Creativity from theory to school practice

Abstract

At the turn of the century, creativity is becoming young people's need and goal of education due to prevailing belief that creativity in man is a condition of his existence and social progress. The present paper discusses creativity in theories, education acts and school practice, aiming to explore and increase possibilities of encouraging creativity in young people during their formal education. Theories and models (Sternberg, Renzulli Gardner, Necka, Runco) were given first, confirming that creativity has different meanings in different settings, cultures, traditions, social systems, educational-professional groups, families and even in individuals at different ages. There followed the analysis results for Serbian Elementary- and Secondary-School Education Acts, curricula for elementary and high schools as well as relevant instructions for creativity demands to be met by the teachers and students. It was found that there is lack of completeness and coordination between some parts of education acts but also difficulties in defining and measuring of creativity, that some essential characteristics of school, its structure and functioning, are limiting factors for creativity expression and development. The final part provides recommendations for making school more creative. It was concluded that possible response to challenges posed is encouragement of creativity in all students but in teachers too.

Na kraju XX veka, kreativnost postaje potreba mladih i cilj njihovog obrazovanja zbog preovlađujućeg uverenja daje kreativnost čoveka uslov njegovog opstanka i daljeg društvenog progresa. U ovom radu kreativnost je razmatrana u teorijama, školskim normativima i školskoj praksi sa ciljem da se ispitaju i uvećaju mogućnosti za podsticanje kreativnosti mladih tokom njihovog formalnog obrazovanja. Najpre su izložene izabrane teorije i modeli (Sternberg, Renzuli, Gardner, Neka, Ranko) koji potvrđuju da kreativnost ima različita značenja u različitim sredinama, kulturama, tradicijama društvenim sistemima, obrazovno-profesionalnim grupama, porodicama, pa čak i kod pojedinca u različitim životnim dobima. Slede rezultati analize zakona o osnovnoj i srednjoj školi, nastavnog plana i programa za osnovnu školu i gimnaziju i relevantnih uputstava o tome kakvi se zahtevi u pogledu kreativnosti postavljaju pred naše nastavnike i učenike. Uočena je nepotpunost i neusaglašenost pojedinih delova normativa, ali i teškoće u određivanju i merenju kreativnosti, kao i to da neke bitne karakteristike škole, njene strukture i funkcionisanja, predstavljaju ograničavajuće faktore za ispoljavanje i razvoj kreativnosti. U završnom delu rada date su preporuke o tome kako se škola može učiniti kreativnijom. Zaključeno je da mogući odgovor na postavljene izazove predstavlja podsticanje kreativnosti svih učenika, ali i nastavnika.