CREATIVITY AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF POLISH AND AMERICAN TEACHERS

The teaching profession, as well as all professions, requires systematic updating of its substantive knowledge and professional skills, lifelong learning. In lifelong education, this takes place in the process of self-education and various forms of institutional and non-institutional professional training. The article discusses creativity as a motivating factor for Polish and American teachers to undertake professional development.

The theoretical assumptions refer to the understanding of the teacher's competence understood as a transgressive potential associated with creative activity (Męczkowska, 2003), creative personality (Nęcka 2003; Szmidt, 2014), creative attitude (Popek, 1988), creativity as the ability to creative style of personal and professional functioning (Czaja-Chudyba 2006). Moreover, some studies have referred to the need for professional development of teachers and raising their qualifications (among others: O’Sullivan, Chalnick, 1991; Boser, 2000; Portner, 2008; Gołębniak 1998; Mizerek 1995; Dylak 1996; Kwiatkowska 1997).

The aim of the research was to determine the relationship between creativity and reason, types and frequency, as well as to assess the suitability of self-directed learning and professional development in the teachers tested. The research was carried out by use of the original questionnaire for teachers regarding self-education and professional improvement, which the surveyed teachers undertook. In addition, the TCT-DP Creative Thinking test by K. Urbana and H. Jellen was used to diagnose teachers with high creative predispositions and people in whom it is possible to stimulate creative abilities and attitudes. The research group consisted of Polish and American teachers, working in the urban agglomeration, employed by public schools and kindergartens.

Preliminary results show that there is a relationship between the creative attitude of teachers and the professional development they undertake. Teachers' creativity is combined with high frequency and positive assessment of the effectiveness of self-education and professional development, large variety of self-education forms and choosing activities of a creative quality.

The results of the research are an important contribution to the development of pedeutological thought. Observed differences in professional development of Polish and American teachers made it possible to identify cultural determinants of this process.