Abstract:

One of the major challenges of contemporary pedagogy is enabling pupils necessary conditions for creative expression in classes, and one of the significant outcomes of education is enabling them to independently and creatively solve problems. Creativity is not a skill which can be learned in the education process because every child possesses unlimited creative potential. In teaching, and especially in teaching art, it is important to encourage creativity in pupils because it affects their emotional and cognitive development and helps develop imagination. While adult creativity is evaluated in the final stage, the most important aspect of creativity in children is the process, which needs to be spontaneous. Accordingly, in addition to basic knowledge and competencies which include knowledge of the developmental characteristics of the child, professional pedagogical knowledge also requires knowledge and competencies to stimulate pupils’ creativity. In order for teachers to be able to help develop somebody's abilities and creative potential, it is necessary to first develop their own competencies. In the research that has been done so far, the creativity of the teacher has been emphasized as the key factor in stimulating the creative potential of the pupils. Therefore, we conducted an empirical study among early education teachers in primary schools in Croatia (N=144), to examine how they encourage creative expression of pupils in art classes. Anonymous questionnaire was created for the purpose of this research and used to collect the necessary data. The results of this research provided insights into the self-assessment of the creative potential of teachers and ways of encouraging creativity in teaching art, because the role of the teacher is to create opportunities, and a positive atmosphere where pupils’ creativity will be stimulated and encouraged. Pupils will be creative whenever they are allowed and encouraged to be themselves, and whenever they have opportunity for their individual expression and creation.

Keywords:

Creativity, teaching, art education, competencies.