IMPLICIT THEORIES OF CREATIVITY IN EARLY EDUCATION / IMPLICITNE TEORIJE KREATIVNOSTI U RANOM ODGOJU I OBRAZOVANJU

Abstract

SUMMARY

 The paper examined the educators' implicit theories of creativity from the point of view of creativity styles and Kirton's adaption-innovation theory of creativity. According to this theory, all people can be creative at different levels and can express their creativity in different ways, mostly through interest and preferred cognitive style. Since Kirton's theory of creativity is in harmony with contemporary pedagogical requirements of the educational system that encourages each individual’s maximum potential, the authors aim to determine how educators in early education comprehend creativity and whether they differ in implicit theories with respect to some socio-demographic characteristics. When assessing creativity of the child with the adaptive and the innovative style of creativity, the results showed educators' preference of innovative style of creativity. Furthermore, it was established that educators who work in public kindergartens and have more work experience estimated adaptor to be significantly more creative while educators who work in private nurseries found innovator significantly more creative. There were no differences in the assessment of creativity with regard to the assessment of educators' personal creativity. The results confirm the importance of understanding educators' implicit theories of creativity for their pedagogic practice as it was determined that the practical effect may largely depend on the theoretical view which a practitioner represents.

Key words: adaption-innovation theory of creativity, early education, implicit theories of creativity, styles of creativity

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SAŽETAK:

 U radu su ispitane implicitne teorije odgojiteljica o kreativnosti s motrišta stilova kreativnosti i Kirtonove adaptacijsko-inovacijske teorije kreativnosti. Prema toj teoriji svi ljudi mogu biti kreativni na različitim razinama, a svoju kreativnost mogu iskazivati na različite načine i to najčešće kroz interese i preferirani kognitivni stil. Budući da je Kirtonova teorija kreativnosti u suglasju sa suvremenim pedagoškim zahtjevima za odgojno-obrazovnim sustavom koji će poticati maksimalni razvoj potencijala svakog pojedinca, radom se željelo utvrditi kako odgojiteljice u ranom odgoju i obrazovanju poimaju kreativnost te razlikuju li se u svojim implicitnim teorijama s obzirom na neka socio-demografska obilježja. Prilikom procjene kreativnosti djeteta s adaptacijskim i djeteta s inovacijskim stilom kreativnosti utvrđena je općenita preferencija inovacijskoga stila kreativnosti u odgojiteljica. Nadalje, utvrđeno je da dijete adaptatora značajno kreativnijim procjenjuju odgojiteljice koje rade u državnim vrtićima i koje imaju dulji radni staž, dok dijete inovatora značajno kreativnijim procjenjuju odgojiteljice koje rade u privatnim vrtićima. Nisu utvrđene razlike u procjeni kreativnosti s obzirom na procjenu osobne kreativnosti odgojiteljica. Dobiveni rezultati potvrđuju važnost razumijevanja implicitnih teorija kreativnosti odgojiteljica za njihovo pedagoško djelovanje jer je utvrđeno da praktična djelovanja mogu uvelike ovisiti o teorijskom polazištu koje praktičar zastupa.

Ključne riječi: adaptacijsko-inovacijska teorija kreativnosti, implicitne teorije kreativnosti, rani odgoj i obrazovanje, stilovi kreativnosti