difficulty in
defining creativity? Was creativity viewed as a rarity, found only in the 'masters' of the arts Picasso, Mozart, et al? "To be truly creative there must be some inherent utility in the product,
whether it be for aesthetic consumption, to fill a technological need, or to push our understanding
of nature forward" (Haier & Jung, 2008).
18
There has been a shift in empirical research findings over the past three decades in particular,
away from traditional theories of creativity in pedagogy to a more marketable 'product' for
schools and parents alike. Since 2000, there has been a flood of government-directed curriculum
initiatives designed to encourage more creativity-centered teaching and learning in
schools. Some examples of learning and development initiatives in England include 'Creative
Development' and 'Creativity and Critical Thinking' as key areas of learning within the Early
Years Foundation Stage framework (for 0-5 years), and in Key Stage 3 (11-14 years) 'Creative
Thinkers' as an element of Personal, Learning, and Thinking Skills, both effective from
September 2008 (Craft, 2008). In a time of rapid technological and social advancements,
governments have made explicit connections between the economy and creativity. This can be
seen in the UK, in a Department for Culture, Media, and Sport document (2001), and from a
viewpoint of the involvement of creativity in the labour workforce (DCMS, et al., 2008).
2.3 Nature and Characteristics of Creativity

Grber (1985) demonstrated that creative work is distinguishable from creativity, where creation
is not the result of a set of properties that a person has in a certain moment and carries around
with him and how is really not the ivity of it the property list but how people go about
doing it when they do it. He suggested that creative work is the product of individuals who are
governed by a sense of purpose. [Creative individuals] know what they want to do and shape
their lives accordingly. Any particular task undertaken must be viewed as part of the life,
occurring in the context of the life (Grber, 1980). The social dimension to creativity is
emphasized by Sir Ken Robinson's (1999) belief that "most original thinking comes through
19
collaboration and through the stimulation of other people's ideas... there's no doubt in my mind
that collaboration, diversity, the exchange of ideas, and building on other people's achievements
are at the heart of the creative process. An education that focuses only on the individual in
isolation is bound to frustrate some of those possibilities." Kai Hakkarainen of the University of
Helsinki echoed Robinson's idea that creative insight is preceded with a long process of social
interaction. Creation and discovery take place between people rather than only within people.
"Currently, creative activity takes place more and more often in specific kinds of social
communities and increasingly complex expanded networks to support knowledge-creation
efforts" (2013).
Creative individuals are often thought of as working in isolation, however creativity and
intelligence result in large part from interaction and collaboration with others. Social creativity is
the product of a number of different forces: at the heart of this is the individual, the interaction
with others (which encompasses the skills, interests, and knowledge of these individuals, and
their social and technical environments (Mockros & Csikszentmihalyi, 1999). Grber (1981)
found that creative people are not isolated, but extremely good at collaborating and interacting
with peers, creating personal allegiances and devoting their time and skills in establishing
environments and peer groups. "Creativity is commonly held to emerge from an interaction of
the person and the situation" (Hunter, Bedell, & Mumford, 2007). They found that climate
dimensions such as support and autonomy, and various indices of creative performance were
found to be effective predictors of creative performance across criteria, samples and settings.
Further to their ideas about the role of the individual in the creativity process, Sternberg, Lubart,
Kaufman, & Pretz (2005) made explicit both the individual and societal levels, depending on the
20
task domains. "At an individual level, creativity is relevant, for example, when solving problems
on the job and in daily life. At a societal level, creativity can lead to new scientific findings, new
movements in art, new inventions and new social programs. "Nussbaum concurred, "Creativity is
social. When you read books about creativity today, the narrative of creativity is that it is a brain
function or its a genius thing. It is rare and comes out of the individual. But when you look at
almost all the innovations that are meaningful in our lives today, like Facebook and Google,
theyre all done by two or three people. All the innovators have a buddy. Creativity comes out of
small teams of twos and threes and fours and fives and sixes. Thats quite different from having
thousands and thousands of people in the same place at the same time. You can also put
technology in peoples homes that allows them to communicate with small teams to be social
and creative. Its probably not really required to have everyone in the office, but you do need
certain people interacting" (Nussbaum, 2013).
In a recent study of Chinese, German and Japanese teachers, (Zhou, Shen, Wang, Neber, & Johji,
2013), there were distinct differences between the countries studied, as well as some shared
perceptions. They found that creativity was perceived as "a divergent thinking ability that
emphasizes novelty" across the three countries, which is advanced and more easily demonstrated
in art and science and is unrelated to school achievement.
In Western Europe, creativity is still a relatively overlooked topic in educational psychology

research and theory, compared to the number of articles in American literature (Urban, 1991).
However, from the last part of the twentieth century to the present day, there has been what Craft
(2005) called "a global revolution "where creativity has moved from the periphery of education
21
to being regarded as a core element of teaching. In 2010, the Joint Research Centre in
conjunction with the European Commission and Institute for Prospective Technological Studies
published their results of their 2009 survey examining how teachers in Europe perceive and
understand creativity, foster creativity through their teaching, their of use ICT to encourage
creativity, and what kind of context and support are necessary for teachers to cultivate creativity
in their students. Data was gathered from 7,659 teachers across 32 countries at different school
levels. Their two main findings were that teachers have an encompassing view of creativity and
that almost all teachers in their survey believed that creativity can be applied to every domain of
knowledge in every school subject. However, fewer teachers were convinced that creativity is
not only relevant to visual arts, music, drama and artistic performance. While the majority of the
teachers surveyed were active in promoting creativity in their teaching, they were more likely to
support activities and skills that are more obviously linked to creative learning, such as learning
how to learn. Other activities that are also instrumental for creative learning, such as play and
multi-disciplinary work, were deemed less relevant. Figure 4 shows the views of teachers across
the 32 countries, and how those who have received creativity training compared to those who
have not.
22
Figure 4: Comparison between teachers who have received training on Creativity and those who have not, (Joint
Research Centre, 2010, p.70)
Based on their results, they argued that there is a discrepancy between how teachers perceive
creativity and the way they claim to foster creativity during their teaching. Teachers' opinions on
creativity in education are stronger than their practices. This implies that there is a lot of room
for improvement in the way creativity is fostered in schools.
2.4. Creativity Styles

International research has explored the conditions required for creativity and how students and
employees learn best (Isaksen & Kaufmann, 1990). They found that understanding the different
styles and learning climates can encourage a positive climate for nurturing creativity. Kumar,
Holman, & Rudegeair (1991) found that no study had explored everyday creativity, and defined
23
creativity styles as students beliefs and approaches, and strategies employed to develop their
creativity.
2.5 Gender Differences in Creativity

A study into the implicit theories of creativity amongst politicians, schoolteachers, scientists and
artists (Spiel & Von Korff, 1998) reported that females tended to associate creativity with ideas.
This was in contrast to males perceptions of creativity that focused on element of novelty.
Kogan (1974) found relative equality in his study of gender differences in creativity. Baer &
Kaufman (2006) stated that females tended to score more highly on creativity tests than boys.
Such methods of testing have been dominated by divergent thinking ability tests. However the
validity of these tests has been the subject of much debate.
2.6 Grade Differences in Creativity

A study into the performances on three types of creativity tasks in 22 6th-grade students and 22
university students from Hong Kong was conducted by Wu, Cheng, Ip, & McBride- Chang
(2010). They found that the university students real-world problem scores were higher when
compared to 6th-grade students' scores. However the university students' scored significantly
lower on the figural task. On the verbal task, The groups did not differ in their verbal task scores.
In his longitudinal study, Torrance (1968) examined the fourth grade slump in creativity and
reported 45%-61% of the 350 students studied had lower creativity test scores, particularly when
tested on fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration.
24
2.7 The Relationship Between Creativity and Culture

Long regarded as solely a mental process, creativity is being widely recognized as more of a
cultural and social phenomenon (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999; NACCCE, 1999).The influence of
culture on peoples perceptions of creativity has been one of the most exciting topics in the
recent literature on creativity (Niu & Sternberg, 2006). In investigating Western and Eastern
perceptions of creativity from traditional and philosophical viewpoints, Eastern cultures hold
morality and societal contributions as being important, in comparison to Western cultures.
Yue&Rudowicz (2002) supported this, in their study amongst 451 students from Chinesespeaking countries. in all samples, core characteristics of creativity were "originality,
innovativeness, thinking and observational skills, flexibility, willingness to try, self-confidence,
and imagination." However artistic skill, and humour were not listed by Chinese-speaking
students. Creativity can be assessed in a number of ways. In research conducted with Chinese
students in mainland China, (Niu & Sternberg, 2003) there were distinctive differences in
perceptions of artwork created by Chinese students, in the judgments made by Chinese and
American officials. Recent creativity research by Beghetto & Kaufman (2007) involved
assessing creative giftedness amongst students in a wider view of traditional creativity. This is in
contrast to past research, where divergent thinking tasks have been used to assess creativity
(Mottweiler & Taylor, 2014). However Silvia et al. (2008) argued that divergent thinking tasks
can be unreliable measurements of creativity, as responses deemed to be unique can over-inflate
creativity scores. Maddux & Galinsky echoed this in their study (2009), finding that
multicultural experiences benefit creative learning. Thus, students at an international school may
be found to have increased perceptions of their own creativity, in that their "culturally mixed
environment can enrich a mundane local environment to produce sparking creative ideas (Wang
25
& Greenwood, 2009). This "mixed cultural priming" (Leung & Chiu, 2010), demonstrates that
students will be more creative when learning alongside peers from other cultures. Littlewood
(1999) found that students from eight Asian countries and three European countries had
correlating views with regards to their preferred classroom learning, in that they valued active
exploration of knowledge and purposeful group tasks. This has an impact on nurturing creativity
in students giving them autonomy, away from the transmission of information, which is a key
element of teaching in many Chinese-speaking schools.
High levels of motivation and determination in Asian students have been identified as key factors
in achieving success, in comparison with their Western peers (Stevenson & Lee, 1996).
However, it is important not to generalize, thus avoiding stereotypical views of all Asian students
being deemed as passive or less creative learners. Littlewood (1999) suggested that a main
reason for such passivity is that traditionally Asian students have been "expected to learn" and
they may find it difficult to go against socially accepted norms in the classroom environment,
even if they would prefer to be less constrained and more active learners.
2.8 Creativity, Teaching, and Learning

With so many different definitions, theories, and models of creativity, it can be difficult for
educational establishments to adopt relevant curricula, programs, and strategies, pertaining to the
individual and collective needs of their students, and the talents and skills of teachers and
students alike. If educators have the expectation that all students are inherently creative, such
practices as the development of thinking skills, problem-solving activities, and enhancement or
26
enrichment programs may be incorporated into a school's curriculum (Isaksen, 1995). Guilford
(1977) also highlighted the relationship between creativity and problem solving. He suggested
that creative thinking was an element of a broader conceptual domain of problem solving. He
stated that "problem-solving and creative thinking are closely related. The very definitions of
those two activities show logical connections. Creative thinking produces novel outcomes, and
problem solving involves producing a new response to a new situation, which is a novel
outcome. Thus we can say that problem-solving has creative aspects." De Souza Fleith's study
(2000) explored the contributing stimuli and inhibitors of creativity in classrooms in
Connecticut, USA. She collected data from 31 students in Grades 3 and 4, and seven teachers at
the same school. Her findings suggested positive enhancers of creativity included student
autonomy, boosted self-esteem, and opportunities for developing strengths and weaknesses.
Conversely, when ideas are not appreciated, transmissive teaching and inflexibility were viewed
as inhibitors of creativity.
Many schools create specialist gifted and talented programs of study, for a minority of students.
This calls into question whether or not creativity can be domain specific. Can a student be
creative in more than one subject area? This has caused much discussion and debate amongst
researchers into creativity in education. Silvia, Kaufman, &Pretz (2009) argue that creativity can
be attributed to a person or a product. Plucker & Beghetto (2004) attribute both specific and
general elements to creativity, with specific components developing or evolving as a result of
social context or transition from childhood into adulthood (Silvia, Kaufman, &Pretz, 2009). With
the belief that teachers' perceptions of creative teachers and students is an essential component
for creativity in educational research creativity, Morais & Azevedo (2011) explored this within
27
the school context. 576 arts, humanities, and science teachers in public Portuguese elementary
and secondary schools participated in a Likert-scaled survey to gather their perceptions, selfevaluations, and judgments of themselves, their students, their curricula, and school
environment. Supporting the Korean science teachers' lack of confidence, and creativity-centered
teaching and learning strategies, the Portuguese teachers emphasized their need for additional
teacher training, in order to gain an improved understanding of how they can develop creativity
in their students. This would have implications for administration and the vision of the schools
involved, and a need to make explicit such training needs in the schools' development plans, in
order to improve the teaching and learning in those particular subjects. Education reforms in
Korea mirror those in Hong Kong, with the aim to elevate creativity in students, in order to equip
them with the skills needed to be 21st century learners, innovators, and problemsolvers (Ministry of Education, 2000). In particular, science teaching is becoming more
creativity-centered, with a focus not only on students' conceptions of scientific principles, but
also on the development of individual creativity. Just as in Hong Kong, this government drive is
problematic, as Park et al. reported in their study (2000), with Korean science teachers
expressing apprehension and discontent with what is required of them. They felt that they had
not been taught how to deliver a creativity-centered approach or had not experienced this as
learners themselves.
2.9 Students Creativity Learning

Educators must prepare students for 21st century success by cultivating their creativity. Epstein
(2012) claimed, our creative potential is virtually shut down by early schooling. He identified
28
four techniques designed to boost students creativity: capturing ideas; providing challenging
tasks; broadening the knowledge base; and surrounding students with stimuli.
2.10 Teachers Creativity Fostering Practices

Teachers must be involved in facilitating creativity in their students. However, it is important to
understand the difference between teaching creatively and teaching for creativity (NACCCE,
1999). Jeffrey & Craft (2004) explored this distinction further, and suggested that a more useful
focus for the study of creative pedagogies should be the relationship between teaching creatively
and creative learning (p ii). This has implications for teachers fostering of creativity practices,
in that teachers have a responsibility for learning and for developing the creative competencies of
their students. The implementation of relevant heuristics such as concept-mapping, drafting,
scaffolding, and brainstorming - are fundamental in encouraging students to explore ideas and
possibilities.
2.11 Summary
With a wealth of creativity-centered research and theories across cultures, there is a need to
investigate this within a case-study school, providing opportunities for comparative research
between Asian and Western teachers and students. With an insight into the perceptions of
creativity, school-wide approaches to the teaching and learning of creativity can be streamlined
and relevant for the needs of the teachers and students. The extensive review of literature lays the
foundations for further cross-cultural study. Methodological approaches to creativity will be
reviewed in relation to the context of this study in Chapter 3.
29
Chapter 3 Method
This chapter outlines the procedures used to conduct the study: from the initial design of the
research methodology to the participants involved, instrumentation used, analyses of data, and a
summary of the methodology intentions.
3.1 Research Design

A mixed methods approach (quantitative plus qualitative) was adopted for this study. A Likertscaled survey was completed by 130 primary students. 18 students were interviewed in three
focus groups, with six students in each group. Nine teachers were interviewed individually. By
collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, this allowed the research to be deepened and
analyzed more fully. Mixed methods research provides more comprehensive evidence for
studying a research problem than either quantitative or qualitative research alone. Researchers
are given permission to use all of the tools of data collection available rather than being restricted
to the types of data collection typically associated with quantitative or qualitative research
(Creswell, 2003). The research is designed to explore the following research questions:
Student Survey
RQ1) What are the creativity styles profiles of the students?
RQ2) Are there differences in the creativity styles between boys and girls?
RQ3) Are there differences in the creativity styles among Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 students?
30
Student Focus Group Interview

RQ4) From the students perspectives, what are the personal and environmental factors that
Teacher Individual Interview

RQ5) From the teachers perspectives, what are the personal and environmental factors that
appear to influence teachers creativity-fostering practices in the classroom?
3.2 The Sample School

The Hong Kong international school in the study was selected because of its familiarity and
because of its student and teacher diversity. Currently there are students from approximately 41
different nationalities, across three campuses: Kindergarten (Early Years), Primary, and
Secondary. Many students have mixed race identities. Teaching staff is largely recruited from the
UK and Ireland, and also Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Canada.
3.3 Research Ethics

The ethical approval was obtained from The University of Hong Kong in December 2014 before
commencement of the study in January 2015 (see appendix 1). The Head of School, parents,
students, and teachers were well informed of their rights and voluntary participation in the
consent forms, which they signed and returned before any data collection (see appendices 5-8).
All questionnaires, audio-recordings, and transcriptions were stored electronically with
password-protection and were coded for identification purposes.
31
3.4 Participants
Students and teachers were invited to participate in the survey and interviews.
3.4.1 Students
All participants in the data collection were primary students from Years 4, 5, and 6. All parents
of the students (86 Year 4, 87 Year 5, and 77 Year 6) were informed of the study and consent
was requested. Of the 12 classes (class size: 17 - 23) 130 students participated in the
questionnaire. Written parental consent was received for 130 students (age range: 8 12 years)
out of a total of 250 students across the three target year groups (52 %).
The 130 students who participated in the questionnaire survey identified themselves as being
from 41 different nationalities. 64 students surveyed were male (49.3%), and 66 students were
female (50.7%). After completing the surveys, six students from each of the three year groups
were then invited to participate in group interviews. Interviews were audio-recorded and fully
transcribed.
3.4.2 Teachers
Nine teachers were invited to participate in individual interviews: three from each of the Early
Years, Primary, and Secondary campuses. Teachers were selected from different cultural
backgrounds: British, Indian, Australian, Hong Kong Chinese, Mainland Chinese, and South
African, and different subject-specialisms: Early Years, ICT, Language, Mandarin, Science,
English and Drama, and Design Technology. Purposely, none of the teachers was a visual art
specialist, in order to explore a wider range of viewpoints and perceptions. Interviews were
32
audio-recorded and transcribed in full.
3.5 Instrumentation
3.5.1 Children version of the Creative Styles Questionnaire (CSQ-C)
Kumar and Holmans Creative Styles Questionnaire - Revised (CSQ-R; 1997) is a published
questionnaire, and consent was given by Professor V.K. Kumar, at the University of Wisconsin,
USA (see appendix 2). The CSQ-R (see appendix 3) was simplified and items were rewritten for
Year 4 to Year 6 students in the international school. The original CSQ-R consists of eight
subscales:
1. Self- Perceived Creativity Capacity*
2. Belief in Unconscious Processes
3. Use of Techniques*
4. Use of Other People*
5. Final Product Orientation
6. Environmental Control/Behavioral Self-Regulation*
7. Superstition
8. Use of the Senses*
Items were omitted from the original CSQ-R and items were added to explore the effect of
teaching and learning upon creativity. The subscales were then reduced to five (subscales marked
*). This new modified Children Version (CSQ-C) was used with students in Years 4, 5, and 6
(see appendix 4). The scaled measure was used to gain an understanding of how creative students
perceive themselves to be, in a variety of contexts. It was felt appropriate for use with primaryaged children, as no written answers were required.
33
The instrument has 34 items, rated on a 5-point scale to assess the students' perceptions of their
creativity. The items are grouped and scored according to contributing learning factors. Despite
the international school setting, all students who participated in the questionnaire could read and
speak English. Translations were not required. The version presented to students was in English.
The 76 items in the Creativity Styles Questionnaire-Revised (Kumar & Holman, 1997) were
modified to 22 items to raise the overall Alpha reliability to .769.The 22 items were classified
into five subscales:
1. Self- Perceived Creativity Capacity (CC) This was a measure of the level of perceived
creativity. Alpha reliability for items 1, 18, 20, 28, 30, 33 was found to be .531.
2. Use of Techniques (UT) This was a measure of how a persons work was facilitated by their
use of specific strategies or techniques. Alpha reliability for items 2, 15, 26, 32 was found to be
.420.
3. Use of Other People (UO) This was a reflection of the extent to which a person consults other
people, works with other people, or shares ideas or creative products with other people. Alpha
reliability for items 3 (reverse scored), 4, 5, 16, 22, 23, 25, 29, 34, 35, 36, 24 was found to be
.643.
4. Use of the Senses (US) This was a measure of how the five senses are used for creative work.
Alpha reliability for items 8, 9, 10, 13 was found to be .350.
5. Environmental Control/Behavioral Self-Regulation (ER) This was a measure of the extent to
which a person sets up discriminative stimuli to self-regulate, or facilitate his/her creative work.
Alpha reliability for items 6, 7, 14, 17, 19, 21, 27, 31 was found to be .548.
34
3.5.2 Student Focus Group Interview Guide

Further to the scaled questionnaire, six primary students from each of the three year groups
surveyed Years 4, 5, and 6 were selected to participate in a focus group interview. The semistructured questions (see appendix 9) used in the student interviews were adapted from Chan &
Yuens (2014) investigation into the teachers beliefs and practices in nurturing study creativity.
The following table presents the six semi-structured questions that were used in the student focus
group interviews, and probes that were offered by the researcher in order to provide
opportunities for the students to expatiate their ideas and opinions. The interviews with students
were relaxed and conducted in a safe and known environment. Where appropriate, researcher
probes were used to encourage students to elaborate on their ideas, or to further explain elements
of the questions used.
Table 3.1: Semi-structured interview questions and probes used in student focus group
interviews
Students Interview Questions
In your opinion, what is creativity?
Researcher Probes Used
Year 4:
Everything you do?
Whatever you want?
So no rules?
Year 5:
Anything else?
What do you think teachers can do to nurture

creativity through learning and teaching?
Year 4:
What do you mean by testing them?
What do you mean by more open?
How can they let you be more creative?
A bit more? Things that you choose to do yourself?
Year 5:
What do you mean by more freedom?
35
Year 6:
Anything else?
What do you mean by freely?
So free choice?
Is it important to be a creative learner and
why?
Year 4:
For example solving a problem?
What could you do with those ideas?
Year 5:
Do you think that being a creative learner is all about being a
good artist?
What do you understand a creative learner to be?
So you think maybe taking more risks?
Year 6:
Why did you identify art particularly there?
Can you give me an example of that? Something you couldnt
do, if you werent creative.
When do you feel most creative?
Year 4:
Why not in PE?
Does the heat and that uncomfortable feeling affect your
creativity?
What about in other subjects? Do you feel creative in those?
Anything else?
What about in maths?
Can you be creative in maths?
Is it possible to be creative in PE?
How?
Year 5:
How do you know you are being creative when youre
sleeping?
Can you give me an example?
By aunties do you mean your helper?
How does that make you feel, apart from creative?
Was that wax melting?
What kind of art do you mean?
Year 6:
When you say art, what kind of art do you mean?
So does creativity, to you, mean drawing?
Would you like to expand?
Could you elaborate on that?
Do you like to play an instrument or sing?
Have you always considered yourself to be

creative?
Year 4:
What kind of ideas?
Give me an example.
Did you make that up yourself?
Why would that be?
Like Student 2?
36
How long do you think youve been creative?

Have you always been creative, do you think?
Since you were young?
What could be factors affecting your creativity?
When do you not feel creative?
Year 5:
Can you think of a time in your life, perhaps when you
werent as creative as you feel you are now?
Do you think having time to think that thinking time is
important?
For creativity?
What do you mean by hard work?
Year 6:
When you say younger, can you give me an age?
Tell me about being a lawyer. How does that fit in with
creativity?
How do lawyers show creativity?
What has contributed to your learning

creativity?
Year 4:
What or who is responsible for you being creative?
Can you tell me more?
How have you been affected?
What has affected your creativity, do you think?
So does that suggest that your sister is creative?
Your sister is in Year 6, isnt she?
So do you play that now?
How often do you play that?
Your animals, your stuffed animals, toys?
Not real animals?
So is your Dad a photographer?
Your younger sister?
How old is your younger sister?
From your friends, creative?
Tell me more about ICT.
What do you think has contributed to your creativity?
Give me examples of that please.
Open stuff what do you mean?
The activities are open?
Do you mean there arent many rules?
Year 5:
What are the factors that have made you, in your opinion, a
creative learner or a creative person?
What has contributed to you being creative, would you say?
What is it that has made you a creative learner, do you think?
What would they be?
And what would they be?
So performing arts?
Year 6:
Would any of you say your parents have helped with that?
37
From the probes used in the student focus group interviews, it can be seen that younger students
required more scaffolding and guidance in forming their responses than their older peers.
3.5.3 Teacher Individual Interview Guide

Interview questions for teachers were adapted from Chan & Yuen's study (2014). The interview
had 12 open-ended questions, enabling teachers to elaborate on their perceptions of creativity
from both personal and educational perspectives (see appendix 10). The table below highlights
the probes that were used by the researcher in order to consolidate the interviewees
understanding of the questions asked in the semi-structured interviews, and to elaborate on their
responses.
Table 3.2 Semi-structured interview questions and probes used in individual teacher interviews
Teacher Interview Questions
Can you give me an example of a creative

student?
Researcher Probes Used

Kindergarten
So what was his family background?
Can you think of an example currently?
Which age group would they be in?
How old is she?
Primary
What is a creative student?
How do they show that?
Secondary
How are they creative in your eyes?
What are some of your personal qualities or

factors in your own background, which have
enabled you to be a better facilitator of creativity
in your students?
Kindergarten
And what about away from teaching?
Did you find any differences in childrens or students
creativity in those three countries?
38
Did you notice anything?

Primary
How have you developed that yourself in your teaching?
What are some improvements you could make at
a personal level which would enable you to
develop creativity in your students?
What some of the factors in the school or
classroom environment that would enhance your
students creativity?
What are some of the factors in the school or

classroom environment that would inhibit your
students creativity?
Kindergarten
So what do you mean by that?
Kindergarten
And what about the physical environment?
Kindergarten
So what are your constraints as a teacher?
What do you feel restricted by?
Could you explain more about the teacher, the teachers
role?
How could the teacher inhibit creativity?
Why could they do to inhibit it?
Why would that be limited, do you think?
Do you think that could contribute to creativity?
Primary
And out of school?
Any reason for that?
Do you feel that creativity is an element of all

school subjects?
Kindergarten
Do you think it can be?
Primary
How?
Secondary
How would you channel that into other subjects?
How does praise affect a learner's creativity?
Which learning and teaching contexts are

conducive to nurturing creative learners?
Kindergarten
How?
How would it affect them?
Kindergarten
So timetabling?
Primary
How would you group your pupils?
Is it something you are aware of in your planning, for
example?
When are you more likely to see a creative learner in
your classroom?
Secondary
How would you organize your classroom management?
39
3.6 Procedures
The study was structured upon a survey design, which was conducted from November 2014 to
April 2015 throughout the academic year. In November 2014, the Head of School at the case
school gave consent. Parents and teachers were invited to participate by email in January 2015.
For those parents who gave permission, students were then sent consent emails in February 2015
to participate in a questionnaire, to be returned electronically. Some completed student
questionnaires were returned by directly by email. Parent consent forms were completed online,
using an electronic JotForm application. This process triggered an automatic spreadsheet entry
for each parent. Students were then emailed using their individual school Gmail addresses. This
proved to be problematic, as not all students in Years 4, 5, and 6 regularly check their Gmail
accounts. As an alternative, hard copies of questionnaires were provided for students and they
were either completed at home, or at school. Upon completion, all questionnaire data was
entered into a spreadsheet and transferred to SPSS.
3.7 Analysis of Data

3.7.1 Quantitative Statistical Analyses
Demographic and scaled numerical data were analyzed using SPSS. Frequency, Reliability
Analysis and ANOVAs were conducted.
3.7.2 Qualitative Coding Analyses

The audio recordings from the student focus groups and individual teachers interviews were
transcribed in full by the researcher. In order to identify patterns and commonalities in discourse,
a coding classification was developed, so that the responses could be analyzed deeply. Coding
40
is one of the significant steps taken during analysis to organize and make sense of textual data
It is a dynamic, intuitive and creative process of inductive reasoning, thinking and theorizing
(Basit, 2003).
3.8 Summary
By designing a mixed-methods research study, it was intended that students and teachers in an
international school could be garnered, in order to investigate the hypothesis of the affect of
nationality upon perceptions about creativity. The study was designed in order to be of
educational benefit to the school, in that any significant findings could be shared with the wider
school community, and how the findings may have an impact upon curriculum design, classroom
organisation and management, and pedagogical values intrinsic in teaching and learning
strategies.
Table 3.3 Summary of methodology
Samples
RQ1) What are the creativity styles

profiles of the students?
130
students;
Years 4,
5, and 6
Data
Collection
Method:
Student
Survey
Online
and
paper
questionnaires
RQ2) Are there differences in the

creativity styles between boys and girls?
130
students;
Years 4,
5, and 6
Online
and
paper
questionnaires
RQ3) Are there differences in the

creativity styles among Year 4, Year 5 and
Year 6 students?
130
students;
Years 4,
5, and 6
Online
and
paper
questionnaires
Data
Collection
Method:
Student
Interview
Data
Collection
Method:
Teacher
Interview
41
RQ4) From the students perspectives,

what are the personal and environmental
factors that appear to influence students
creativity learning in the classroom?
18
students: 6
students
from Years
4, 5, and 6
in 3 focus
groups
RQ5) From the teachers perspectives,

what are the personal and environmental
factors that appear to influence teachers
creativity-fostering practices in the
classroom?
9 teachers: 3
teachers from
Kindergarten,
Primary, and
Secondary
campuses
This study aims to explore the creativity styles of students in Years 4, 5, and 6, and students and
teachers perceptions of creativity in the context of an international school in Hong Kong.
Student survey data from a Creativity Styles Questionnaire Children was analyzed using SPSS.
Student and teacher interview data was transcribed, coded, and analyzed.
42
Chapter 4 Findings of the Student Survey
4.1 Introduction
The student survey aimed to explore the following research questions: RQ1) What are the
creativity styles profile of the students? RQ2) Are there differences in the creativity styles
between boys and girls? RQ3) Are there differences in the creativity styles among Year 4, Year 5
and Year 6 students?
4.2. Samples Demographic Characteristics

In the survey study, 130 primary students from Years 4, 5, and 6 (8-12 years) completed a
questionnaire: None of the students was pre-selected; all students in Years 4, 5, and 6 were
invited to participate in the survey. The students were asked to rate 34 statements about
creativity, and creativity-related learning and teaching preferences, in a 5-point scaled
questionnaire. The survey statements were based on, and amended from Kumar & Holmans
Creativity Styles Questionnaire-Revised (1997) (see appendix 3). 41 (31.5%) of the
questionnaires were completed online, whilst 89 (68.5%) were completed as paper copies. Of the
130 students who participated, 64 were male (49.2%) and 66 were female (50.8%)
43
Table 4.1Student characteristics

Students: N = 130
Frequency
Year 4
40
30.8
Year 5
49
37.7
Year 6
41
31.5
Boys
64
49.2
Girls
66
50.8
Grade
Gender
The largest number of survey participants was from Year 5 (37.7%). From all three year groups,
there were more female students (50.8%) than males (49.2%).
Table 4.2 Frequency of student nationalities

Nationalities
Frequency
Australia
23
17.6
England
19
14.6
USA
13
10.0
Britain
Canada
5.4
4.6
Netherlands
4.6
Hong Kong
4.6
New Zealand
4.6
France
Scotland
3.1
2.3
Germany
2.3
India
2.3
Sri Lanka
2.3
China
2.3
44
Italy
1.5
Belgium
1.5
Sweden
1.5
South Africa
1.5
Japan
1.5
Taiwan
1.5
Ireland
0.8
Wales
0.8
Poland
0.8
Switzerland
0.8
Bangladesh
0.8
Ghana
0.8
South Korea
0.8
Malaysia
0.8
Israel
0.8
Colombia
0.8
Venezuela
0.8
Norway
0.8
Finland
0.8
The majority of Western nationalities were from Australia, England, and USA. Of the Asian
nationalities, Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka, and China were the most common. These show the
diversity of the students at the case international school.
4.3 Students Creativity Styles

Students in Years 4, 5, and 6 were invited to complete the Children version of the Creativity
Styles Questionnaire (CSQ-C)(see appendix 4). Some of the students completed the survey at
home, whilst others completed it at school.
45
The 76 item Kumar and Holmans original Creativity Styles Revised Questionnaire (CSQ-R;
1997) was developed for undergraduate students. The scored responses were grouped into eight
subscales: Self-Perceived Creativity Capacity, Belief in Unconscious Processes, Use of
Techniques, Use of Other People, Final Product Orientation, Superstition, Environmental
Control, and Use of Senses. In the present study, the 34 items of Children version of Creativity
Styles Questionnaire (CSQ-C) have been simplified and rewritten for Year 4 to Year 6 children
within the international school context. There are five subscales including:
* Self-Perceived Creativity Capacity (CC)
* Use of Techniques (UT)
* Use of Other People (UO)
* Use of the Senses (US)
* Environmental Control/Self-Regulation (ER)
As shown in Table 4.3, items 35, 32, and 18 had the three highest means, with 4.792, 4.538, and
4.531 respectively. The three lowest scoring items were 20, 10, and 9, with means of 1.992,
2.985, and 3.108. The highest mean scores show that the students equate fun and creativity with
their preferred learning styles. For the lowest mean scores, the majority of students agreed that
creativity isnt art-based, and as creative learners, they do not favour the use of tactile and
auditory senses.
46
Table 4.3 Students creativity styles (N=130)

Item
Mean
SD
Rank
1. I consider myself to be a creative person.

2. I read widely to come up with new ideas.
3. I am at my creative best when I work
alone.
4. I am at my creative best with I work with
one other person.
5. I am at my creative best when I work in a
group.
4.308
3.615
3.385
.692
.893
1. 143
5
21
26
3.746
1.014
11
3.731
3.811
15
6. I tend to do my creative work in a quiet 3.461
1.108
24
3.654
1.268
20
3.723
.965
16
3.108
1.087
3032
2.985
1.174
3133
3.215
3.561
1.207
.972
29
23
3.185
.979
30
16. I am proud of myself when my teacher 4.238
.963
1.049
25
.749
33
.893
22
place.
7. I typically have background music when I
am engaged in creative work.
8. I tend to use my visual sense a lot in my
creative work.
9. I tend to use my sense of hearing a lot in
my creative work.
10. I tend to use my sense of touch a lot in my
creative work.
11. I tend to use my sense of hearing a lot in
my creative work.
12. I tend to use my sense of touch a lot in my
creative work.
13. I like to reflect on my work.
14. When I encounter a problem, I look for
ways to move forward independently.
15. I prefer to answer closed questions.
praises me.
17. I prefer to understand the success criteria 3.431
before I attempt a task.
18. Creativity is important in all school 4.531
subjects.
3.608
19. My written tasks are well organised.
47
20. Creativity is only needed in art-based 1.992

subjects.
4.108
21. I will ask for help if I need it.
3.361
22. I am more creative when I work alone.
23. It is important for my teacher to have a 4.361
1.236
34
.828
1.064
.778
8
27
4
1.215
28
1.019
13
1.147
1.070
31
18
4.054
.909
3.838
.913
12
3.661
1.117
19
3.700
1.179
17
.855
.933
.939
22
7
10
.631
1.107
1
13
good sense of humour.

24. I can be easily distracted when I am 3.285
working.
25. My class teacher encourages me to be 3.754
creative.
3.161
26. I like to discuss my ideas first.
3.692
27. My classroom is vibrant and inspiring.
28. I like to feel that I have done my best after
each activity.
29. I am encouraged to take risks in my
learning.
30. I feel confident when sharing my ideas.
31. I feel frustrated when I don't have time to
complete a task.
32. It is important to have fun when learning.
33. I have a good sense of humour.
4.538
4.146
34. Extra-curricular activities and interests are 4.031
important.
4.792
35. I like to have fun with my friends.
36. I like to share my learning with others 3.754
outside of the classroom.
Note. Items were adapted from Kumar, V.K. and Holman E.R. (1997) Creativity Styles Questionnaire. Rating on 5- point Likert
scale, 1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4= Agree, 5=Strongly Agree; Rank 1- highest level of agreement, Rank 36lowest level of agreement. Items 11 and 12 are redundant. Item 3 is reversed scored.
Subscales: Creative Capacity= CC (items 1, 18, 20, 28, 30, 33); Use of Techniques = UT (items 2, 15, 26, 32); Use of Other
People = UO (items 3, 4, 5, 16, 22, 23, 25, 29, 34, 35, 36, 24); Use of the Senses = US (items 8, 9, 10, 13); Environmental
Control/Behavioural Self Regulation = ER (items 6, 7, 14, 17, 19, 21, 27, 31).
In using the 34 item Children version of the CSQ-R, reliability analysis found when 12 of the 34
items were deleted, the Cronbach Alphas of the Total Scale and Subscales raised. In order to
48
improve the reliability scores, 12 items were omitted from the Total Scale and Sub-scales in the
following analysis. Table 4.4 shows Cronbach Alphas of the Total Scale (.769) and the
Creativity Capacity Subscale, Use of Other People Subscale, Environmental Control/SelfRegulation Subscale are of acceptable level (.531-.643). The Cronbach Alphas of the Use of
Techniques Subscale (.420) and Use of the Senses Subscale (.350) are less satisfactory.
Table 4.4 Descriptive statistics and reliabilities of the 22 item Creativity Styles Questionnaire
(Children Form) (N =130)
Scale and Subscale
No. of
items
Item means
mean
Item
variances
mean
Reliability
Cronbachs
Alpha
Total Scale
22
3.697
1.030
.769
Creativity Capacity
3.782
.919
.531
Use of Techniques
3.625
.946
.420
Use of Other People

Use of the Senses
Environmental
Control/SelfRegulation
7
3
3.926
3. 258
.938
.643
1.237
.350
3.611
1.151
.548
Note. Rating on 5- point Likert scale, 1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4= Agree, 5=Strongly Agree; Items, were
adapted from the Questions adapted from Kumar, V.K. and Holman E.R. (1997) Creativity Styles Questionnaire. Subscales:
Creative Capacity = CC (items 1, 18, 28, 30, 33); Use of Techniques = UT (items 2, 32); Use of Other People = UO (items 16, 23,
25, 29, 34, 35, 36); Use of the Senses = US (8,9,10); Environmental control/Behavioural Self Regulation = ER (items 6, 14, 17,
19, 27).
From the descriptive statistics of the Creativity Styles subscales, Use of Other People scores
(3.926) and Creativity Capacity (3.782) have the highest mean, whilst Use of the Senses (3.258)
has the lowest mean.
49
4.3.1 Creativity and Gender

66 female students (50.8%) and 64 male students (49.2%) from Years 4, 5, and 6 completed the
CSQ-C.
Table 4.5 Gender differences in creativity styles (N=130)

Scale and Subscale
Total Scale
Creative capacity
Use of techniques
Use of other people
Use of the senses
Girls
Boys
Item
Item
Item
means
variances
means variances
mean
mean
mean
3.891
4.139
4.197
4.141
3.252
.405
.551
.574
.459
.651
3.853
4.141
3.953
4.078
3.292
3.554
.597
3.547 .624
Item
mean
.452
.503
.780
.575
.773
.258
.000
4.135*
.471
.098
.002
0
.031
.004
0
.005
.008
Environmental
Control/Behavioural
Self Regulation
Note. Rating on 5- point Likert scale, 1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4= Agree, 5=Strongly Agree;2= the effect
size eta squared. Green, Salkind, and Akey (2000) indicated that the range of effect sizes for eta squared is .01
(small) .06(medium), and .14 (large).
* p< .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.
Table 4.5 shows that there is gender difference in the Use of Techniques (F = 4.135, p< .044); the
effect size is not small (2.= 031). It indicates that girls, comparing with boys, tend to agree more
on the importance of reading widely to come up with new ideas and having fun whilst learning.
There are no significant gender differences in Creativity Capacity and Use of the Senses.
50
4.3.2 Creativity and Grade
130 students (40 Year 4 students, 30.8%; 41 Year 5 students, 31.5%; 49 Year 6 students, 37.7%)
from the primary school completed the Creativity Styles Questionnaire. Table 4.7 shows their
scores according to Creativity Styles subscales.
Table 4.6 Grade differences in creativity styles (N=130)

Scale and subscale
Year 4
Item
Total Scale
Creative capacity
Use of techniques
Use of other people
Use of the senses
Year 5
Item
Year 6
Item
Item
Item
Item
means variances
means
variances
means
variances
mean mean
mean
mean
mean
mean
3.874
.434
3.943
.423
.4213.786
.421
.421
1.524
0.02
4.065
.579
4.310
.428
.5364.001
.
.536
4.450*
0.06
4.050
.823
4.143
.685
.5584.024
.538
.367
0.01
4.079
.553
4.166
.508
.5034.073
.503
.461
0.01
3.283
.714
3.360
.742
.6713.154
.671
.943
0.01
3.680
.592
3.535
.686
.5093.444
.509
1.565
0.02
Environmental
Control/Behavioural
Self-Regulation
Note. Rating on 5- point Likert scale, 1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4= Agree, 5=Strongly Agree; 2= the effect
size eta squared. Green, Salkind, and Akey (2000) indicated that the range of effect sizes for eta squared is .01 (small), .06
(medium), and .14 (large).
* p< .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001
The scores show Year 5 students have a higher creativity capacity than those of Year 4 and Year
6 students (F = 4.45, p < .05).The effect size is medium (.06). Use of Techniques, Use of Other
People, and Use of the Senses show the smallest grade differences, with F scores of 0.01.
51
4.4 Summary of Findings

The researcher developed a Children version of the Creativity Styles Questionnaire (CSQ-C),
based on Kumar & Holmans original Creativity Styles Questionnaire-Revised (1997). The CSQC was used to show the creativity styles profile of 130 Year 4 - 6 children in an international
school in Hong Kong. The quantitative data collected in this study shows that there are
nosignificant differences in Total Creativity Styles scores among Gender and Grade groups.
Girls and boys differ in how they view the importance of reading widely to come up with new
ideas and having fun whilst learning. Year 5 students have a higher creativity capacity than those
of Year 4 and Year 6 students. These factors will be discussed further in Chapter 5.
52
Chapter 5 Findings of the Interview Study
5.1 Introduction
The interviews with students and teachers aimed to examine their perceptions of creativityfostering practices in relation to the following research questions
RQ4) From the students perspective, what are the personal and environmental factors that
RQ5) From the teachers perspective, what are the personal and environmental factors that
appear to influence teachers creativity-fostering practices in the classroom?
In this study, 18 primary students from Years 4, 5, and 6 (8-12 years), and nine teachers from
Kindergarten, Primary, and Secondary phases were interviewed (32-55 years). Consent was
obtained from the school principal, parents, students, and teachers prior to conducting the
interviews. All interviews took place on the school site and were audio-recorded and fully
transcribed. A thorough analysis of transcriptions was carried out using coding keys.
5.2 Student Interviews

In order to gain a deeper understanding of students perceptions of themselves as creative
learners, focus group interviews were conducted. The students were selected based on their
gender, and primarily their nationalities, with the view that these cultural experiences could be
contributing factors to their self-perceptions.
The 18 students were interviewed in three groups, with six students in each group, and asked six
semi-structured questions about creativity in the contexts of their own teaching and learning
experiences. The interviews were all conducted in English. The responses were audio-recorded
53
and fully transcribed (see Year 5 student focus group interview transcription, appendix 11). The
students were anonymised and referred to by number. They were given the opportunity to leave
the interview at any time, and were able to elaborate as little or as much as they felt confident in
doing so. However, all students were able to elicit their responses and share their personal
reflections openly and honestly, in a non-judgmental, confidential, and non-threatening
environment.
In each of the three focus groups, each student had an opportunity to share their ideas and
elaborate on each others responses.
Regarding Research Question RQ 4) factors that appear to influence students creativity learning
in the classroom, from the focus group student interviews, the following six themes were
identified:
1) teacher qualities: accountability, adaptability, caring, compassion, inspiration, helpfulness,
and humour are some of the qualities identified as pertinent to what the students felt a teacher
should be in order to develop their creativity.
Year 4 students:
know how to help you
doesnt matter if you do something wrong, all they want to do is maybe help you
Year 5 students:
not strict
sense of humour
less bossy
Year 6 students:
Ive had some really funny teachers
54
2) teaching strategies: how students feel best able to develop as learners through strategies used
by the teacher:
Year 4 students:
have lots of questions
know how to teach more things so you can be more creative
make you draw lots of things
go on new websites
make lessons more open
Year 5 students:
time to think about teachers tasks
more time for art and brainstorming ideas
Year 6 students:
use images instead of verbal or writing
do things apart from reading and writing
3) autonomy for students: giving students choices about their preferred learning styles.
Year 4:
being able to choose what to do
more time to open our minds and think
to make anything up
to do anything you try
no rules
free to do what you want
Year 5:
more freedom
fewer instructions
thinking on our own
letting us go our own way
what we think is best to do and when
letting us do it ourselves
Year 6:
have freedom to choose methods
55
more of a choice
not telling students exactly what to do. Give a topic and let them do what they want with it
guide, not tell us what to do
letting students figure things out for themselves
choose subjects they want to do
more free time
no limit on what you can do
4) purpose and relevance of tasks: how the learning tasks are designed to cater for the students
needs, skills, and interests.
Year 4:
to have ideas
to have imagination
to be able to get out of a bad situation
to know how to draw
to have more ideas
Year 5:
to not be boring when older
when we grow up, more interest in things and try new things
Year 6:
not to be ordinary
to get you to may high stages in life. A good university
dream to be a lawyer
5) influence of self: taking responsibility as learners and being motivated were identified as
influential factors.
Year 4:
I have to think much harder
I like making my own stuff like making my own games and making my own friends
my imagination is really fast
Year 5:
56
not afraid to make mistakes and learn from mistakes

try new approaches
working by myself
Year 6:
Im an open-minded person
6) influence of others: how other people cam encourage and affect the students interest and
motivation.
Year 4:
mostly me friends and relatives helped me be creative
I copied my sister at everything
sometimes for my Dads photography I like to imagine that Im in them
sometimes when I see my friends do something I want to do it too
when me and my sister like to pretend that were in another world
Year 5:
Our Enrichment teacher has really made a lot of creative ideas. Whenever she does a new
subject its always new, its not something that Ive seen before.
My Enrichment teachershe thinks about really, really really cool topics that I think I want to
learn about when I grow up
Year 6:
I think my teachers contribute to making me creative because they let me do what I want and let
me figure out my problems and my questions by myself
my teachers have also helped me, to just push me
57

Table 5.1: Characteristics of Year 4 interview focus group students
Student
Gender
Age
Family
Background
PN = India
MN = India
PN = Hong Kong Chinese

MN
= Hong Kong
Chinese
PN = Sweden
MN = Sweden
PN = South Africa
MN = England
PN = Mainland China
MN = Mainland China
PN = England
Scotland
MN = Philippines
and
Note. Gender: M = Male, F = Female. Family Background: PN = paternal nationality; MN = maternal nationality
The majority of comments made by Year 4 students referred to the purpose and relevance of
tasks, and the students beliefs that creativity was necessary in order to conceptualise and apply
these ideas to different learning situations. Student 1 gave the example of being able to get out of
a bad situation and elaborated on this by explaining how an astronaut would need to be
creative in case of a problem with his oxygen flow in space. Other examples given were using
creativity to be able to draw, make things out of recycled materials, to play games, dancing, and
in particular school subjects, such as IPC (International Primary Curriculum), Enrichment, art,
and ICT. In addition to tasks being purposeful, the students in the Year 4 focus group highlighted
autonomy as being of importance to them. Comments made in relation to this were:
- being able to choose what to do
- more time to open our minds to think
- to do anything you try
58
- to make anything up
- to go anywhere and do anything
- no rules
- free to do what you want
Four of the six students also perceived teacher qualities to be factors in how creative students are
as learners. Humour, kindness, encouragement, and helpfulness were examples of qualities the
students feel their teachers should have if they are to perceive themselves to be creative learners.
The relationship between teacher and student is fundamental in the social and intellectual
development of students. Teaching involves a process of relational development and requires
effective interpersonal communication skills to achieve satisfying outcomes (Graham, West, &
Schaller, 1992). The opportunity to try new things and have a go is important in developing
students as risk-takers. Student 4 remarked it doesnt matter if you do something wrong all
they want to do is maybe help you.
When asked what is creativity? the six students gave the following definitions:
- building something new, which very few people have ever built before (Student 1)
- anything you do, something your brain can invent. There are no boundaries or limits
(Student 2)
- something where its your ideas, which someone has never created (Student 3)
- using your imagination for new ideas. A world (to) express your imagination, where nothing
is impossible (Student 3)
- something you use your mind to think of when you just do anything, whatever you want, and
just make something up or do (Student 4)
59
- when you are drawing, because you need to know what you are drawing (Student 5)
- opening up your mind to new things (Student 6)
Removing an ethos where students are always expected to know the right answer and opening
doors for curiosity and exploration is key if students are to develop as creative learners.

Student
Gender
Age
10
10
10
Family
Background
PN = USA
MN = Canada
PN = South Korea
MN= Netherlands
PN = Japan
MN = Japan
PN = Australia
MN = Australia
PN = Australia
MN = India
FN = Canada
MN = Canada
The definitions of creativity put forward by Year 5 students were more elaborate than those
previously listed by Year 4 students, suggesting different levels of cognitive ability and a deeper
understanding of themselves as learners. They made the following suggestions when asked, in
your opinion, what is creativity?
- thinking outside the box, and coming up with new ideas that can help change the world
- following your own road and not letting anyone else come in and say whats bad and just
follow that you think is nice and beautiful
60
- doing what you think is right, and if youre not sure, use your own way to figure (it) out
- following your imagination, and doing what you think is right
- doing what you think is right and not letting anybody else tell you what to do
Year 5 students perceptions of creativity differed to those of Year 4 students, in that they
perceive themselves to be pivotal in the development of their creativity. From the coding
analysis, it was found that the influence of themselves was key in their creative development.
They consider their own feelings, thoughts, and personal interests to be major contributing
factors to how creative they perceive themselves to be. The students conveyed a sense of
willingness to take risks and being hungry for learning. They enjoy challenges and opportunities
to discover their own abilities and interests, and to apply new approaches when mistakes are
made. This is clearly dependent on whether or not they are autonomous in their learning
journeys, and this was also a key factor from the interview comments. All students except one
referred to autonomy when they were asked, what do you think teachers can do to nurture
creativity through teaching and learning? Answers given included:
- individual working, not paired
- more freedom
- fewer instructions and thinking on our own
- letting us do it ourselves
- letting us go our own way
- what we think to do is best and when
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These comments imply that a more self-directed curriculum is desirable for these students; a
curriculum where they can make choices about what and how they learn. This will be explored
further in final section of this chapter, and in the Discussion and Conclusion chapters.
When defining creativity, the Year 6 students expressed the feeling of autonomy attached to it:
- a way to get rid of the stress that you get, and it has no barriers, and you can just think of
anything that you want (Student 1 )
- when you can just share anything, and basically there are no barriers in what you do. So for
example, if you want to, if you need to take notes for something, I find it easier to maybe draw
pictures, or like notify things using drawings and stuff (Student 2)
- when you open up your mind and think freely, and no-one can tell you if youre right or wrong,
its just what you think, what you think is good (Student 3)
- basically just everything you do, as long as theres no rules to it (Student 4)
- thinking outside the box and doing whatever you want (Student 5)
- opening your mind up to things around you, and trying to express anything through the heart
(Student 6)
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Student
Gender
Age
10
11
11
11
11
10
Family
Background
PN = England
MN = Wales,
Scotland, Ireland
PN = Australia
MN = South Korea
PN = India
MN = India
PN = India
MN = India
PN = Sri Lanka
MN = Sri Lanka
PN = Britain
MN = Britain
For Year 6 students, they also identified being given autonomy as being conducive to developing
as creative learners. The role of the teacher was key in providing opportunities for the students to
have ownership over their tasks.
From the interview with Year 6 students, some had already considered how their creativity may
affect their future opportunities. Students 1 and 3 made explicit references to this in their
responses to Is it important to be a creative learner? with yes because it opens a lot of
opportunities in life (Student 1) and to get you to many high stages in life. Suppose if you want
to go to a good university, you need to be creative because if you want to take the test you need
to be creative to open up your mind and think about all the answers that are possible (Student
3). Student 3 elaborated on this, by explaining that his dream is to become a lawyer.
As shown in the interview with Year 5 students, a strong sense of self-direction was evident in
the interview with Year 6 students also. They are aware of their responsibilities in guiding
63
themselves in their learning journeys and how creativity is a key part of their development as
learners. Also shown was their strong sense of creative learning having a purpose; from finding
different mathematical strategies in mathematics to standing out in the crowd and not being
ordinary. Furthermore, they gave many examples of using their creative abilities outside of
school in their leisure pursuits, for fun, as motivational activities, and in order to relieve stress.
The 18 students who were selected for the focus group interviews provided a wealth of
information not available from the questionnaires alone. The qualitative data in this study was
valuable in exploring the perceptions of students from a variety of family backgrounds and
across three year groups. Although their responses differed in brevity, there are clear
commonalities in how they perceive themselves to be as learners, and in their expectations of
how their learning should be shaped by teachers and the curriculum.
5.3 Teacher Interviews

Three teachers from each of the three school phases Kindergarten, Primary, and Secondary
were interviewed individually and privately. They were asked 12 open-ended questions and
given time to reflect on their answers and repeat questions where necessary. No time constraints
were given. The interviews were conducted in English, and the responses were audio-recorded
and fully transcribed (see Teacher D interview transcription, appendix 12). For the purposes of
obtaining broader view of creativity, teachers were selected from different countries, where
possible, and with different subject specialisms, ages, and teaching experiences.
64
Table 5.4:Characteristics of individual teachers

Teacher
Gender
Age
Family
Background
Nationality
Phase
Subject
Specialism
Active
Years in
Education
30
55
Asian
Hong Kong
Primary
Mandarin
28
Western
Primary
ICT
33
Western
Wales/
Australia
Britain
Early Years
Early Years
17
32
Western
Britain
Secondary
Science
10
34
Western
Britain
Secondary
13
33
Western
Secondary
38
Western
New Zealand/
South Africa
Britain
Primary
Design
Technology
English &
Drama
ICT
45
Asian
Mainland
China
55
Asian
India
Mandarin &
Music
(Piano)
Early Years
28
Kindergarten/
Primary/
Secondary
Early Years
9
14
33
Note. Gender: M = Male, F = Female.
Regarding Research Question RQ 4) factors that appear to influence teachers creativity fostering
practice in the classroom, from the nine teacher interviews, the following eight themes were
identified:
1) confidence: personality traits and confidence of students and teachers were highlighted.
- I think I just need to try out the ideas I got from the others or elsewheresee whether it works
with my students. (Teacher A)
- But I think thats what Im good at and what I know, so you always tend to go in that way and
sometimes I will always fall to that easier option. (Teacher B)
- A creative student is one who is not afraid to ask questions, and one that is not completely
dictated to by what the teacher commands. (Teacher F)
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2) support: Professional Development needs, environmental factors, support from colleagues

and parents, and teacher scaffolding of tasks were identified.
- I try to learn from the teaching experience of other colleagues. (Teacher A)
- An outstanding environment is very inspiring, challenging, thought-provoking. (Teacher C)
- And also in collaboration with other people. I think there are some aspects of creativity where
I feel that having another person or a group of people to share ideas and listen to other peoples
ideas, I think thats an important aspect as well. (Teacher D)
- If we want students to be creative they have to feel comfortable in their environment.
(Teacher D)
- I would perhaps like some further training. I think there is a need for that on a whole school
level to underpin what actually creativity is and how we can embed that into our lessons.
(Teacher D)
- Working with people of a like mind, people that are creative in themselves. (Teacher G)
3) curriculum: how timetabling and flexibility can enhance or inhibit creative learning.
- Its hard to make sure that the quality of learning is there within a timeframe. (Teacher A)
- In order to enhance creativity at our school I think having a freer timetable, having the ability
to have more control over the curriculum we are currently teaching. (Teacher B)
- I think there are all sorts of constraints, particularly in Science, theres quite a deep and
broad curriculum that needs to be covered. (Teacher D)
-I guess often teachers we get so trapped into units of time, because were governed by bells.
(Teacher F)
66
4) autonomy: providing open-ended tasks in order to facilitate choice and freedom were
identified.
- shes either taking herself further, or shes kind of going at it in a different way. (Teacher
B)
- where learners feel that they can make an equal contribution. An element of epistemic
agency, where students can consider their own values and ideas and compare them with the
views and values of other people. (Teacher D)
- Ive tried to change what I do, by giving the students more freedom. (Teacher E)
-Allowing students to take ownership of their learning. Its putting the power back into their
hands. (Teacher F)
- I believe in the ability of people to make their own choices. I feel that in todays society
theres a bit of a traffic light society people dont want to do anything unless its ok for them to
do it, and therefore they struggle to think for themselves, and I actively try to go against that and
make every decision for myself and although Im a teacher and teachers tend to be rule-driven
and interested in rules, I think rules are there to be evaluatedand use your own personal
judgement. (Teacher G)
- they dont have any space to think, to create. (Teacher H)
5) attitudes: how the attitudes of the learner and the teacher can affect teaching and learning.
- I just try to be as enthusiastic as I can be, which then, in turn, guides and drives the learner
when helping them to believe in their design. (Teacher E)
67
- I think individual teacher belief systems are conducive to nurturing creative learners. If
youve not got the right teacher in the classroom environment it can totally destroy the learning
and the childrens opinion of that specific subject. (Teacher E)
- Im the kind of teacher that I want to be ahead of the game. I want to see whats new, and I
dont mind if the lesson doesnt go the way I had planned, Ive very open to moving, its very
fluid, so these qualities have helped me to be more open-minded. (Teacher F)
6) skills: how the skills of the students and teachers can nurture creativity.
- Your training as an Early Years teacher requires you to be creative, because you have to
respond the childrens needs, you have to support enquiry-based learning, to have to exploit
opportunities. (Teacher C)
- I think that if you have a teaching style that is very rigid, and sticks to teaching content,
doesnt allow students to breathe and express themselves and doesnt allow them to learn in
their particular way, and doesnt take their feelings, needs, and learning styles into
consideration, then you will be stifling their creativity. (Teacher G)
- I personally think I am good at art. Im good at singing songs. (Teacher I)
7) experiences: creativity can be developed by providing as wide a range of experiences, both

inside and outside the classroom. The learning environment; travelling, cultural celebrations
were identified as examples of this.
- The more you see and the more you listenyou experience, the more creative you will
be.(Teacher H)
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- So with our culture a lot of creativity came. We have lots of different festivalsexpressed
through dance, dramatization, role-play, painting. (Teacher I)
- Creativity is a processyour knowledge, your experiences depends on that. (Teacher I)
8) expectations: how students can be influenced by expectations of their selves, their teachers,
and the curriculum in achieving learning goals.
- I think perhaps sometimes the priority is on delivering and achieving curriculum goals.
(Teacher D)
- Not always having very, very clear outcomes, and sometimes making those tasks a little bit
ambiguous and ill-defined, I think brings out some creative learning and actions within
students. (Teacher D)
Using these eight coded themes, it was possible to gain a clear picture of what creativity looks
like at each level of learning. From the qualitative coding analysis, patterns began to emerge
across age-phases. These patterns could then be investigated further, in order to identify
commonalities between the nationalities of teachers within these age-phases and across the
school as a whole.
5.3.1 Kindergarten (Early Years)

The three teachers interviewed from the Early Years phase were experienced practitioners. Two
of the three teachers were Asian in their family backgrounds Indian and Mainland Chinese
and one was Western of British nationality. With many years of teaching experience between
69
them, it was clear from their responses that they held a child-centred pedagogy, and in their
collated coded comments the key areas of support and skills were predominantly cited.
Despite Teacher C stating I dont think Ive ever had any training on what specifically it means
to be creative, she was able to impart her educational philosophy in the context of developing
creativity in her young learners. For her, the learning environment, or the third teacher as she
described it, was key in offering security, inspiration, stimulation, and challenge. Within the
general theme of support, the following elements were regarded as being affective in developing
creativity in Early Years learners:
* flexibility of the learning environment

* matching resources to the needs of the students
* different zones for different learning opportunities
* a visually inspiring learning environment
* learning from colleagues
* providing guidance and frameworks for scaffolding
* safe and secure learning environment
Providing pertinent experiences for developing skills were also highlighted. These ranged from
celebrating the diversity of skills that learners require and acquire, to personalizing learning
opportunities in order to ensure that learners gain relevant life skills that are within their Zones of
Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978). As with all elements of learning, there is some crossover in how they interplay and affect each other. These other key elements included
70
* exposing students to music to encourage skill development

* offering opportunities to develop new skills through role-play
* ensuring access to suitable resources in order to broaden the experiences of visual,
auditory, and kinesthetic strategies
* experiences provided through the celebrations of languages, cultures, and festivals
* experiences in the home or family which can affect level of self-help skills
* confidenceand mindsets of students to maintain interest when engaged in extra-curricular
activities
* experiences provided through visually stimulating learning environments
* family backgrounds, lifestyles, educational opportunities
A Mainland Chinese teacher summed up these in her comments the more you see and the more
you listen, you experience, the more creative you will be and when you experience something
really big, either positive or negative and later time you might be more creative.
5.3.2 Primary
As with the Early Years teachers, the three teachers interviewed from the Primary phase were
also experienced practitioners, having taught across the Primary phase. Two of the three teachers
were Western in their family backgrounds Welsh/Australian and British, and one was Hong
Kong Chinese. It was clear from the interview responses that the teacher from Hong Kong had a
different perception of creativity, which could be attributed to her own experiences of teaching
and learning as a student in Hong Kong. When asked what are some of your personal qualities
71
or factors in your own background which have enabled you to be a better facilitator or creativity
in your students? she replied I dont have much of that, because my schooling was in Hong
Kong, a Chinese city. The way I learn before is in a very formal way. We sit in rows, I mean
columns and rows, and we have very academic subjects. Sometimes, during my schooling in
particular secondary school, those lessons that are arts, yes or music, sometimes they were
cancelled because the emphasis was on those academic core subjects like English, maths,
language, because a very heavy emphasis was put on those core subjects. We were trained that
we need to have these core subjects done well so thats why. I dont think we had much
reinforcement for being creative in my education experience. As a result of these experiences,
this teacher went on to disclose that her ideas for implementing into her teaching and learning as
an educator are primarily sourced from colleagues, journals, magazines, and the Internet. She
feels that she doesnt have the confidence to think up new and innovative ideas herself, but is
proactive in her approach to seek out the ideas of others in order to facilitate meaningful learning
experiences for her students in their Mandarin lessons. In comparing herself to her Western
colleagues, she stated I was amazed by my colleagues teaching. I mean my Western colleagues
teach children since I joined the international schools, because actually I think the West way of
teaching and learning is quite different from my experience with my own country. So I think the
children that have a lot of ways they will immerse in an environment that they can be creative in
one way or another. Although only one teacher was as distinct in her perceptions of creativity
being affected by cultural background, when compared to her Early Years Mandarin colleague,
there are commonalities in their perceptions of creativity being more art based, rather than
intrinsic in all school subjects. However, the Early Years Chinese teacher has a broader view of
creativity in that she has experienced teaching in both Europe and Asia. because Ive been
72
working in China and then I went to Italy and Hong Kong, I think when you get in touch (with)
different culture, language, those are elements (that) could bring more to creativity. She also
commented on the effect of traditional teaching methods in Hong Kong: In Hong Kong we have
local school and international school, and normally students from international school they tend
to be more creative. I was wondering why. I was thinking it depends (on) the way they are being
taught, and at time the way they (are) being arranged. In local school they are really packed by
the homeworkteacher assignment, teacher assign you what to do. But in the international
school they (have) got much more freedom, so they have space, they can think, so they have
wider vision, so thats why their creativity is normally more.
Just as support was a predominant contributory element of creativity for Early Years teachers
interviewed, this was apparent for Primary teachers also. However, the two Western primary
teachers unlike their Early Years colleagues also identified confidence and autonomy as their
key factors, which was in contrast to the comments made by their Hong Kong Chinese colleague.
The majority of her responses fell into the skills and experiences coding categories. This
suggests that her own lack of confidence as a facilitator of creativity affects how much autonomy
she feels able to offer her students, although she seeks ways of doing so from her colleagues.
In developing confidence in both students and teachers, the following factors were identified by
the Western Primary teachers:
* what the teacher feels comfortable with
* danger of choosing the easier option
* exploring all options in order to maximize challenge
* displaying students work to promote and celebrate their learning achievements
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* use of praise to encourage them to work even harder, especially for less confident students,
which will liberate them to want to make their own decisions
* ensuring individual students can shine
In providing opportunities for students to become autonomous learners, the following were
identified:
* not setting boundaries allowing students to take tasks further and make their own choices
* allowing the students to drive their curriculum
* developing a classroom ethos where learners are allowed to make decisions for themselves
* pedagogical values of teachers in ensuring the feelings, needs, and learning styles of learners
are considered
* liberating students to feel good about themselves
* providing opportunities for students to choose their working buddies and careful
consideration of ability levels and the impact this may have for students with Special
Educational Needs, including gifted and talented.
5.3.3 Secondary
Three Secondary teachers were interviewed: two of British nationality and one South
African/New Zealand. Support, autonomy, and experiences were highlighted as key factors for
the development of creativity in Secondary-school learners. Of particular interest in these is the
correlation between comments made by the Science teacher interviewed, and his colleagues who
teach subjects Design Technology and English/Drama - which could be considered as more
creative in their natures. However, the Science teacher interviewed stated openly that he believed
74
his teaching and learning would benefit from further training: for me I need a deeper
understanding on what actually creativity actually means and how it interacts with my subject, so
for me personally I would perhaps like some further training. I think there is a need for that on a
whole school level to underpin what actually creativity is and how we can embed that into our
lessons. There needs to be a whole-school culture, a whole-school approach to creativity.
The Secondary teachers echoed the comments made by their Early Years and Primary colleagues
in how support, autonomy, and experiences explicitly affect the creative development of
students. In summary, they perceived the learning climate to be a key factor in supporting the
knowledge building of all students, regardless of the subject being studied. Within this is the
security established in a learning environment that can offer both challenging and rewarding
experiences for students of all abilities.
5.4 Summary of Findings
Table 5.5: Summary of student and teacher interview responses

Factor
Student
Teacher
Personal Factors
Teacher
Attitudes
Confidence
Qualities
and Self-confidence encouraged by Fostering curiosity and passion

the teacher; positive personality
traits of teachers influential in
developing creative learners;
the teachers perceptions of
individuals and their needs
for learning across the curriculum

Self-confidence in facilitating
creativity
and
delivering
appropriate and meaningful tasks
Self-confidence encouraged by
the teacher
Self-confidence in facilitating
creativity
and
delivering
appropriate and meaningful tasks
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Teaching Strategies
Teacher as guide: scaffolding

tasks to support the needs of
students
Exploring strategies used by

colleagues in order to develop
their own competencies
Support
Having meaningful support from

caring teachers; being given
opportunities to work alone, in
pairs, and in groups
Opportunities for Professional

Development; sharing colleagues
skills and talents
Autonomy
Open-ended tasks to explore

different avenues of learning;
being
able
to
select
subjects/topics/tasks according to
interest; freedom in how they
learn
best,
e.g.
as
individual/paired/group learners
Planning and delivering more

boundary-free
tasks,
where
students can develop inquiry
skills;
Skills
Opportunities to develop relevant

skills for future prospects;
The needs of teachers: how best

they can implement creativity into
individual subjects and across the
curriculum
Influence of Self
Intrinsic or extrinsic motivation;

self-belief; interest in subjects;
Motivation and willingness to

explore new ideas
Expectations
Expectations of teachers in
promoting confidence and selfesteem
Pressure
on
students
assessment, homework, time to

complete tasks and the effect of
this on stifling creativity; ethos
and vision of the whole school
Environmental Factors
Curriculum
Having time to complete tasks;

choice in subjects/topics/projects
Time constraints in rigidity of

curriculum; flexibility
space
available;
Purpose and Relevance of Design, purpose, and stimulation Physical
of
the
learning
environment
celebrating
diversity
of
cultures
Tasks
Experiences
and talents; catering for individual

needs and interests; extending
learning opportunities beyond the
curriculum; challenging students
in safe and inspiring learning
environments
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The comments and opinions put forward from the focus group interviews show that students at
the case study international school seek opportunities to
* explore their interests and passions in order to facilitate their learning independence
* enjoy unique experiences beyond the taught curriculum, particularly in art-based activities
* often prefer to be given time to think and work alone
* relish the freedom and autonomy of boundary-free tasks, in which they can explore their own
limitations as learners
* want to be challenged beyond their comfort zones and potentially develop new skills, interests,
and passions.
Fortunately for these students, they have the resources and environment to faciliate these
learning needs. The teachers interviewed are all on learning journeys themselves: some are
further in their development as facilitators of creativity, however they all have common, positive
goals for their students, which they are striving to achieve in their teaching and learning across
age-phases and subjects.
The modelling of key learning strategies such as predicting, questioning, clarifying, and
summarizing, will enable students to develop the ability to apply use these strategies
independently. Teachers should also allow individual learners to approach tasks in different
ways, in order to guide their own learning journeys.
Biologically, as children develop, there is an increasing desire to become autonomous and free
from rules and boundaries. Self-Directed Learning may be one way of nurturing that natural
curiosity in order to encourage more meaningful learning experiences that will continue into
77
adulthood. (Abdullah, 2007). Such learning programmes as the current Enrichment Studies
curriculum, and Primary/Middle Years Programmes are examples of such SDL initiatives.
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Chapter 6 Discussion
The researcher conducted the Student Survey, Student Focus Group Interviews and Teacher
Individual Interviews in the case international school. In this chapter, the findings to the research
questions were discussed with reference to the literature.
6.1 RQ1) What are the creativity styles profiles of the students?
The creativity styles profiles of 130 students were investigated, using data obtained from the
CSQ-C. It was found that the students value fun and creativity in their development as learners.
In comparison, the majority of students agreed that creativity isnt art-based, and as creative
learners, they prefer visual stimulation over the use of tactile and auditory senses. Identifying
levels of creativity in individual students can increase teachers effectiveness in providing a
learning environment that is conducive to creativity (Chan & Yuen, 2013).
6.2 RQ2) Are there differences in the creativity styles between boys and girls?
Gender differences have been widely tested in intelligence (Ju, Duan, & Yu, 2015). However
little research into gender differences in creativity has been carried out. Kaufman (2006) reported
that gender differences in creative thinking tended to differ amongst different ethnicities. The
student survey analysis in the present study indicated that girls, when compared with boys,
tended to agree more on the importance of reading widely to come up with new ideas and having
fun whilst learning.
79
6.3 RQ3) Are there differences in the creativity styles among Year 4, Year 5, and Year 6
students?
Cognitively, as children develop and grow older, their creative thoughts are expected to be
richer in content. Older children are supposed to be higher in creativity as their social experience
and education training become broader (Lau & Cheung, 2010). Findings in the present study
showed that students in Year 5 perceive themselves to be more creative than students in Years 4
and 6, which was also found in a study of 2,476 Chinese students from Years 4 to 9 (Lau &
Cheng, 2010).
6.4 RQ 4) From the students perspectives, what are the personal and environmental
factors that appear to influence students creativity learning in the classroom?
Students identified six common themes in their interview responses: 1) teacher qualities; 2)
teaching strategies; 3) autonomy for students; 4) purpose and relevance of tasks; 5) influence of
self, and 6) influence of others. Educational experiences should encourage all students to develop
as thinkers and creators, as risk-takers and effective communicators (Leong, 2010). Students did
not associate creativity with art-based subjects and felt that it was an element of all school
subjects.
6.5 RQ 5) From the teachers perspective, what are the personal and environmental factors
that appear to influence teachers creativity-fostering practices in the classroom?
The teachers role as facilitator of creativity is pivotal in the development of students as creative
learners. Teachers attitudes and skills are necessary in establishing a learning environment
where creativity can be nurtured (Chan & Yuen, 2014). From the interviews with nine teachers,
80
eight themes emerged: 1) confidence; 2) support; 3) curriculum; 4) autonomy; 5) attitudes; 6)

skills; 7) experiences, and 8) expectations. Teachers implicit theories of creativity can be
influential in their pedagogical practices and attitudes (Pavlovi, Maksi & Bodroa, 2013). All
teachers interviewed were positive about their roles in developing creative learners and valued
the importance of creativity in learning, across age-phases and subjects.
6.6 Culture and Creativity

Rather than the family background and nationalities of students being the main influences for
creative development, it can be seen that the culture of a school is in fact more
influential. Young people are living in times of rapid cultural change and of increasing cultural
diversity. Education must enable them to understand and respect different cultural values and
traditions and the processes of cultural change and development. The engine of cultural change is
the human capacity for creative thought and action (Robinson, 1999b).
6.7 Creativity in an International School

The school as a whole has undergone much change in its physicality, staffing, and student
population in recent years. A new Head of School with the Senior Leadership Team and wider
school community - has already implemented a new strategic vision for the school. The school
has a new website (April 2015) and a much needed overhaul of existing timetables in all three
campuses has been discussed as a whole staff and will be implemented in August 2015. The
[case school] student experience is characterised by a highly personalised learning environment,
small class sizes, creative approaches to teaching and learning, and a broad range of extra81
curricular activities (Tough, 2015). At the case school, creativity is a whole-school issue: it is a
part of the schools development plan strategic vision for teaching and learning. This has
implications for what creativity looks like to teachers, for how creative they perceive
themselves to be, and for how best they can implement creative teaching and learning.
Are examples of creativity more likely to be found in leaders, rather than in managers, as
Gardner claimed, Educators are leaders of learning. They have to transform spaces into safe,
stimulating, and dynamic learning environments, if they are to change the thoughts, feelings,
and behaviours of those whom she seeks to lead (2008).
The teachers interviewed in this study are motivated and skillful professionals. They all shared
the opinion that creativity should be an element of all school subjects, however, in practice, there
is some uncertainty as to how this can be implemented meaningfully and successfully. Such
difficulties were highlighted as timetabling constraints, physical space available, and autonomy
of teachers to be flexible in how they teach their subjects. It was also found that the teachers
interviewed have differing levels of confidence in terms of their own creativity and how best
they can facilitate creative learning in their teaching and learning. Difficulties emerge when
they try pragmatically to be creative, due to a fear of assuming responsibility and a low selfassessment of themselves as creative people (Aljughaiman & Mowrer-Reynolds, 2005; Fryer,
1996).
However, educators must be ever mindful of nurturing lifelong learners. Teacher-student

relationships can be instrumental in doing this, as well as the pedagogical values of teachers and
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in how school leaders develop their vision and ethos. Furthermore, students should be, as far as
possible, be encouraged and motivated to learn beyond the classroom. This was highlighted in
the participants responses in this study. Students have a wealth of information at their fingertips,
questioning the role of teachers in the future. In todays societies, educational institutions are no
longer the sole providers of authentic learning experiences. Educators, parents, peers, and media
have increasingly become more responsible for nurturing childrens learning, and technology has
advanced at such a rapid rate, that this is having a major impact on teaching and learning in the
twenty-first century (Robinson, 1999a).
According to both students and teachers in this study, the promotion of student autonomy seems
to be the most valued aspect for defining how best to facilitate creativity. Students and teachers
consider other factors to be important for creativity in the classroom including the flexibility of
the timetable, nature of tasks provided, student groupings, and relationships between students
and teachers. In addition, students expect to be stimulated and given time to think about their
learning. It is also important for teachers to stimulate students to ask questions and to use open
answers in response to badly structured problems and in divergent and unusual situations
(Diakidoy & Kanari, 1999; Fryer, 1996).
6.8 Creativity in Hong Kong

In 2010, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council published their Hong Kong: Culture and
Creativity document, which explores different ways for Hong Kong to become a more creative
city. It stated The world is constantly changing and with it so must we. Successful societies in
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the 21st century will be those that recognise, as Albert Einstein did long ago, that Imagination is
more important than knowledge. People with the imagination to come up with new ideas, new
ways of doing things or a new point of view are needed to drive our economy forward and help
us all to achieve a better quality of life. People in all walks of life need the opportunity and
freedom to develop their creative potential. Creativity is not confined to the arts but the arts are
the seed beds of imaginative enterprise and key component of our cultural identity. Creativity is
the key. The students and teachers at the case school in this study are working together to
become a collaborate creative community. Building a creative community is vital to spell the
difference between success and survival in a global, knowledge-based, information economy.
Creative communities recognise that art and culture are vital not only to a regions liveability,
but also to the preparedness of its workforce (HKADC, 2010).
6.9 Creativity in Asia

"In countries like China that wish to transform, creativity and innovation have great appeal to
policy makers. In fact, China is now intent on converging what it calls technological innovation
and cultural creativity" (Keene, 2014). What is the impact of such government policy on
education reform in Asia?
In 2010 China launched a ten-year educational curriculum reform, which aimed to promote
creativity and critical thinking in a more student-centered pedagogy. They hoped to follow in the
footsteps of such countries as the USA, where emphasis is placed on innovative thinking and
hands-on experience, which is believed to be lacking in Chinese students. This is also the case in
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South Korea. Despite both Chinese and South Korean students often outperforming students
internationally in mathematics and science, creative and emotional development an be lacking.
"This kind of self-directed, hands-on, creative, collaborative curriculum is rare in China and
South Korea, where the main focus of high school is to prepare for college entrance exams, often
through intense rote memorization and a standardized curriculum" (Voice of America, 2011).
Asian students at the case school have the opportunity to flourish as creative learners alongside
their international peers. Parents have a wide choice of schools in Hong Kong, both local
Chinese schools and international schools. Parents have commented in school surveys that the
case study offers a broad curriculum, with many opportunities for students to pursue other, nonacademic interests.
In an effort to offer an alternative curriculum to that found in the traditional, transmissive

teaching methods, 'experimental schools' have been developed and trialled in China in recent
years. Chinese students are being offered more autonomous learning opportunities.
6.10 Global Creativity

Gardner (2008) defines the creating mind as one that breaks new ground, offering original
ideas, posing unexpected questions, and ultimately is an advocate for neoteric concepts. He states
that such a creating mind is at a premium in the world of today and will be even more so
tomorrow. The global, creative mind is a fusion of both the cognitive and human endeavour.
85
Robinson continued to point out that we are educating students for jobs that havent even been
created yet. In the UK, the Innovation Unit (2006-2012) stated that nearly one million students
are being failed by the UK education system, as they reach the age of 18 without having gained
the necessary skills needed for the world of work. Today's kindergarteners will be retiring in
the year 2067. We have no idea of what the world will look in five years, much less 60 years,
yet we are charged with preparing our students for life in that world. Our students are facing
many emerging issues such as global warming, famine, poverty, health issues, a global
population explosion and other environmental and social issues. These issues lead to a need for
students to be able to communicate, function and create change personally, socially,
economically and politically on local, national and global levels (21st Century Schools, 2010).
The 21st century learner is a knowledge-builder, not a vehicle for information. Curricula must be
inquiry-based and student-centered, with active and autonomous learning, with the educator as
facilitator, not transmitter.
6.11 Limitations and Future Study

The findings in the present study were restricted to one case school. 52% of the students who
were invited to participate in the survey completed the CSQ-C; a larger sample would be more
effective in analyzing data from more students. Similarly, a larger sample of teachers could
assert the present findings and perceptions. For future study, the methodology could be repeated
with students and teachers in other international schools in Hong Kong and in state or public
schools. This research could then be compared with findings internationally.
86
6.12 Practical Implications for Teachers and Administrators in International

Schools
Any programmes of study which aim to develop creativity must be well-planned and systematic.
Activities, tasks, and experiences offered to students should be appropriate and administered in
stimulating and challenging learning environments. The Education Bureau of Hong Kong (2015)
identified the following objectives in the areas of cognitive powers, skills and attitudes:
* Higher-order thinking
* Creativity
* Independent study skills
* Self-motivated learning
* Exceptional potential
* Self-assurance
* Good interpersonal relationships
* Team spirit
* A well-balanced personality
* A spirit of serving the community
This is of particular importance in an international school; the diversity of the students
backgrounds, experiences, and skills must be assessed in order to first establish what their
learning needs are, and how best they can be developed and nurtured. The transient nature of an
international school is significant in changing dynamics within cohorts of students, and in levels
of experience in the teaching staff.
87
Ultimately, a whole school approach to creativity is fundamental: the Senior Leadership Team
need to embed creative thinking and learning at the heart of the schools vision and philosophy,
to be recognized and understood by all stakeholders.
6.13 Concluding Remarks

The findings of the present study explored students and teachers perceptions of creativity at an
international school in Hong Kong. From both the student and teacher interviews, the role of the
teacher was key in providing opportunities for the students to have ownership over their tasks, in
order to nurture their creativity, thus "allowing students to take ownership of their learning;
putting power back into their hands" (Teacher F).
"A creative teacher is the one who encourages reasonable risks and unpredictable situations,
while reinforcing creative activities. A close relationship with students and a motivating class
environment should also be in harmony with a good scientific background of the teacher and
with her/his ability to be challenging at the cognitive level. To encourage the self-confidence and
self-regulation of students, as well as their multiplicity of ideas and their active role in defining
and redefining problematic points, is also important. Finally, the teacher should also be tolerant
of ambiguities, critical of his/her practices and demonstrative of creative abilities (Fautley &
Savage, 2007; Sanchez, Martinez, & Garcia, 2003)."When it comes to preventing students' talent
loss and supporting the development of their creative potential, few people play as key a role as
do students' teachers (Beghetto, 2014). This study has identified the role of the teacher in the
creative process in education. Students have highlighted their expectation for teachers to be
receptive to their needs, ideas, strengths, and interests.
88
When investigating creativity, an individual who may perceive that they have little or no
creativity is more likely to engage in tasks or activities that are more structured and closed in
terms of imaginative input. This has major implications for educators, in that in nurturing
creativity through teaching and learning, they must reach out to all students, dismissive of
cultural backgrounds and negative self-perceptions.
It has been widely recognized that economic reform in China has been successful. However,
Chinese education methods are not advancing at the same rapid pace as the economy (Wang &
Greenwood, 2013). Attributing creativity to student success is more prevalent in Western
societies than in those of Chinese-instructed schools. It has been suggested that students' lack of
creativity and imagination is a concern for educators (Liang, 2010).
The broader the range of multicultural experiences an individual has, the greater the likelihood of
creativity being nurtured (Maddux & Galinsky, 2009). Thus students in an international school
setting may be at a greater advantage than those who are with peers who share their cultural
background. A rich multicultural environment can be enriching not only for students, but also for
educators, where acceptance, tolerance, compassion, and empathy can develop alongside
curricular requirements, and an awareness of individual cultures studied and celebrated in the
host country.
Chinese students are encouraged to achieve in order to be successful, exerting self-discipline and
extrinsic motivation, which is a reflection of their social obligation to their families. This can be
in contrast to Western students, who may be more intrinsically motivated (Wang & Greenwood,
89
2013). Chinese students' perceptions of their own creativity has an impact on their behaviours in
their learning environments, in that they may be less reluctant to expose themselves to new ideas
and strategies.
"When a teacher or student moves from one cultural setting to another, he or she may well be
faced with differences in habitual classroom behaviour, but these should not mask either the
underlying similarities that exist across cultures or the individual differences between students
everywhere" (Littlewood, 1999).
There seems to be agreement about what defines a creative teacher, and the teachers themselves
in this study state some of the characteristics. However some difficulties exist when teachers try
to apply the concept of creativity in their practices and sometimes they feel uncomfortable about
teaching creativity because this involves risk-taking; they should be prepared to learn from their
pupils and not be afraid of taking risks in their teaching and learning (Joubert, 2007). When
learning alongside students from different family backgrounds and being taught by teachers from
different nationalities, differences in perceptions of creativity are less explicit. Other causal
factors for the levels of self-perceived creativity may in fact have more of a direct link to
teaching and learning, rather than to age, gender, and nationality.
90
Chapter 7 Conclusion
In consideration of the findings from the student survey and interviews of the students and
teachers, it can be concluded that there are a number of important pedagogical factors when
considering how best to nurture creativity in an international school setting. These factors are not
straightforward, and a number of implications for schools and learners have been highlighted
from the responses of both students and teachers.
7.1 Implications
The implementation of any curriculum is problematic in that it must foster the needs of the
students and the strengths and skills of the teaching staff. Furthermore, the physical environment
of the school has to be conducive to the developmental needs of the students.
7.1.1 For the School
One such implication is the expertise of teachers when planning and implementing a curriculum
and how best to attempt to cater for all students, particularly when attempting to scaffold
challenging activities and relevant tasks in order to facilitate creativity (McLellan, et al., 2012)
and increasing the opportunities for individual students to become creative thinkers.
In the UK, Her Majesty's Inspectorate OFSTED indicates that "pupils need to engage in forms of
creative learning that encourages them to question and challenge, make connections, see
relationships, speculate, keep options open while pursuing a line of enquiry and reflect critically
91
on ideas, actions and results" (OFSTED, 2010). In this study, students echoed such elements
within their stated learning preferences.
With a very different educational system in a traditional sense, Hong Kong has not been able to
be compared with the UK in the past. However, more recently, the Hong Kong Education Bureau
has instigated reforms in order to move creativity to the forefront of education. "Despite being
near the top of the international performance league tables Hong Kong takes the view that
economic success can only be maintained if more of its citizens become 'imaginative flexible'
thinkers" (McLellan, et al, 2012).
7.1.2 For Creative Learners
There are many challenges facing 21st century learners and educators living in an ever-changing
social and technological age. Classrooms can no longer be the didactic, chalk-and-talk
environments of the past. Learners must acquire a different set of skills for their toolkits, if they
are to secure the jobs of the future, which ironically may not even be created yet. This study
shows the enculturation of 41 different nationalities in an international school in Hong Kong, and
explores perceptions of creativity across those nationalities. With stereotypes and learning
boundaries removed, all learners have equal opportunities in guiding their learning paths. For
some, that may be a more rigid, traditionalist path of education. However, from this study, most
learners in an international educational setting consider themselves to be potential creative
thinkers and learners. As educators, we must endeavour to create the best learning environments
in which to nurture such creativity, not leaving it to chance, or saved for learners who are
92
deemed to be gifted and talented. As exploratory research, this study provides a framework for
future considerations into how best to structure curricular across three key phases, considering
the creative needs of the learners. Much significant information has been collected and future
research would broaden the learning landscape further. Comparative studies between
international schools in Hong Kong would be of particular significance, and could pave the way
for local, Chinese-speaking Hong Kong schools to consider how best they can nurture their
students for life in the 21st century.
In its popularity as a research topic in education, the development of creativity provides a wealth
of information and advice as to how best creativity can be embedded in teaching and learning.
However, this can generate anxieties amongst teachers and parents in ensuring there are
providing challenging and stimulating activities and learning experiences for their students and
children. Csikszentmihalyi (1993) recommended engaging children in self-chosen, challenging
activities, alloing ideas to "flow. He equated this flow of ideas with happiness and can promote
self-esteem and confidence in learners.
Table 7.1 summarizes a practical checklist for enhancing students creativity.

Table 7.1: A Practical Checklist for Fostering Students Creativity Learning
Teachers may apply the following to their teaching and learning:
1. Encourage students creativity to in a relaxed yet inspiring atmosphere
2. Allow students thinking time; to zone out and daydream, to brainstorm and mind
map their ideas, and to share their thoughts with their peers and to think
independently. Higher order questioning is key to this development of thinking
93
skills and in making sense of what they are being taught
3. Provide opportunities for students to guide their own learning, in order to develop
their curiosities and interests as inquirers
4. Celebrate the diversity of students nationalities by encouraging sharing of cultural
festivities and customs. Guest speakers could be invited into school to enhance the
students understanding of these cultural differences.
5. Seek ways for students to relax, and reflect on their learning. It is important for students
to not only celebrate their successes but also feel safe in voicing their anxieties in a
failure-free environment.
7.2 Evaluation of the Research Methodology
In the collection of data for educational research, all methods have their strengths and
limitations. In this mixed-methods study, both quantitative and qualitative methods were
employed. Their strengths and limitations will be discussed in the following sections.
7.2.1 Strengths of the Research Methodology

The key strength of the research methodology was the collection of both qualitative and
quantitative data. This enabled the research to be broader in scope and more analytical. Also, it
was important to have both student and teacher participants from the same case school to ensure
more consistent teaching and learning basis for exploration. It was beneficial to have access to
the 41 different nationalities of student, and the experienced teachers from both Western and
94
Asian family backgrounds. This enabled the research to be contained within one case school. The
instruments chosen for the student survey and semi-structured interviews were appropriate and
unproblematic.
7.2.2 Limitations of the Research Methodology

This study faced some limitations. The sample size of the teachers interviewed was small, and
biased in the number of British teachers. Also, parental influences on perceptions were not
explored, other than the nationalities of parents. There were inconsistencies in how survey data
was collected: some was submitted online and some as paper copies. Nonetheless, much valuable
information was gathered and some practical suggestions for how the case school could use this
data to inform their teaching and learning strategies can be made without prejudice.
7.3 Future Research Directions

In completion of this research study into the perceptions of students and teachers at an
international school in Hong Kong, future research could build on these findings by comparing
similar data from other international schools in Hong Kong. The findings from this study could
also be presented to the stakeholders of the case school, with a view to future action research in
the advent of their recent curriculum development and establishing of a Student Council. The
results from this study may assist in evaluating the current provision for the development of
creativity in the teaching and learning at the case school.
95
7.4 Conclusion
As in this study, students and teachers need to be given a voice: creativity can only be brought to
the forefront of educational pedagogy if students and teachers have a platform and the
confidence to express their ideas and opinions. As expressed by some of the teachers in this
study, training must be provided, rather than assuming that teaching is a naturally-creative
profession. Students and teachers have different views of what makes them creative and how
best they can nurture their creativity.
The strategic vision of many schools globally is to provide creative experiences for students, to
prepare them for life in the 21st century. Teachers need to firstly understand how creativity can
be implemented in their teaching and learning. This could be done through researching case
studies, peer observations, engaging in dialogue with peers and students, and the scrutiny of
planning and assessment before any structured creative tasks can be considered. Such tasks must
be of relevance and interest to their students and their classroom ethos. Discussions with
colleagues are fundamental in drawing on each others talents and strengths. Classroom culture
should be one of creativity, curiosity and stimulation. The creativity of students is compatible
with discipline intelligence is necessary but that it is not enough for creative tasks and students
with or without academic success can be creatively productive (Morais & Azevedo, 2011).
In essence, providing students with a range of learning experiences from all disciplines is key if
students are going to find out what they love about learning. It is this love of learning that could
steer their creative development into to wider world of lifelong learning and employment.
Education will give our young people the skills and creative abilities they need if we as a
96
society are to become a city of the future but it must be the right sort of education. Enabling
children to develop their creative abilities and their understanding and appreciation of culture
provides them with a greater range of opportunities. Art and culture are important in their own
right but creativity is not confined to cultural activities and subjects. Creative individuals are
vital in all walks of life. We need to give support to schools, both through curriculum
development and better provision of human and financial resources if our children are to
discover and develop their culture and creative skills. We need to provide more and better
opportunities for children and everyone else in society to participate in artistic, cultural and
creative activities as part of lifelong learning experiences (HKADC, 2010).
97
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& Richard, C.A. (2008). Assessing creativity with divergent thinking tasks: Exploring the
reliability and validity of new subjective scoring methods in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity,
and the Arts, 2: 65-85.
Silvia, P.J., Kaufman, J.C., & Pretz, J.E. (2009). Is Creativity Domain-Specific? Latent Class
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106
Smoulcha, F. (1992). A reconstruction of Vygotskys theory of creativity. Creativity Research

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Creativity Research Journal, 24(1): 3-12.
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All images Google Chrome except Sternberg & Lubart Investment Model of Creativity (Hulland,
2014).
108
APPENDIX 1
Ethical Approval Letter
To: Miss HULLAND Dawn Louise [MEd[PSE]]

From: Ms Carol Wong, for Secretary, Faculty Research Ethics Committee
I refer to your ethics application for your study entitled Opportunities and challenges for
nurturing creativity in Hong Kongs international school students: Teachers and students
perspectives.
I am pleased to inform you that the Delegate, on behalf of the Faculty Research Ethics
Committee, has approved your application.
I am copying this to the Programme Secretary for information and record.
Thank you for your attention.
January 8, 2015
109
APPENDIX 2
Permission letter from Professor V. K. Kumar
From: Dawn Hulland <dawnhulland@yahoo.com>

Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2014 at 7:45 AM
To: Vanshi Kumar <kkumar@wcupa.edu>
Subject: Creative Styles Questionnaire request
Dear Professor Kumar
I am Dawn Hulland, a primary school educator, and M.Ed. Psychological Studies in Education
student at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. For my dissertation research, I am
exploring the opportunities and challenges for nurturing creativity in Hong Kongs international
school students: teachers and students perspectives. My dissertation supervisor is Dr. Mantak
Yuen.
I would like to use a quantitative questionnaire with approximately 250 students from Years 4,5,
and 6 (8-11 years).
With your permission, I would like to use a modified version of your Kumar and Holman
'Creative Styles Questionnnaire.'
I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.
With kindest regards
Miss Dawn Hulland
From: "Kumar, Krishna" <KKumar@wcupa.edu>
To: Dawn Hulland <dawnhulland@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, 5 December 2014, 9:22
Subject: Re: Creative Styles Questionnaire reques
Re: Creative Styles Questionnaire request
Dear Ms. Hulland
Attached, please find the questionnaire and key for scoring. Please feel free to modify for your
needs.
Thanks,
110
V. K. Kumar
111
APPENDIX 3
Creativity Styles Questionnaire-Revised (Kumar & Holman, 1997)
Creativity Styles Questionnaire-Revised

Dr. V. K. Kumar & Dr. E. R. Holman
West Chester University
The purpose of this questionnaire is to see how people go about accomplishing the creative act.
The term "creative" is used in the sense of doing everyday things in new ways: solving the
problems of daily living and the world of work, engaging in scientific or other research, writing,
painting, developing music etc. We want to know about your own style for creative work.
A number of statements are listed below which reflect different ways one goes about being
creative in everyday life. Read each statement, decide how well the statement applies to you and
respond by using the following 5-point scale:
(1) Strongly Agree
(2) Agree
(3) Unsure
(4) Disagree
(5) Strongly Disagree
If you are answering on a computer response sheet, please fill in the circle (number)
corresponding to your level of agreement using a #2 pencil. If you are answering on the
questionnaire itself, please respond by filling in the circle below the appropriate response using a
#2 pencil.
Please keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers, we just want to know the way you
typically go about doing creative work.
It is best that you do not think about any question for too long. Rather, try to work quickly. Your
answers will be treated confidentially, and will be used for research purposes only.
Please respond to all statements.
Thank you for your cooperation.
______________________
112
Copyright 1997 by V. K. Kumar. Correspondence about this questionnaire may be addressed

to: V.K. Kumar, Ph.D.; Department of Psychology, West Chester University, West Chester, PA
19383.
I consider myself to be a creative person.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
I am engaged in creative type work on a regular

basis.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
Creative ideas simply occur to me without even

thinking about them.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
I typically wait for a flash of inspiration before I

begin working.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
I would describe my style of creativity as erratic or

nonsystematic.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
I have had insights, the sources of which I am

unable to explain or understand.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
I believe in unconscious processes that facilitate my

creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
In my work there are often long gaps during which

I have no motivation.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
I have been able to use many ideas for creative

work that have occurred in my dreams.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
10
I must be emotionally moved in order to be

creative.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
11
I have to be in the right mood or feeling to do

creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
12
When I get a new idea, I get totally absorbed by it

until I have pursued it completely.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
13
I feel that new ideas possess me and guide me

through to completion almost automatically.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
14
I believe that creativity comes from hard work and

persistence.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
15
My creativity comes from careful planning and
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
113
114
Kumar & Holman Creativity Questionnaire

forethought.
16
I practice to be creative.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
17
My creativity comes from self-discipline.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
18
I attribute my creativity to divine inspiration.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
19
I tend to lose my sense of time when I am engaged

in creative work
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
20
I keep a pen/notepad/tape recorder handy to record

new ideas as they occur.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
21
I often let my mind wander to come up with new

ideas.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
22
I typically create new ideas by systematically

modifying (by substituting, rearranging,
elaborating, etc) an existing idea.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
23
I typically create new ideas by combining existing

ideas.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
24
When I examine existing products, I usually

critically evaluate them to see how I can improve
them.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
25
I have often gone back to ideas that I have rejected

before.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
26
I am always thinking (fantasizing) about how to do

everyday things differently.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
27
I typically modify an existing idea only slightly,

one step at a time.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
28
I deliberately reject or ignore conventional or

already accepted ideas to come up with new ideas.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
29
I often look for new ideas outside of my own field,

and try to apply them to my own.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
30
I tend to work on many ideas simultaneously.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
31
I often use the technique of brainstorming to come

up with new ideas.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
114
115

32
I have maintained a notebook/diary of new ideas

that I would like to pursue some day.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
33
When I am generating new ideas, I do not tend to

evaluate them until I have generated many ideas.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
34
I do a lot of experimentation (trial and error) to

come up with a new workable idea.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
35
When I get stuck, I tend to leave the idea for a

while, do something else, before returning to work
on it.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
36
I take walks to come up with new ideas.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
37
I read widely to come up with new ideas.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
38
When I have a new idea, I tend to discuss it with

someone to determine its potential for success.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
39
When I get stuck, I consult or talk with other

people about how to proceed.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
40
I am at my creative best when I work alone.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
41
I am at my creative best when I work with one

other person.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
42
I am at my creative best when I work in a group.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
43
I am secretive about my new ideas.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
44
I typically show my creative products to other

people.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
45
I physically isolate myself from other people when

I am working on creative ideas.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SA
46
I physically isolate myself from other people to

come up with new ideas.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
47
I have often pursued bad or unworkable ideas for a

long time.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
48
I usually have a lot of both workable and

unworkable ideas.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
115
116

49
I work most creatively when I have deadlines.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
50
If I do not have a concrete (visible) creative product

to show (e.g., written composition, work of art or
music, etc.), then I think I have failed.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
51
I enjoy the process of creating new ideas whether

they lead to a final product or not.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
52
When I have completed a creative product, I am

unable to start on a new project for a long time.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
53
I think a final product that is not readily observable

through the senses can emerge in a creative act.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
54
I have set aside a particular place (or places) for

creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
55
I have set aside a particular time (or times) for

creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
56
I have a particular place (or places) where I do most

of my creative thinking.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
57
I have a particular time (or times) during the day

when I do my creative thinking.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
58
I tend to smoke (cigarette, pipe, cigar) before

beginning creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
59
I tend to drink tea/coffee/other drinks with caffeine

before beginning creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
60
I tend to smoke frequently whenengaged in

creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
61
I tend to drink a lot of tea/coffee/other drinks with

caffeine when engaged in creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
62
I ordinarily smoke after I have worked on my

creative idea(s) for a designated period of time.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
63
I ordinarily drink tea/coffee/other drinks with

caffeine after I have worked on my creative ideas
for a designated period of time.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
64
I reward myself in some way after I have worked

on my creative idea(s) for a designated period of
time.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
65
I tend to do my creative work in a quiet place.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
116
117
66
I typically have background music when I am

engaged in creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
67
I use alcohol to get into a mood for creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
68
I use mind altering substances (other than alcohol)

to get into a creative mood.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
69
I typically start my creative work with a prayer.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
70
I typically meditate before I begin my creative

work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
71
I tend to snack when I am engaged in creative

work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
72
I have a favorite tool (a certain pen/easel/thinking

cap, etc.) without which I would find it hard to
concentrate when I am engaged in creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
73
I have a favorite amulet or clothing that I wear

when I am engaged in creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
74
I tend to use my visual sense a lot in my creative

work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
75
I tend to use my sense of hearing a lot in my

creative work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
76
I tend to use my sense of touch a lot in my creative

work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
77
I tend to use my sense of taste a lot in my creative

work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
78
I tend to use my sense of smell a lot in my creative

work.
SA
AG
UN
DA
SD
117
118
APPENDIX 4
Creativity Styles Questionnaire-Children
M.Ed. PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES IN EDUCATION
DISSERTATION RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Student: DAWN LOUISE HULLAND
Supervisor: Dr Mantak Yuen
February 2015
Title
Opportunities and challenges for nurturing creativity in Hong Kongs international
school students: Students and teachers perspectives.
Student Questionnaire: All students in Years 4, 5, and 6
Age:
Year group:
Gender: 1. Female 2. Male
Nationality:
Favourite school subject(s):
1.
2.
3.
4.
Instruction: A number of statements are listed below. Read each statement and
decide how well the statement applies to you. Respond by using the following 5-point
scale, writing your answers next to each statement:
5= Strongly Agree
4= Agree
3= Neutral
2= Disagree
1= Strongly Disagree
Please keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers. It is best not to think
about each question for too long. Your answers will be confidential, and will be used
for research purposes only. Please respond to all statements by circling the
appropriate numbers. Thank you for your cooperation.
1. I consider myself to be a creative person.
2. I read widely to come up with new ideas.
3. I am at my creative best when I work alone.
4. I am at my creative best with I work with one other
5. I am at my creative best when I work in a group.
6. I tend to do my creative work in a quiet place.
7. I typically have background music when I am engaged 1

in creative work.
person.
118
119
8. I tend to use my visual sense a lot in my creative

work.
9. I tend to use my sense of hearing a lot in my creative

work.
10. I tend to use my sense of touch a lot in my creative
work.
11. I tend to use my sense of hearing a lot in my creative

work.
12. I tend to use my sense of touch a lot in my creative
13. I like to reflect on my work.
14. When I encounter a problem, I look for ways to move

forward independently.
15. I prefer to answer closed questions.
16. I am proud of myself when my teacher praises me.
17. I prefer to understand the success criteria before I

attempt a task.
18. Creativity is important in all school subjects.
19. My written tasks are well organised.

20. Creativity is only needed in art-based subjects.
21. I will ask for help if I need it.
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
22. I am more creative when I work alone.
23. It is important for my teacher to have a good sense of

humour.
24. I can be easily distracted when I am working.
25. My class teacher encourages me to be creative.
26. I like to discuss my ideas first.
27. My classroom is vibrant and inspiring.
28. I like to feel that I have done my best after each

activity.
29. I am encouraged to take risks in my learning.
30. I feel confident when sharing my ideas.
31. I feel frustrated when I don't have time to complete a
33. I have a good sense of humour.
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
34. Extra-curricular activities and interests are important.
35. I like to have fun with my friends.
work.
task.
32. It is important to have fun when learning.
119
120
36. I like to share my learning with others outside of the

classroom.
Questions adapted from Kumar, V.K. and Holman E.R. (1997) Creativity Styles
Questionnaire
120
121
APPENDIX 5
Informed Consent Form for School Principal
THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
Faculty of Education
18 November 2014
Dear Principal
international school students: Students and teachers perspectives.
As part of my M.Ed degree, I am required to conduct a dissertation research study.
This will involve inviting colleagues and Year 4, 5 and 6 students to complete
questionnaires. Six students from each of the three year groups (18 students in total)
will then be invited to participate in three group interviews to further discuss their
perceptions of creative teaching and learning. Three teachers from each campus
(Kindergarten, Primary, and Secondary) will be invited to participate in individual
interviews. A semi-structured interview guide will be modified for the purpose. I
anticipate that the data collection will begin in January 2015 and continue throughout
Term 2. Teacher interviews will be conducted out of school hours (approximate
duration 20 minutes per interview); student questionnaires and interviews will be
conducted in agreed break and lunch times (approximate duration 20-30 minutes). All
interviews and questionnaires will be completed in my classroom.
According to the Universitys policy on the ethical conduct of research, I am writing
to ask your consent for these procedures.
I will make sure that the information students provide to me will be treated with the
utmost confidentiality and anonymity. Teachers and students participation is
voluntary. They have the right not to be included in my analysis, and if I find out that
a teacher or student does not wish to be included, I will act according to that wish and
not include the individual teacher or student. They can also choose to withdraw from
the study at any time without negative consequences. As I will audio-tape the teacher
and student participants during the interview procedure for transcription purposes, I
will inform the participants that they have the right to review and erase the tapes
before I start recording. The information collected will only be used for the
dissertation and will be destroyed after the dissertation grade has been approved. All
data and audio recordings will be stored in personal files on my home computer. To
ensure confidentiality of data collected and stored electronically, it will be password
protected and will not be available for third-party access.
If you understand the content described above and agree that your school will
participate in this research, please sign below. Your help is very much appreciated. If
concerns arise about this research, please feel free to contact me, or my supervisor
DrMantak Yuen at mtyuen@gmail.com. If you have questions about your rights as a
research participant, please contact the Human Research Ethics Committee for NonClinical Faculties, HKU (tel.2241-5267).
121
122
Yours sincerely,
Dawn Hulland
MEd Psychological Studies in Education
The University of Hong Kong
Reply Slip
Please tick
I agree to the procedures set out above to facilitate (Name of the student) to
conduct the research project in my school.
I would not like the school to participate in the above project.
Signed by:
Date:
[Name of Principal]
Principal
122
123
APPENDIX 6
Informed Consent Form for Parents
18 November 2014
Dear Parents,
I am Dawn Hulland, a student at the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong
Kong. I am studying for a Master of Education Psychological Studies in Education
degree (MEd), supervised by Dr. Mantak Yuen. I will conduct a research project on
the opportunities and challenges for nurturing creativity in Hong Kongs international
school students and I would like to invite colleagues and students from Discovery Bay
International School to participate. The purpose of this study is to investigate
students and teachers perceptions of creativity and whether there is a correlation
between creative teaching and creative learning.
Students from Years 4, 5 and 6 who participate in this research will
complete questionnaires. Six students from each of the three year groups will then be
invited to participate in a group interview to further discuss their perceptions and
experiences of creativity. The questionnaires should take approximately 30 minutes to
complete. The interviews may last for up to one hour, depending on the discussions.
They will take place in a known and comfortable environment (my classroom) and
will be audio-recorded for transcription purposes. The students may choose to
withdraw from the interview discussion at any time. Their responses will be
confidential and solely for the purpose of my study. The audio-recordings will be
stored in a personal file and will be destroyed after the dissertation grade has been
approved. Only the responses from the students will be used in my study, not the
audio-recordings themselves. There will be no third-party access to the video
recordings.
Please complete the reply slip below by Thursday 11 December to indicate whether
you would allow your child to participate in this research from January 2015. They
will benefit from knowing that their opinions are valued and may encourage them to
consider how creativity can play an important role in their learning processes.
Participation is entirely voluntary, and all information obtained will be used for
research purposes only. If you have any questions about the research, please feel free
to contact Dawn Hulland at dhulland@dbis.edu.hk .If you want to know more
about the rights as a research participant, please contact the Human Research Ethics
Committee for Non-Clinical Faculties, the University of Hong Kong (2241-5267).
Your help is very much appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Dawn Hulland
123
124
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Reply Slip
Student Name:
Class:
I ** will / will not give permission for my child to participate in Dawn Hullands
research.
I ** agree / do not agree to the audio-recording of my child during the procedure.
I ** wish / do not wish my child to be identified. (if the procedure will involve
personal interview)
(** Please delete as appropriate.)
Parent Name:
Parent Signature:
Date:
124
125
APPENDIX 7
Informed Consent Form for Students
5 February 2015
I am Dawn Hulland, a student at the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong
Kong. I am studying for a Master of Education Psychological Studies in Education
degree (MEd), supervised by Dr. Mantak Yuen. I will conduct a research project on
the opportunities and challenges for nurturing creativity in Hong Kongs international
students and I would like to invite all students from Years 4, 5, and 6 at Discovery
Bay International School to participate. The purpose of this study is to investigate
students and teachers ideas and thoughts about creativity and whether there is a link
between creative teaching and creative learning. Students from Years 4, 5 and 6 who
participate in this research will complete online questionnaires. Six students from
each of the three year groups will then be invited to participate in a group interview to
further discuss their perceptions and experiences of creativity. The questionnaires
should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. The interviews will be 20-30
minutes in duration. They will take place in my Enrichment Studies classroom and
will be audio-recorded for my research. The students may choose to leave the
interview discussion at any time. You will have the right not to be included in my
research. You can also choose to withdraw from the study at any time without any
negative consequences. As I will audio-tape all student participants during the
interview procedure for transcription purposes, I will inform the participants that they
have the right to review and erase the tapes before I start recording. Your responses
will be confidential and only for the purpose of my study. The audio-recordings will
be stored in a personal file on my home computer and will be destroyed after the
research study has been graded by the University of Hong Kong in September 2015.
Only the responses from the students will be used in my study, not the audiorecordings themselves. To ensure confidentiality of data collected and stored
electronically, it will be password protected and will not be available to anyone
else. Please complete the reply slip below by Monday 9 February to indicate whether
you agree to participate in this research this term. You will benefit from knowing that
your opinions are valued and may encourage Discovery Bay International School to
consider how creativity can play an important role in your learning. Participation
is entirely voluntary, and all information obtained will be used for research purposes
only. If you have any questions about the research, please feel free to contact Dawn
Hullandatdhulland@dbis.edu.hk. If you want to know more about the rights as a
research participant, please contact the Human Research Ethics Committee for NonClinical Faculties, the University of Hong Kong (2241-5267).
Your help is very much appreciated.
125
126
Yours sincerely,
Dawn Hulland Faculty of Education The University of Hong Kong
126
127
APPENDIX 8
Informed Consent Form for Teachers
18 November 2014
Dear Colleague
international school students: Students and teachers perspectives.
As part of my Master of Education (Psychological Studies in Education) degree at
The University of Hong Kong, I am required to conduct a dissertation research study.
This will involve inviting colleagues and Year 4, 5 and 6 students to complete
questionnaires. Six students from each of the three year groups (18 students in total)
will then be invited to participate in three group interviews to further discuss their
perceptions of creative teaching and learning. Three teachers from each campus
(Kindergarten, Primary, and Secondary) will be invited to participate in an individual
interview with me, in my classroom. A semi-structured interview guide will be
modified for the purpose. I anticipate that the data collection will begin in January
2015 and continue throughout Term 2. Teacher interviews will be conducted out of
school hours (approximate duration 20 minutes per interview).
According to the Universitys policy on the ethical conduct of research, I am writing
to ask your consent for these procedures.
I will make sure that the information students and teachers provide to me will be
treated with the utmost confidentiality and anonymity. Students and teachers
participation is voluntary. They have the right not to be included in my analysis, and
if I find out that a teacher or student does not wish to be included, I will act according
to that wish and not include the individual teacher or student. They can also choose to
withdraw from the study at any time without negative consequences. As I will audiotape all teacher and student participants during the interview procedure for
transcription purposes, I will inform the participants that they have the right to review
and erase the tapes before I start recording. The information collected will only be
used for the dissertation and will be destroyed after the dissertation grade has been
approved in September 2015. All data and audio recordings will be stored in personal
files on my home computer. To ensure confidentiality of data collected and stored
electronically, it will be password protected and will not be available for third-party
access.
If you understand the content described above and agree to participate in this
research, please sign below. Your help is very much appreciated. If concerns arise
about this research, please feel free to contact me, or my supervisor DrMantak Yuen
at mtyuen@gmail.com. If you have questions about your rights as a research
participant, please contact the Human Research Ethics Committee for Non-Clinical
Faculties, HKU (tel.2241-5267).
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Yours sincerely,
Dawn Hulland
MEd Psychological Studies in Education
Reply Slip
Please tick
I agree to participate in the above project.
I would not like to participate in the above project.
Signed by:
[Name of teacher]
Date:
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APPENDIX 9
Semi-Structured Interview Questions - Students

November 2014
Title
Instruction: Please read the following questions and think about your responses
carefully. Please keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers. You will
share each answer with me. Your answers will be audio-recorded and kept
confidentially, and will be used for research purposes only.
Age:
Year group:
Nationality:
Family Background: 1. Asian Family 2. Western Family 3. Others (please
specify):
Favourite school subject(s) (You may choose more than one):
1. Literacy
2. Maths and Science
3. IPC
4. P.E.
5. I.C.T.
6. Mandarin
7. Music
8. Art
9. Enrichment
10. Others (please specify):
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Interview Questions: Six students from each Year 4-6 Group

1) In your opinion, what is creativity?
2) What do you think teachers can do to nurture creativity through learning and
teaching?
3) Is it important to be a creative learner? Why?
4) When do you feel most creative?
5) Have you always considered yourself to be creative? Why?
6) What has contributed to your learning creativity?
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APPENDIX 10
Semi-Structured Interview Questions Teachers

November 2014
Title
Teacher Semi-Structured Interview Guide
Age:
Family Background: 1. Asian Family 2.Western Family 3. Others (please specify):
Nationality:
Position in school:
Number of active years in education:
Age groups taught:
Specialist subject:
Subjects currently taught:
Instruction: Please answer the questions below as fully as you can.
1) In your opinion, what is creativity?
2) Can you give an example of a creative student?
3) What are some of your personal qualities or factors in your own background which
have enabled you to be a better facilitator of creativity in your students?
4) What are some improvements you could make at a personal level which would
enable you to develop creativity in your students?
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5) What are some of the factors in the school or classroom environment that would
enhance your students creativity?
6) What are some of the factors in the school or classroom environment that would
inhibit your students creativity?
7) Is creativity something that can be developed in all children?
8) When do you feel most creative?
9) Do you feel that creativity is an element of all school subjects?
10) Do you believe that a classroom environment can contribute to the nurturing of
creativity?
11) How does praise affect a learners creativity?
12) Which learning and teaching contexts are conducive to nurturing creative
learners?
Questions adapted from CHAN, S. & YUEN, M. (2014). Personal and environmental
factors affecting teachers creativity fostering practices in Hong Kong in Thinking
Skills and Creativity, 12: 69-77.
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APPENDIX 11
Transcription of Year 5 Student Focus Group Interview
Student interview: Year 5
Date: Monday 11 May, 2015
Primary School
Time: 1.10 pm (approximately)
DH: Hello. This is Dawn Hulland (DH) on Monday 11 May, 2015, with six students
from Year 5. Hello students.
All students: Hello/Hi
DH: Student 1, please tell me your details.
Student 1: My age is 9. My year groups year 5. Nationality is the U.S. and Canada.
Im a male and Im from Im Western.
DH: And what would you say your favourite subjects are, Student 1?
Student 1: ICT and Enrichment.
DH: Ok, thank you. Student 2.
Student 2: My age in 9. My year group is year 5. My nationalities are Korean (South)
and Netherlands. My gender is male. My family background is Asian and Western.
My favourite school subjects are Enrichment and ICT.
DH: Thank you. Student 3.
Student 3: Im 9 years old. My year group is year 5. Im pure Japanese. Im female.
My family background is Asian, and my favourite school subjects are Enrichment and
P.E.
Student 4: Um Im 10 years old. Im year 5. Im Australian. Im female, and my
family background is Western. My favourite subjects are Maths and Science, Art, and
Enrichment.
Student 5: I am 10. Im in year 5. Im from Australia and India. Im a male. My
family background is Asian and Western. My favourite school subjects are Music,
Mandarin, ICT, and Enrichment.
DH: Thank you. And student 6.
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Student 6: Um, I am 10 years old. Im in year 5. Im pure Canadian. I am a female. I

have a Western family background, and I like, like my favourite subjects are Literacy,
Music, Art, and Enrichment.
DH: Thank you. Im going to ask you six questions. You can answer at any time.
Please put your hand up before you answer. Question 1. What is creativity? Student
4.
Student 4: In my opinion, basically creativity is thinking outside the box, and coming
up with new ideas that can help change the world.
Student 3: In my opinion, creativity is following your own road and not letting anyone
else come in and say whats bad and just follow what you think is nice and beautiful.
Student 2: Think different.
DH: Anything else?
Student 3: No.
DH: Thinking differently? Ok, thank you. Student 5.
Student 5: I think its doing what you think is right, and if youre not sure, use your
own way to figure out.
Student 1: I think creativity is following your imagination, and doing what you think
is right.
DH: Thank you. And student 6.
Student 6: In my opinion, creativity is doing what you think is right and not letting
anybody else tell you what to do.
DH: Thank you. Very good answers. Question 2. What do you think teachers can
do to nurture creativity through learning and teaching? So at school, in the
classroom, what can me and your other teachers do to grow, to be creative learners?
Lets start with student 3.
Student 3: I think teachers can nurture our creativity by putting more time for art in,
and brainstorming ideas more often individually and not pair working.
DH: Ok. Interesting. Thank you. Student 4.
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Student 4: I think teachers can nurture creativity through learning by making it fun
and not like, boring.
Student 6: I think teachers can help us grow up to be creative by like, making almost
like, cos some teachers are like really strict, and maybe just try like let us have more
freedom around school.
DH: Ok. What do you mean by more freedom, student 6?
Student 6: Um, because maybe they could like, um, almost, cos some teachers are
really funny, and some teachers have absolutely no sense of humour (laughs). Um, so
if you can, if like, if some teachers can be like, maybe like um, be more funny and ask
for our opinion more often.
Student 5: I think to nurture our creativity teachers could maybe um, not give us as
many instructions, and see what we think up on our own.
DH: Thank you. Good example. Back to student 3.
Student 3: I think student 6s idea when it comes to creativity and like, Art, and
brainstorming indivby yourself, let us do what we think we should do and this is a
way teachers can evaluate what we can do and what that group can do.
DH: Thank you. Anyone else? Student 1.
Student 1: I think teachers can nurture creativity through learning and teaching if they
allow kids to have a bit more freedom and try to be a bit less bossy sometimes.
DH: (Laughing) thank you student 1. Student 2, do you have anything to say to that?
Student 2: Teachers can nurture creativity by letting us go our own way and like, what
we think is best to do, and when.
DH: Good, thank you. Good answers. Question 3. Is it important to be a creative
learner, and why? Student 6.
Student 6: I think its important to be a creative learner because if youre not a
creative learner youre gonna grow up really boring and youre not gonna like, know
how to do anything like thatlike art, you probably wont be as good as an artist as
some people, because you cant really think of anything to like, do, or you know
DH: Ok. So do you think that being a creative learner is all about being a good artist?
Student 6: No.
DH: Ok. So what do you understand a creative learner to be?
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Student 6: Er, I think a creative learner is someone who like, has like, some ideas that
arent just like, inside the box.
Student 2: Well I think the same as student 6, like you have tolike its just your
imagination, creativity, and its important to be creative, otherwise you wouldnt
know anything.
Student 3: I think being a creative learnerwe need to be a creative learner because
when we grow up well have more interest in things and we will try new things that
we might have not tried when we were younger.
DH: So you think maybe taking more risks?
Student 3: Yep.
DH: Ok thank you. Student 5.
Student 5: I think creative learning is important because I think creative learners
arent afraid to make mistakes, and they learn from their mistakes.
Student 4: Adding on to student 5s idea about not afraid to make mistakes, they dont
really, like, when they make a mistake they say, like instead of going (shouts) I
MADE A MISTAKE! IM HAVING A BAD LIFE (Laughs)
DH: Student 4 is currently waving her hands frantically, like a mad woman, for the
record.
Student 4: Instead they take a deep breath and then they go I made a mistake, so now
Im going to try this approach, instead of doing this. And then they do it again, and
then they work, and then they finally go ah, I learnt from that mistake.
DH: And she just stroked her pretend beard, for the record.
Student 4: (Still laughing)
DH: Ok, good. And student 1, wrap it up.
Student 1: I think being, I think it is important to be a creative learner because if
youre not a creative learner theres almost no point in life if you have no interest in
absolutely anything.
DH: Very well said. I like that. Question 4. When do you feel most creative?
Student 2.
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Student 2: I feel most creative when Im sleeping. (Laughs)

DH: How do you know you are being creative when youre sleeping, student 2?
Student 2: Because I dream about strange things.
DH: Do you? Can you give me an example?
Student 2: Well, like a horse riding a whale.
DH: Fantastic. Student 5.
Student 5: I feel most creative, like student 2, when I am asleep, but also when Im
alone or listening to music.
DH: Hmmm, good. Student 3.
Student 3: I feel most creative when working by myself, like student 5, because most
of the time I put music on while I work really calm music and my parents and my
aunties come up to me and say please stop the music and I just say it helps me
concentrate more and become much more of a creative learner.
DH: Good. By aunties do you mean your helper?
Student 3: Yes.
DH: Ok, good.
Student: And my aunts and uncles.
DH: And your real aunts and uncles? Ok. Student 1.
Student 1: I feel most creative when Im dreaming, adding on to student number 2,
Student 5: I also feel creative when I stare into a flame.
DH: Hmmm, interesting. How does that make you feel, apart from creative?
Student 5: I like watching it flicker around and the wax melting, if its on a candle.
DH: Ok. Was that wax melting?
Student 5: Yeah.
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Student 4: (animated, expressive voice) I feel most creative when Im doodling, in my

um, inventions book, cos then I look back at the inventions I invented (giggling) when
I was five years old and Im like hmmm, what can I do to improve it? (Still
giggling).
DH: Student 4 is still pretending to stroke her beard. Thank you. Student 3.
Student 3: Sometimes when Im watching tv, um a really random scene comes up
during a, um episode, such as Spongebob Squarepants, and I watch it, and it gives my
head a twist a little bit, and then I think, well sometimes I find it funny, but sometimes
I think ok, I might use this to make, to become more interested in humour and stuff.
DH: (Agreeing) Yeah.
Student 3: So sometimes people makes me think.
DH: OK, good. So media, yeah? Student 6, finally.
Student 6: I feel most creative one when Im doing art, because it actually like helps
me like, um think.
DH: What kind of art do you mean?
Student 6: Um mostly like sketching and doodling.
DH: Ok.
Student 6: Um and um and two I also feel creative when I am listening to music cos it
helps me think.
DH: Good, thank you. Question 5. Have you always considered yourself to be
creative and why? Can you think of a time in your life, perhaps when you werent as
creative as you feel you are now? Student 3.
Student 3: I cant really say Im creative all the time, its awkward but when I come to
art and I havent, I just go ok, I just draw something and I dont have any ideas, so
thats when Im not creative, and when I am creative, we get told to do something by
the teachers and then Ive been thinking about it for a really long time and I go ok,
finally I get to do what Ive been thinking and then I not compare myself in a bad
way, but compare myself to other people and I think Im unique.
DH: Good.
Student 3: And what I did is unique.
DH: So do you think having that time to think that thinking time is important?
Student 3: Yes.
DH: For creativity? Yeah? Ok. Student 4.
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Student 4: Well, I usually consider myself to be creative, but I dont really find myself
when its like the beginning is already there. Like when its like a set topic, like its
like a cat, for example, like theres an image and you have to do it based around that
image and say there was a cat, I would be like Hmmmm I really wish I could be
doing this about cheese instead.
DH: (Laughs) So having the freedom to choose your own subject or topic.
Student 4: Yes, yes.
DH: Ok.
Student 4: But usually I think I am very creative and sometimes when I just walk into
school I, I think about new inventions.
DH: Good, as you mentioned before. Student 2.
Student 2: I consider myself to be creative because I always come up with weird and
surreal things that Ive never thought of before.
DH: Ok, good. Student 6.
Student 6: Um I think like when I was little like when I was five years old I wasnt as
creative as I was now because Ive looked at some of my like old notebooks that I like
drew in when I was five and they were kind of like and I remember when I was five
I was like hey what shall I draw? and my mum was like ok, you could you should
draw this and then Im like ok Ill draw that. I didnt really have, I didnt really do
what I thought of doing myself.
Student 1: I havent always considered myself to be creative, but usually, even if Im
doing hard work, I usually have a completely different thought in my head if its
imaginative or if its about when I get home.
DH: Ok, what do you mean by hard work, student 1?
Student 1: Well, when I mean that, if Im doing hard math homework, or if Im doing
a story Im usually doing, Im usually thinking about a completely different thing in
my imagination which I think is more creative and has more interest in my opinion.
DH: Ok, good. And student 5.
Student 5: I usually think that Im creative because Im not afraid to make mistakes
and I dont really get annoyed when I do.
DH: Hmmm, good.
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Student 5: And like student 1, sometimes when Im doing art or something, I have no
idea what to draw, and when Im writing and Im told what to write about I think of
different things.
DH: Ok, interesting, thank you. Number 6. Final question. What has contributed to
your learning creativity? So what are the factors that have made you, in your
opinion, a creative learner or a creative person? Ill go round the table, if thats ok.
Student 1.
Student 1: Well, I contribute to being a creative learner because I think that it makes
my life much more interesting, then just focusing on the negative thoughts in my
head.
DH: What has contributed to you being creative, would you say? Would you say your
parents, your school, your friends, your interests, your hobbies? What is it that has
made you a creative learner, do you think?
Student 1: My interests.
DH: So what would they be?
Student 1: My interests have many things from like making up different random
things, and thinking about different things and how they look nice or not.
Student 2: Well I think our Enrichment teacher has really made a lot of creative ideas.
Whenever she does a new subject its always new, its not something that Ive seen
before.
Student 3: Adding to student 2, I think the only reason why Enrichment is so good in
that subject is because its I find it that my Enrichment teacher, she thinks
everything good. She thinks about really, really, really cool topics that I think I want
to learn about when I grow up.
Student 4: I think my big interest in Science has really, really contributed, um to my
learning creativity, because there are a lot of subjects in Science and Im interested in
a lot of them and you can learn so much, and reading books, you can learn lots.
DH: Great, thank you. Student 5.
Student 5: I think adding to student 2 and student 3, my Enrichment teacher has
contributed, also my interests have contributed.
DH: And what would they be?
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Student 5: Flight.
DH: Flight? Ah ok, interesting. Student 6, finally.
Student 6: I think adding to student 3, wait, 2, 3, and 5, I think Enrichment has
contributed, but also adding to student 5, most of my interests are creative, like I do
quite a lot of acting, and singing, and art.
DH: So performing arts?
Student 6: Yeah.
DH: And visual arts. Ok, good. Yes student 3 would like to speak again.
Student 3: Doing Enrichment, I used to be a really, really shy girl when I was little,
but I chose, I think, the right topics for me because I choserecently I chose Music
and Dance Around the World and we learnt a dance routine and we performed it in
front of our parents and I didnt feel scared to do it. And when I did T-ball, I used to
think I was really bad at it, but now I can just come up to the T I dont think
whether I do good or not, or even if I hit the T, I just drop it and at least have the guts
to do it.
DH: Excellent. So confidence is important. Yeah. Student 4.
Student 4: I also really think that your everyday lives are a really big contribution in
your learning creativity, because just say you are walking out of your house and say
you like live in an apartment block or something, and youre looking around and you
see lots of plants and stuff and youre like hmmm, thats given me an idea for a new
natural pesticide or something. (Laughing)
DH: (Laughing) Yes. Brilliant. Stroking her beard again. Year 5 it has been my
complete pleasure to spend time with you today. Thank you very much for your time.
It is now 1.34 pm and Id like to say thank you to student 1.
Student 1: Youre welcome.
DH: Thank you to student 2.
Student 2: Youre very welcome.
DH: Student 3.
Student 3: Youre welcome.
DH: Arigato gozaimas (thank you very much in Japanese). Student 4.
Student 4: Youre welcome and thank you.
DH: (Laughing) Student 5.
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Student 5: Youre cool.

DH: (Laughing) Student 6
Student 6: Thank you.
DH: Thank you, people. (Clapping)
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APPENDIX 12
Transcription of Teacher D Interview
Teacher interviews: JL
Friday 6 March, 2015
Secondary School
Time: 9.30 am
Dawn Hulland (DH): Hello. I'm here on Friday 6 March, 2015 with Teacher D. Hello
Teacher D (TD).
TD: Good morning.
DH: And TD, please could you tell me your gender?
TD: I am male.
DH: And your age?
TD: 32
DH: And your family background.
TD: Its Western.
DH: And your nationality?
TD: British.
DH: And what is your position in school?
TD: Im a teacher of Science in the secondary school.
DH: And how many active years in education?
TD: Ten years.
DH: And which age groups have you taught?
TD: I teach mainly 11-18, but Ive also taught adult learners as well.
DH: And in what capacity was that? Further Education?
TD: In Further Education.
DH: Ok. And what is your specialist subject?
TD: My specialist subject is Physics and Science - General Science.
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DH: And which subjects do you currently teach at DBIS?

TD: I teach General Science to Key Stage 3 and Physics to Key Stage 4.
DH: Ok. Please answer these questions as fully as you can.
In your opinion, what is creativity?
TD: Ok. I think there are many facets that make up a creative profile. I think the
ability for students to be able to solve problems, to use new ideas and also to generate
new ideas.
DH: Ok. Thank you. Question 2. Can you give an example of a creative student?
TD: Yeah, so am I being sort of general here or naming specific
DH: Someone, without naming them, but if you could specify their age and why you
think theywhy youve identified creativity in them.
TD: So as a classroom teacher, I think I generally perceive the younger students
Year 7 and 8 as more creative. I think they are much more open and willing to take
risks. I think they enjoy collaboration, and they enjoy generating their own ideas and
presenting their work, presenting in general in ways in which they choose to. They
enjoy taking ownership over that which I think is an important aspect of creativity.
DH: Ok, thank you. Number 3. What are some of your personal qualities or
factors in your own background, which have enabled you to be a better
facilitator of creativity in your students?
TD: I think as a facilitator or a practitioner, Ive certainly learnt over the years to be
flexible with the curriculum, and to offer some choice, to enable students to take some
ownership over that. And also, when setting tasks, I think also, you know, not always
having very, very clear outcomes, and sometimes making those tasks a little bit
ambiguous and ill defined, I think brings out some creative learning and actions
within students.
DH: Good. Thank you. Question 4. What are some improvements you could make
at a personal level which would enable you to develop creativity in your
students?
TD: So I think for me personally, when we talk about creativity and when schools talk
about creativity and creativity being an aspect of the curriculum, for me I need a
deeper understanding on what actually creativity actually means and how it interacts
with my subject, so for me personally I would perhaps like some further training. I
think there is a need for that on a whole school level to underpin what actually
creativity is and how we can embed that into our lessons.
DH: Good. Question 5. What are some of the factors in the school or classroom
environment that would enhance your students creativity?
TD: So I think as Ive said before students having ownership and control over their
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work is really, really important, to enable them to take their learning where they want
to take it. Also I think making sure there is a balance between group and independent
work. I think both are really crucial for creativity. I think there needs to be this idea of
collaboration and sharing ideas, and then on a kind of an independent level then being
able to develop their thoughts and ideas further. I think also that there needs to be
opportunity for the curriculum to be developed outside of the classroom and
providing opportunities that go beyond the kind of the day-to-day, timetabled lessons
within school.
DH: Yes good. Question 6. What are some of the factors in the school or
classroom environment that would inhibit your students creativity?
TD: I think there are all sorts of constraints such as, particularly within Science,
theres quite a deep and broad curriculum that needs to be covered, and I think
perhaps sometimes the priority is on delivering and achieving curriculum goals, and
so there isnt often enough time to enable students to really develop their creative
learning. I think also theres a need, as Ive said before, for teacher training and there
also needs to be a whole school culture, a whole school approach to creativity.
DH: Yes. I agree. Question 7. Is creativity something that can be developed in all
children?
TD: I believe so, yeah. I think with the right climate and the right conditions I think
that creativity, along with any kind of knowledge-building or anything like that can be
developed in all children of all ages.
DH: Ok. Question 8. When do you feel most creative?
TD: At the start of the day.(Laughter). I think there definitely is an element of you
need to be kind of a bit more relaxed and perhaps not overwhelmed with other aspects
so definitely at the beginning of the day, beginning of the week, or time when I can
sort of take time out the normal kind of day-to-day routine and have a moment of
reflection, I find that Im the most creative. And also in collaboration with other
people. I think there are some aspects of creativity where I feel that having another
person or a group of people to share ideas and listen to other peoples ideas, I think
thats an important aspect as well.
DH: Good. Do you feel that creativity is an element of all school subjects?
TD: Yeah absolutely. I think that in the broader sense of the term, creativity I think
there is an element of creativity that could be developed or established in all subjects.
DH: Ok. Question 10. Do you believe that a classroom environment can
contribute to the nurturing of creativity?
TD: Absolutely, and I think that the classroom environment is really, really important,
both the physical environment and the learning environment that the teacher creates is
really important in enablingbecause I think if we want students to be creative they
have to feel comfortable in their environment. There have to be some established
norms within the classroom and the students have to feel comfortable in a) taking
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risks and b) making mistakes.

DH: Good. Question 11. How does praise affect a learner's creativity?
TD: I think praise is really, really important in all aspects of learning, but I think there
has to be a balance between praise and also challenging students, challenging students
to encourage improvement in the work and in the learning that takes place, and also to
provide constructive criticism. So I think when we talk about praise, I think praise
isnt just about saying Oh youve done really well. I think its about that challenge
and constructive criticism as well, thats part of that.
DH: Good. And finally, which learning and teaching contexts are conducive to
nurturing creative learners? Youve already touched on the environment.
TD: So where I suppose really reiterating that, where learners feel that they can make
an equal contribution. An element of epistemic agency, where students can consider
their own values and ideas and compare them with the views and values of other
people, and that collaboration and working towards that balance and whether theyre
critical of themselves and have an understanding of their own beliefs in relation to
other members of the community or society.
DH: Very good. Teacher D, thank you for your time today.
TD: Thank you very much.
DH: Thank you.
TD: Pleasure.
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Title

Opportunities and challenges for nurturing creativity in Hong

Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License

Opportunities and challenges for nurturing creativity in Hong Kongs

A dissertation submitted for the degree of Master of Education

Keywords: creativity; creativity styles; culture; international school

Background of the Study

Research Aims and Questions

Contributions and Limitations

1.4.2 Creativity Learning

1.4.3 Creativity Fostering Practices

1.4.4 Creativity Styles

1.4.6 International School

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Definitions and Concepts of Creativity

Nature and Characteristics of Creativity

Gender Differences in Creativity

Grade Differences in Creativity

The Relationship Between Creativity and Culture

Creativity, Teaching, and Learning

Students Creativity Learning

Teachers Creativity Fostering Practices

The Sample School

3.5.2 Student Focus Group Interview Guide

3.5.3 Teacher Individual Interview Guide

3.7.1 Quantitative Statistical Analyses

3.7.2 Qualitative Coding Analyses

Chapter 4 Findings of the Student Survey

Samples Demographic Characteristics

Students Creativity Styles

Creativity and Gender

Creativity and Grade

Chapter 5 Findings of the Interview Study

5.2.1 Year 4 Students

5.2.2 Year 5 Students

5.2.3 Year 6 Students

5.3.1 Kindergarten (Early Years)

RQ 1) What are the creativity styles profiles of the students?

RQ 2) Are there differences in the creativity styles between

boys and girls?

RQ 3) Are there differences in the creativity styles among Year 4,

Year 5 and Year 6 students?

RQ 4) From the students perspective, what are the personal and

environmental factors that appear to influence students creativity

RQ 5) From the teachers perspective, what are the personal and

Culture and Creativity

Creativity in an International School

Creativity in Hong Kong

Limitations and Future Study

Practical Implications for Teachers and Administrators in

For the School

For Creative Learners

Evaluation of the Research Methodology

Strengths of the Research Methodology

Limitations of the Research Methodology

Future Research Directions

Systems Approach Model of Creativity, (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996)

Componential Model of Creativity, (Amabile, 1996)

Investment Model of Creativity, (Sternberg & Lubart, 1999)

Comparison between teachers who have received training on

Semi-structured interview questions and probes used in

student focus group interviews

Semi-structured interview questions and probes used in