How do I learn to inspire and support my primary education students’ creativity in design and technology?: Finding the courage to move from craft to creativity in primary design and technology

In this paper I give an account of an action enquiry I undertook from 2006–2008 as a higher education-based senior lecturer in primary design and technology. I work with students in Initial Teacher Education who are training to be teachers of children aged between 5 and 11 years. The purpose of my research was to find ways of developing new, more supportive pedagogies that would encourage students’ independent creativity, and enable them to move from a safe practice of reproducing products, for which I use the term ‘craft’, towards a more risky practice of creating original designs. This, I recognise, was a challenging venture for me as many of my Primary education students had little opportunity in their previous educational experience to develop their innovative, creative skills and frequently preferred to look to me as an ‘expert’ supplier of ready-made solutions rather than inventing their own. Yet I persisted in my efforts to live my values of independent and courageous enquiry in the interests of a more enlightened educational experience for all, which, I am pleased to report, was successful, as I go on to explain.