Getting creative in the classroom

Nurturing creativity in the classroom gets teachers and tamariki to think, learn, involve themselves, support one another, and show teamwork, which are important skills for tamariki to learn about while they grow.

Two Aotearoa primary school staff share how and what they do to encourage and incorporate creativity at school.

Belmont Primary School

Belmont Primary School sparks creativity among students and gives them the courage to share their talents because the principal Bruce Cunningham says creativity is a valuable thing throughout a student’s time at school and will be in their future workplace too.

“We teach and encourage our tamariki in the attributes, skills and dispositions of a creative thinker throughout all aspects of the curriculum.”

Tamariki are five years old when they start school and are very curious at that age, he says.

“They have spent the first five years of their life interacting with their environment, exploring their world and building concepts about life. They build things and bust things, they put stuff in their mouths or in their ears and they create in a way that is not constrained by concepts learned later in life.

“This curiosity is a key component to creative thinking at primary school, but is something that can be easily crushed in many children if they start seeing an environment where one person in the room holds all of the knowledge.”

The school integrates creativity as children are always learning in their day-to-day interactions, which is why classrooms are essential to nurturing creativity, he says.

“Creativity is not confined to certain times of the week or only some aspects of the curriculum. In the classroom, teachers know the importance of open-ended questions, allowing thinking time, promoting provocative questions, and a myriad of other simple strategies.”

Palmerston Primary School

Palmerston Primary School Year 5-6 release teacher and senior team leader, Megan Gallagher, believes creativity can only be discussed when referring to the work of the late Sir Ken Robinson. He challenged ākonga to have many opportunities to express their creativity throughout various learning fields, Megan says.

“Creative people come up with creative solutions and we need that more than ever, we can be creative on a stage but also in science and maths. The arts give our ākonga a unique place to learn about themselves, express themselves and develop empathy.

The school focuses on creativity as a school term concept as part of its content-based curriculum.

“I love to give my ākonga opportunities to share their learning in different ways through visual art, drama and movement. Dance is offered as a lunchtime option and on summer days we sometimes take the outdoor speaker under our big oak tree, get some music going and just dance. Giving ākonga explicit lessons to develop skills helps them to build confidence through competence.”

Megan integrates creativity into the classroom through the curriculum as it presents a lens that all learning fields are explored in addition to definite skills being taught for that term, she says.

She encourages students to be curious and have conversations and tasks that involve creative thinking, including the willingness to play with various concepts.

“We are creative in the kitchen and enjoy dress-up days too. Engaging with nature can spark creativity too and we are lucky with our school environment.”