Developing creative thinking

RUTH UNSWORTH AND PETER RAYMOND, SENIOR LECTURERS, YORK ST JOHN UNIVERSITY, UK The ability to think creatively is recognised as a key life skill in our complex, globalised society (Vincent-Lancrin et al., 2019). Yet there is conflict surrounding definitions and uses of creativity in relation to education. Some authors argue that creativity is a skill common to high-performing learners (Eyre, 2016) and describe how schools may establish conditions in which creative thinking can be nurtured (James et al., 2019). Others argue that through moves such as the inclusion of creativity in PISA 2022 (OECD, 2022), creativity has been misappropriated for purposes of furthering economic development, thus losing some of its essence (Mould, 2018). In this article, we explore how we might define creativity, before offering practical food for thought for schools around one approach to developing creativity in teaching and learning. What is creativity? ‘Creativity’ can be seen as derived simultan