Implicit individualism in teachers’ theories of creativity: through the “four p’s” looking glass

Abstract

This paper reports the results of research into teachers’ implicit theories of creativity. The implicit theories of creativity held by teachers may influence their educational practice and attitude toward students’ creativity and its development. The participants were 144 primary school teachers from Serbia. The teachers were administered a questionnaire that included an open ended question asking them to define creativity. The teachers’ responses were then qualitatively analyzed in line with the Four P’s model of creativity. The most frequent responses belonged to the category of the creative person, followed by those responses that pointed to the creative process. The creative person was described in terms of personality, ability, motivation, talent and giftedness, as well as knowledge. The creative process included cognitive, expressive, practical and imaginative aspects. The implicit individualism in teachers’ theories of creativity is discussed in the light of nurturing student creativity at school.