Intergenerational cultures of creativity: practices promoting active participation and enquiry in the arts

Viewing creativity as socially configured, it is accepted that children’s creative development is significantly influenced by adults and peers. What of the creative development of student teachers? Of particular relevance in this context are ways that adults, including tertiary students, conceive of creativity within a lifelong perspective. Childhood is frequently associated with creativity, spontaneity and freedom from constraint. Conversely, many adults have a limited view of their own creativity. When a final year student teacher was asked to write an initial perspective of her own creativity she asserted,“ I need to start off by insisting that I am NOT a creative person. By this I mean I cannot draw to save my life," she appeared to equate drawing with creativity. Believing that she lacked the skills to save herself through drawing, this student's view of herself a "NOT creative" provides a valuable impetus to consider perceptions of creativity and the arts among student teachers, and in the wider community. How can such perceptions be challenged? This paper addresses intergenerational cultures of creativity to consider ways that attitudes to active participation in the arts are passed on. Wenger's (1998) conception of communities of practice in learning, and White's (2005) concept of an ecology of creativity provide the basis for discussion of practices that promote active enquiry in the arts in teacher education. Following from Thurber's (2004) recommendation for future directions of research in art education, this paper supports the place of reflective practice and student self assessment in tertiary art education programs and encourages the practice of actively engaging undergraduate students in arts research methodologies.