Creating and sustaining a culture of creativity

Perhaps the most helpful, and clearest, definition of culture is the idea that is 'the way we do things around here'. In education that simple phrase covers a multitude of possibilities in understanding how schools work. What does seem to be consistent is that school culture is to a very significant extent the product of leadership behaviours and values. A key manifestation of a school's culture is the status of creativity. The following questions help set out the possible range of issues associated with creating and sustaining a culture of creativity: to what extent can the relationships in the school be characterised as high-trust? Is creativity an explicit component of school policies, strategies and job definitions? How does the school define the learning process? Are learning and creativity seen as symbiotically related? How widely distributed is leadership? How is leadership defined? In what ways is creativity recognised and celebrated in school? The article explores these questions by first asking, 'why focus on creativity?' then examining the characteristics of creative people. The author concludes that if creativity is to be appropriately valued and achieve the necessary status then the key behaviours of leaders may have to change. [Author abstract, ed]