Celebrating creativity collaboratively: Inspiring PGCE English trainees to teach creative writing

Abstract

Creativity in writing In the context of recent and on‐going changes in the National Curriculum, this article outlines an initiative collaboratively undertaken by PGCE English tutors at three neighbouring universities in the South West of England; with their 70 Secondary English trainees, they challenged themselves as creative writers, guided by a T. S. Eliot Prize‐winning poet and a professional story teller and writer. The article explores their quest to translate the renewed emphasis derived from policy to (re)–introduce creativity into the English classroom. Their inter‐university collaboration sought to develop their PGCE trainee teachers’ self confidence as creative writers; provide an experimental experience of how to stimulate the creative process in the classroom; and encourage them in turn to nurture their students as creative writers and appreciative, critical readers of others’ creative writing. We offer a case study which has the focus of teaching for creativity whilst simultaneously being an act of creative teaching. Finally, questions which emerged during the enterprise are posed about the role of creative writing in the secondary English classroom.

Permission to fly: Creating classroom environments of imaginative (im)possibilities

“…While English teachers in the UK have potentially been ‘given permission to foster the “elusive” concept of creativity in the English classroom’ (Fitzgerald et al. : 58), English teachers in South Africa are facing new constraints. Given these constraints, it is important to make an argument for the value of creativity in educational contexts, particularly in the writing classroom, to conceptualise creativity in substantial ways and to look at studies of teachers who create environments of creative possibilities.…”

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If we accept that almost all writing can be approached creatively, then we should be establishing classroom environments which explore the possibilities of ideas and the possibilities of language to express these ideas (Cremin and Myhill 2012: 24).Recently there has been a renewed focus on creativity in the UK English classroom, that has not been seen since the 1960s and early 1970s (Fitzgerald et al 2012). This has, in turn, generated much debate, research and discussion about what creativity is, its implication for creative writing and most importantly how teachers can create classroom environments that promote creative learning and creative writing.

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“…There has been a policy shift away from this kind of approach in the UK (Fitzgerald et al 2012). While English teachers in the UK have potentially been 'given permission to foster the "elusive" concept of creativity in the English classroom' (Fitzgerald et al 2012: 58), English teachers in South Africa are facing new constraints.…”

English in Education: The first fifty years

“…Fitzgerald et al. () suggest that such policy developments mark a revival and celebration in teacher and pupil creativity. They refer to influential works such as Kress () and Robinson (), and advise that trainee teachers should nurture their students' creative writing abilities in a multisensory, collaborative environment in which risk taking is actively encouraged and supported.…”

“…Additionally, this presents signs of the 'teaching to the test' culture that James Britton and Nancy Martin (1988) were so However, by Volume 46, when the UK coalition government has just come to power and frameworks for Ofsted inspections and the QCA's Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills have been revised, a renewed sense of anticipation for the future of teaching writing (and English) emerges. Fitzgerald et al (2012) suggest that such policy developments mark a revival and celebration in teacher and pupil creativity. They refer to influential works such as Kress (1995) and Robinson (2006), and advise that trainee teachers should nurture their students' creative writing abilities in a multisensory, collaborative environment in which risk taking is actively encouraged and supported.…”