EVERYDAY CREATIVITY – boosting the internal creative resources of European schools with Finnish models for education for creativity

Topic(s) addressed

• Focus on students’ autonomy, empowering them, improving their critical thinking 

• Learning by doing, exploratory learning, multidisciplinary approaches, experimental learning

• Rethinking the use of space 

• Supporting children with learning difficulties

Target groups

• 20 school teachers 

• over 500 learners 

• 447 teachers and educational stakeholders

Methodologies

• Being “everyday creative” as a new objective set for teachers and students

• Digital self-reflection, reading and getting inspired by positive examples, co-creating learning results and peer feedback as tools to improve schools, communities and teaching practices

• Changing classroom settings, redefining the school’s role

• Varied teaching methods to inspire creativity and new ways of cooperation inside and outside schools

• Creating the Teachers’ Handbook 

The main development areas: 

• Learning space and multi-sensory teaching 

• Applicable skills through teaching

• Interaction and technology in the school 

• Linking different subjects in learning and teaching 

Environments

Developing learner-centred indoor and outdoor environments as a training module for teachers.

Re-designing the classrooms after the on-site training in Finland: 

• creating more educational spaces in schools

• revisiting the use of some school spaces

• redesigning to make the learning environment more welcoming and user-friendly 

• designing a “family school holiday” and learning laboratories

Teachers

• Teachers as the main focus of the project–  the results co-created by practising teachers from all participating countries: 

• They were involved in designing all learning tools (self-assessment tool, training course, follow-up projects, multiplication workshops). 

• They were frequently asked to (self-)reflect, elaborate on current practice and future professional aspirations and find and share best practices. 

• Their commitment was celebrated at “creativity fairs”. 

• Teachers have gone through a complex professional development process as shown in the Teachers’ Handbook.

Impact

The local development projects presented in the follow-up reports (see the Teachers’ Handbook).  

The 20 impact activities/projects, reported from 4 countries and over 30 classes, can be put into one of these categories: 

• Pedagogical thinking (student autonomy, role of student) 

• Pedagogical change (student-centred pedagogy) 

• Learning space and environments, educational spaces;

• Pedagogical tools (apps, materials)

• Pedagogical approach (collaboration, co-teaching, cooperation, interdisciplinarity, learning by doing)