Abstract:

Recently, the importance of understanding the factors that influence teachers' commitment to students' creativity development has been emphasised. The present study examined how pre-service teachers' beliefs about self-regulated learning practises affect their sense of self-efficacy in promoting creativity in the classroom. The study also examined whether these effects were independent of the socio-demographic variables and goal orientations of the prospective teachers. A sample of 362 students enrolled in graduate programmes for primary school teachers and subject teachers at two Croatian universities completed the online questionnaire. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis indicated that participants' socio-demographic variables had minor effects on self-efficacy in teaching for creativity, with only age showing a statistically significant negative relationship with self-efficacy. Goal orientations had a significant contribution to self-efficacy, with increased mastery-intrinsic as positive and increased work avoidance as a negative predictor of self-efficacy. Finally, positive beliefs about the application of self-regulated learning principles in the classroom teaching had significant positive effects on self-efficacy, independent of socio-demographic and goal orientation variables. When other predictors were controlled for, older students and students studying to be primary school teachers reported lower levels of self-efficacy for developing creativity in the classroom settings. This unexpected suppressor effect needs further investigation and may be specific to the current sample of study participants. The findings are discussed in the context of the increasing importance of promoting creativity in education.

Keywords:

Self-regulated learning, goal orientations, self-efficacy, teaching, creativity.