Creative Attitude Of Primary Teachers Related To Educational Activities

Abstract

Creativity is often seen as a mysterious process, which characterizes a small number of brilliant artists and inventors in the great moments of inspiration. In fact, we are all presumably creative. In the context of today's education, the role and importance of the teacher acquires another dimension due to the interactive as well as the creative one. The teacher's creativity requires processes of combination, conversion, imagination and continuous restructuring of data, by the situation of the learner and problematic situations that need to be solved. The present study aims to analyze the level of creative attitude of teachers, respectively the way it is reflected in the organization of educational activities. The basic tool used in determining the creative attitude of primary school teachers was the questionnaire. A first result of the research, otherwise expected, showed that in the primary cycle, the creative attitude of teachers is found in high standards. What was surprising, however, was the second result of the research, namely that creative attitude of primary school teachers is not largely reflected in the educational activities initiated, organized and carried out by them. In conclusion, we can see that the creative attitude of primary school teachers is not directly proportional to the educational activities undertaken.

Keywords: Creativityattitudesprimary teacherseducational activities

Introduction

Contemporary society is characterized by radical changes in science, technology and culture. Psychologists say that being creative means creating something new, original and appropriate to reality.

The research done by Gollann (1963) notes that: the notion of creativity has several meanings in mind:

• creativity as a personal characteristic;

• creativity as a product;

• creativity as a specific process.

In the education of creativity are also involved: methods, procedures, teacher-student relationship (genuinely democratic and cooperative), the teacher's attitude towards the student (open and receptive to the child and the values of his creativity), and the atmosphere created in the classroom teaching. In “Dicționar Pedagogic de Praxiologie” (Bocoș, 2015) creativity is defined as “a unique, complex, interdisciplinary, multidimensional and multi-determined phenomenon, which engages the whole personality and the full potential of educational agents, in associating and combining, in new ways, pre-existing variables, in issuing new ideas, in finding innovative solutions, respectively in manifesting creative behaviors.

Roșca (1981) shows that it represents an “activity or process that leads to a product characterized by novelty or originality and value for society” (p. 17), in a narrow sense. In a broader sense of the word, “creativity also refers to finding solutions, ideas, problems, methods, which are not new to society, but which have been reached in an independent way"(p. 17).

The link between intelligence and creativity was also studied. Cîmpean (2005, p. 18) found that the existence of "convergent thinking" leads to a single solution, while "divergent thinking" will generate multiple solutions. Intelligence allows you to operate with abstractions and find a correct solution, but it is not enough in the absence of a creative ability or if the level of creativity is low.

The field of education imposes as a criterion for validating the creative behavior the efficiency of pedagogical communication. It reflects the dynamics of a job well done, organized according to the following social requirements, adaptable to the specifics of the pedagogical discourse: resistance to minimal change; minimum expenses; technical and economic optimality (Kotarbinski, 1976).

The creative personality of pedagogical type thus supposes the design and realization of the capacity to organize some: repertoires of heuristic and imaginative procedures educated in the sense of creative attitudes; techniques for organizing creative attitudes and unlocking them to achieve productive stages at higher levels of creativity; managerial strategies for expansion of creative learning forms, employed at the level of permanent education (Popescu-Neveanu, 1978).

The training of teachers at the level of the specific requirements of pedagogical creativity implies the stimulation of their capacity for curricular design of the educational activity, in the school and extracurricular environment (Clerc & Dupuis, 1994). This implies:

1) Creation of new structures for organizing training, with intensive stages (2-4 years), through

open modules that provide fundamental information, with superior methodological value in: psychology (general and age); general pedagogy c) sociology of education; d) education management; e) didactics of the specialty; f) pedagogical practice.

2) Elaboration of new models of pedagogical discourse, by orienting the fundamental and applicative knowledge in the direction of solving some problems and problem-situations, combining the science of turning the unpredictable that is non-programmable.

3) Operationalization of pedagogical professionalization devices, by redefining the objectives, reorganizing the structures (in the methodological context specific to lifelong learning and adult pedagogy) and diversifying the written offers made at the level of work ethic, which stimulates creative authorship, innovative learning, social employment, managerial decision.

The comparative analysis of several models of the creative process led Wallas (1926) to the idea that the number of stages in creativity can be reduced to four: preparation, incubation, lighting, verification.

Problem Statement

In the context of today's education, the role and importance of the teacher acquires another dimension due to the interactive training, as well as the creative one. Thus, the atmosphere created by the teacher in the classroom is a factor with major influence on the student's learning behavior. Creating a favorable climate, an efficient collaboration between teachers and students, a warm, affective, positive atmosphere, of exigency, but also of understanding, of responsibility is an essential condition that must be fulfilled in the lesson.

The continuous modernization of education, determined by the rapid accumulation of knowledge, on the one hand, but also their rapid aging, partly, challenges us to form students an active, creative attitude in the learning process, so that they do not stop only to draw conclusions. Teachers have the task of developing intellectual abilities, thinking and confidence in the creative forces that will allow the discovery of new horizons in the field of knowledge.

Creativity in the teaching process involves two variables: stimulating it in students and training, applying creative and attractive methods in teaching. Thus, stimulating students' creativity stimulates the development of their thinking as a source of satisfaction and self-realization. The creative teacher gives students the freedom to express their opinion by promoting an open attitude, respects the opinions of others, strengthens their belief that they can make valuable judgments, trains them in the evaluation process, communicates evaluation criteria and gives them enough time to practice.

Research Questions

In this study we investigate the appreciation of the creative attitude of primary school teachers on educational activities undertaken with students. Therefore, some research questions were asked:

How is the creative attitude of primary school teachers reflected in the educational activities undertaken by it?

What is the attitude of prioritizing the creative elements of primary school teachers?

Purpose of the Study

The present study aims to analyze the level of creative attitude of teachers in primary education, respectively the way it is found in the organization of educational activities.

Research Methods

The 62 respondents who completed the Questionnaire of creative attitudes (Roco, 2001) which measured the creative attitude of teachers towards the didactic, educational activity.

The questionnaire contains 50 items that are divided into 15 categories of attitudes (energy, concentration, orientation towards the new, argumentation of ideas, independence, non-conformism, self-confidence, moral values, orientation towards a more distant future, completion, risk, preference, attraction to difficult problems, diversity of interests, spiritual values, practical values), each category having 3 items. The scale of untruths includes 5 items. Each item being evaluated on a Likert scale with 5 points from 1 (absolutely untrue) to 5 (absolutely true), the higher score indicating a higher creative attitude towards educational activities.

Findings

36% of the questionnaire respondents consider themselves as teachers with a developed creative attitude, but who, due to the multiple work tasks, the necessary time allocated to the preparations, the accentuated rhythm in which they have to go through the learning units, do not have enough time to prepare. On the other hand, 19% of teachers consider themselves to have an expressed creative attitude, while 22% consider that the creative attitude of the teacher is against the depth of lessons, and 21% of respondents believe that it is much more important to focus to the teacher on the content of the lessons than on the creative way of teaching it (Figure 01 ).

Figure 1: Teachers' perception of the creative attitude in the teaching act
Teachers' perception of the creative attitude in the teaching act
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Although of the total number of surveyed teachers 67% consider themselves as a whole, creative people, we note that only 19% manifest this attitude in the classroom, during educational activities. Regarding the variables moral values and practical values, they obtained the most significant scores in terms of the creative attitude of teachers. The lowest scores regarding the need for creative attitude are found in the variables: non-conformism and spiritual values, followed by the risk variable. The need for a creative attitude in terms of arguing ideas, self-confidence and inclination to solve problematic situations are variables scored by 6% of respondents (Figure 02 ).

Figure 2: Distribution of teachers' creative attitude
Distribution of teachers' creative attitude
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Preliminary results of the study highlighted the fact that primary school teachers are aware of and admit the importance of their own creative attitudes, however they encounter certain blockages in exercising it. These blockages may be due, on the one hand, to the random, individual hierarchy of creative attitudes.

On the other hand, the creative attitude of teachers can be overburdened by multiple tasks: preparation of materials, busy schedule, insufficient time in their own training, unavailable or reduced financial resources in terms of purchasing various materials needed to prepare educational activities.

Conclusion

Cultivating creative thinking is an important task for schools today. Stimulating students' creativity is achieved through sustained theoretical and practical training: through the development of work skills and independent experimentation, through the development of critical thinking. The teacher's relationship and attitude in his relationship with students is very important. The authoritarian attitude creates emotional blockages. A relaxed, democratic, friendly climate is needed that contributes to an openness to imagination, to creativity (Weiser & Hayes, 1966).

In conclusion, the creative attitude in the teaching process must be considered a priority in the education system, because it involves an adequate and modern endowment of schools, an adequate and creative training of teachers and, through them, a free and harmonious development of young minds.

The profile of the competencies of the creative teacher acquires new valences, surpassing the traditional one, no longer just a provider of information. The teacher becomes a co-participant in the act of learning, together with the students. The teacher is the one who can encourage or on the contrary, discourage the creative manifestations of the students.

References

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  3. Clerc, F., & Dupuis, P.-A. (Ed.). (1994). Rôle et place de la pratique dans la formation initiale et continue des enseignants [Role and place of practice in initial and in-service teacher training]. Nancy, Éditions CRDP de Lorraine.
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About this article

Publication Date

31 March 2021

eBook ISBN

978-1-80296-103-4

Publisher

European Publisher

Volume

104

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Edition Number

1st Edition

Pages

1-536

Subjects

Education, teacher, digital education, teacher education, childhood education, COVID-19, pandemic

Cite this article as:

Coșarbă, E. M., & Roman, A. F. (2021). Creative Attitude Of Primary Teachers Related To Educational Activities. In I. Albulescu, & N. Stan (Eds.), Education, Reflection, Development – ERD 2020, vol 104. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 202-207). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2021.03.02.22