Can creativity be assessed? Towards an evidence informed framework for assessing and planning progress in creativity

This article considers the role of constructions of creativity in the classroom and their consequences for learning and, in particular, for assessment of creativity. Definitions of creativity are examined to identify key implications for aiding the development of children’s creativity within classroom. The implications of assessing creativity in order to aid its development within and across subjects are explored through the consideration of existing frameworks for the assessment and development of creativity. Enablers for creative teaching and learning are considered in order to propose a model of assessment and development for creativity.  

The last two decades have witnessed an escalation of interest in the nature, place and importance of “creativity” as an important concept and aim within the European education system. This interest has occurred simultaneously to, and has interacted with, concern for developing pupils’ creativity in a number of other nations. Indeed, a range of research-based documents have pointed to the ‘increased call for creativity in education by policy-makers in many parts of the world’ (Craft, 2006: 337). In her summary of recent educational policy interventions aimed at stimulating creativity and creative education, Craft (2006: 338) includes, amongst others, the following: ‘the emergence of specific creative learning projects’ together with  the ‘interest taken in creativity by the schools' inspection services and a number of EU policy papers and policies extolling the importance and benefits of developing creative educational initiatives.

Yet despite this high level of policy and curricular interest in creativity concerns remain about the extent to which the creativity of pupils is universally being developed. The English Cambridge Primary Review noted that many of its submissions lamented that children’s ‘opportunities to express themselves creatively had been eroded in the past 20 years.

In this paper, we consider the nature of creativity in education and the tensions surrounding its assessment.

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