Creating something out of nothing: Developing my professional creative practices

Abstract

Creativity is a fundamental pillar of education in Iceland, particularly important for the development of young children. Preschools that use the Reggio Emilia approach treat children as capable individuals born with “a hundred languages / a hundred hands / a hundred thoughts / a hundred ways of thinking / of playing, of speaking.” The teacher’s role in creative work is to facilitate opportunities for working creatively, emphasising the process rather than the outcome. This paper describes an action research project I, the first author, conducted on my work in preschool. The purpose of this project was to promote creative practices in my unit, with emphasis on the children reaching a ‘state of flow’ while working on projects based on their ideas. The research project ran from late January 2018 until the end of October the same year. The research question was: How can I as a preschool teacher support creative practices in the classroom on a daily basis? I analysed the data with the support of the second and third author who were my critical friends and wrote the article in collaboration with them. In this article I analyse how I reflected on my teaching practices and formulated my professional working theory.

Data collected included a research journal, observations on creative work practices in the classroom, and photographs. I wrote down my feelings and changes I made in the field. I read my research journal regularly during data collection, made changes based on new approaches, and wrote down the effects they had on my teaching practice. I collected the emails I sent to my critical friends weekly during the data collection and writing phase. In these emails, I reflected on my feelings and on the changes made in the field, and asked questions regarding my actions. Once I had the required permissions, I began observing creative work practices in the classroom and taking photographs.

Data were analysed consistently and as a whole by the end of data collection. Alongside gathering data, I regularly analysed them throughout the process. I scrutinized the data vavailable, analysed and evaluated and planned my next steps built on the evaluation. That way I was able to influence my practice and change it on the way. However, I did not become conscious of the changes and their nature until I had gathered all the data and scrutinized as a whole in comparative comparison.

I printed out my research journal and the emails. This made the data more tangible, and I found it easier to mark the words, actions, and feelings that interested me. In order to gain a more comprehensive view of the process, I arranged the data in chronological order and viewed the photographs on my computer. My goal was to get to know the data inside out. The findings were organized in three main categories: opportunities in the environment, turning point, and professional confidence. Several themes were analysed in each category and I show how they reflect my feelings with examples chosen from my research journal.

The research findings demonstrate the importance of preschool teachers being active listeners and working to establish mutual respect with the children. When working creatively it is important that children’s learning environments are supportive and that the teacher is aware of environmental factors which increase the likelihood of children attaining a state of flow while working. One of the main lessons of this process was realising the negative effects staff shortage had on my ability to promote creativity in the classroom. I made a conscious decision to think more positively. In so doing, I became more aware of what the children had to say, and thus became better prepared to work with them creatively.