CULTIVATING LITTLE-C AND MIDDLE-C CREATIVITY IN FUTURE ENGLISH TEACHERS

Abstract

Creativity can be taught, and teacher education should develop the everyday (little-c) and professional (middle-c) kinds, not the rare world-changing (Big-C) kind. This article sets out a framework for developing creativity in future English teachers. It also offers a model, the Creative Pedagogy Pathway (CPP), and a rubric for assessing it.
We use the definition of Plucker et al.: “creativity is the interaction among aptitude, procedure, and the environment that allow a person or group of people generates a perceptible product that is simultaneously novel and useful as defined within a social context” (Plucker et al., 2004, p. 90).
We treat creativity as a lifelong, developmental construct. Everyone has the capacity for it, and it can be fostered from an inclusive, democratic standpoint (Craft, 2001). Teachers play a crucial role in bringing creativity into the heart of formal education.