Teaching for Creativity

Supporting teachers to develop young people’s creativity through a broad and diverse curriculum

Like many others, A New Direction believes that creativity is an essential skill that exists across the whole curriculum, not just the arts. Through our Teaching for Creativity programme, we want to support schools and teachers to help children reach their creative potential, with classroom resources and ideas for pedagogies designed to develop creative thinking.

There are lots of models that break down creative thinking, but the pedagogies underpinning this work come from the five Creative Habits of Mind – a concept developed from decades of research that has now been widely adopted into learning policies across the globe. Using the language from The Creative Habits of Mind can help learners reflect, progress and practice creative habits.

  • What are the Creative Habits of Mind?

    The five Creative Habits of Mind: Imaginative, Inquisitive, Persistent, Collaborative and Disciplined, are drawn from the five-dimensional creative thinking model developed through the work of Professor Bill Lucas, Professor Guy Claxton, and Dr Ellen Spencer, who reviewed decades of research and conducted an appreciative enquiry and field trials with teachers. The habits and some suggested pedagogies are outlined in their book Teaching Creative Thinking: Developing learners who generate ideas and can think critically. 

    The diagram below outlines the five key Creative Habits and 15 sub-habits essential for the development of well-rounded, creative students.

    The Centre for Real-World Learning's five-dimensional model of creativity.png
    The Centre for Real-World Learning's five-dimensional model of creativity. Developed by Prof Bill Lucas and colleagues at the University of Winchester

Learning Resources

We have a range of classroom learning resources to support educators in delivering activities and lessons with young people, focusing on developing each habit within various subjects and topics.

  • Teaching for Creativity Taster Cards

    Our Taster Cards provide examples of how to practice the Creative Habits of Mind through a range of quick, playful activities. If you are just getting started with Teaching for Creativity and want to try it out, or if you are looking for practical activity ideas to help embed creative thinking in your curriculum topic, then there will be a Taster Card for you!

    We have a range of Taster Card sets aimed at different settings including Primary, Secondary and SEND. They work across all age groups and settings and can be easily adapted to suit any class. The activities are short with minimal preparation time and few resources, so can be used dropped into a lesson, or as a quick stand-alone activity. Some have suggested topics, such as History, Literacy, Climate Change & Sustainability and Maths – but activities could still be used in other subjects.

    Download the Taster Cards

  • Classroom Lesson Plans

    Our Teaching for Creativity Classroom Lesson Plans draw on the expertise of London’s cultural sector to provide rich learning materials that help develop young people’s resilience and ability to navigate these times. Developed in consultation with teachers who tested the resources in the classroom, they form part of our longer-term commitment to generating relevant and accessible learning materials that help us have braver conversations in the classroom and articulate the power of creativity.

    These resources are underpinned by the Teaching for Creativity framework: they are designed to put the learner in the driving seat, with open-ended engaging activities, learning strategies and questions to prompt dialogue and debate, critical thinking, and creative response. They can be used by teachers across the curriculum in Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3, and explore a range of topics including RSE, the climate crisis, and Black British history.

    The lesson plans can be picked up and taught or used as inspiration on how to embed creative habits across curriculum subjects. Using a split-screen approach, each lesson focuses on one or two of the Creative Habits of Mind in addition to the topic and clearly highlights the activities which support developing those skills so they could be lifted and used in other subjects too. Potential links to Artsmark Award are provided, and we have included tips for adapting activities for pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND).

    Some of our Teaching for Creativity Lesson Plans come with additional supporting materials such as hand-outs, images, presentation slides, and CPD modules delivered by the artists who worked on them.

Training and CPD

Our Teaching for Creativity programme also offers CPD and training in various formats to support teachers in putting the significant theory and research around teaching creative skills into practice across the curriculum. You can access our existing CPD resources, including webinars and self-guided practical sessions to deliver in-school, and find out about any upcoming events.

Explore training and CPD

Critical Curriculum Podcast

Our Critical Curriculum podcast series focuses on other themes outside the Creative Habits of Mind framework. Each episode uncovers approaches to learning that can often be neglected and explores what teachers can do to make space for them in their classrooms, such as supporting wellbeing through drama, the importance of play and physical movement in the classroom.

Listen to episodes now

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