Vol. 9 No. 1 (2015): Creativity and the implications for a creative/creativity pedagogy

Discussions of creativity have considerable currency in the elds of education and artist scholarship at present. Educators (and artists) have a vested interest in the question of whether creativity can be taught, nurtured or simply recognised as innate. Selzer and Bentley (1999) writing ahead of Ken Robinson’s highly in uential All our Futures (1999) addressed the debate head on, arguing persuasively that creativity “is the application of knowledge and skills in new ways to achieve a valued goal.” Robinson later elaborates on qualities identi ed as characteristics of creativity: using imagination; pursuing purposes; being original; judging value (Robinson, 1999). What these and other critical inquiries into the nature and practice of creativity served to do for those of us working in the creative arts was to provide an impetus for critical inquiry into the pedagogies of creativity. If we are to accept that creativity is not an inherited characteristic or an innate skill but can indeed be fostered, supported and generated then there is clearly a role to be played by educators in this endeavour and by scholars and practitioners associated with the materials of innovation and imagination – frequently found in the creative arts. The Journal of Artistic and Creative Education is a tting place for continuing and broadening the discussion around creativity and implications for a creative/creativity pedagogy and this issue takes up this opportunity. Five highly individual papers each present a way of thinking about creativity, education and artistic practice, and the relationship between these elements.