"The less I say, the more creative they are" : social aspects of working with creativity in three compulsory schools in Iceland

In the 21st century, we face increasingly fast changes of a technological, economic, and social nature, and creativity is required to deal with the unpredictable future they create. Creativity is part of many modern national curricula; in Iceland, it is seen as one of six fundamental pillars of education. In this qualitative research project, I explore how teachers in three Icelandic compulsory schools work with creativity and how creative learning and teaching interact with social aspects of the classroom environment. The goal was to explore the teachers’ experiences and strategies in meeting curricular requirements and preparing students for the future. I also aim to provide good practice examples for other teachers interested in creativity. Data was gathered from November 2017 to January 2018. For my research I interviewed seven teachers in three compulsory schools in Reykjavik and conducted six observations in their classrooms. The findings show that the participating teachers agree on the importance of creativity in education as a general approach to enhancing learning and wellbeing. They work on developing creativity by empowering students and individualizing learning, putting emphasis on diversity and freedom in the topics and their approaches. These results resonate with research by Anna Craft, Ken Robinson and others on ways of fostering creativity. Furthermore, the findings show that good relationships in the classroom support creativity, making creativity a joint process of teachers and students