Creative constructions: notions of creativity and their place in "high-stakes" assessment

Abstract

This thesis articulates the case for assessment for creativity, rather than assessment of creativity. It proposes a nomadic creative pedagogy to resist the construction of creativity as perpetual commercial training (Deleuze and Guattari 1994). These proposals are constructed from an empirical study into creativity and summative assessment in the context of Scottish secondary education. Scotland’s school education system has traditionally been presented as innovative and successful. However, there are moves to reform the curriculum and National Qualifications to better reflect contemporary globalised policy imperatives regarding creativity. In these desiring-productions (Deleuze and Guattari 1983), driven by bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Economic Forum (WEF), creativity is a “21st-century skill” that is essential for social and economic progress. The OECD’s new creativity test for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) regime attests to the strength of these desires. Despite this policy activity, there is little evidence from Scotland on the role of creativity and approaches to assessing it. As such, this study contributes important empirical evidence about the nature of the creativity-assessment relationship in Scottish schools. A nomadic schizo-methodology was assembled to undertake a qualitative exploration with teachers from six secondary schools. Local authority officers were also interviewed, and two focus groups were held with a diverse range of education practitioners from across a local authority area. Using the concept of the war-machine (Deleuze and Guattari 1987), the research also maps the manoeuvrings of the creativity movement across the territory of public education. The findings are presented as tangled tales that are woven together to form the principles of desire, guide, pickaxe/torch, caesura, provocation, continuance, and map/trace. The thesis concludes with a discussion of how a transversal creativity which “becomes” through the teacher-student war-machine can offer a potential way out of entrapment.