Teaching creatively and teaching for creativity

In the context of the European University Association’s (2007) initiative on creativity in higher education, which sought to ‘promote a culture which is tolerant of failure and thus encourage the members of the university community to question established ideas, to go beyond conventional knowledge and to strive towards originality’ (EUA 2007, p.7), this chapter considers research evidence on the nature of creative teaching and teaching for creativity. Though closely interrelated, the former is arguably teacher centred whilst the latter focuses more on increasing creativity in general and fostering students’ creativity. In England the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education suggest creative teaching encompasses teachers making learning both more interesting and more effective through using imaginative approaches in the classroom. They suggest teaching for creativity encompasses teachers identifying the creative strengths of the learners in order to build on these and foster their creativity (NACCCE, 1999, p.90). In exploring the relationships between these foci, Jeffrey and Craft (2004) observe that teachers in all sectors may teach for creativity and also teach creatively in response to need and sometimes do both simultaneously. Furthermore, teaching for creativity often arises spontaneously and is more likely to arise in contexts where teachers are teaching creatively. Thus it is feasible to argue that creative teaching includes attention to teaching for creativity. But to what extent does this describe teaching in Higher Education