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Creativity And Cultural Innovation In Early Childhood Education

Creativity and cultural innovation in early childhood education

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  This article was downloaded by: [Open University]On: 10 June 2013, At: 08:27Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK International Journal of Early YearsEducation Publication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ciey20 Creativity and cultural innovation inearly childhood education Dorothy Faulkner a  , Elizabeth Coates b  , Anna Craft a  &Bernadette Duffy ca  The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK b  University of Warwick, UK c  Thomas Coram Early Childhood Centre, London, UKPublished online: 22 Jan 2007. To cite this article:  Dorothy Faulkner , Elizabeth Coates , Anna Craft & Bernadette Duffy (2006):Creativity and cultural innovation in early childhood education, International Journal of Early YearsEducation, 14:3, 191-199 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09669760600879839 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLEFull terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditionsThis article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representationthat the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of anyinstructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primarysources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings,demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly orindirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.  International Journal of Early Years EducationVol. 14, No. 3, October 2006, pp. 191–199  ISSN 0966-9760 (print)/ISSN 1469-8463 (online)/06/030191–09© 2006 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/09669760600879839 EDITORIAL Creativity and cultural innovation in early childhood education Dorothy Faulkner a * , Elizabeth Coates b , Anna Craft a  and Bernadette Duffy c a The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK; b University of Warwick, UK; c Thomas Coram Early Childhood Centre, London, UK  TaylorandFrancisLtd CIEY_A_187910.sgm10.1080/09669760600879839InternationalJournalofEarlyYearsEducation0966-9760(print)/1469-8463(online)Editorial2006Taylor&Francis143000000October2006DorothyFaulkner [email protected]  The initial inspiration to develop a special issue of the International Journal of EarlyYears Education  focusing on Creativity and Cultural Innovation in Early ChildhoodEducation came from a symposium on young children’s music making at a meetingof SEMPRE, the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (April 2004)and from a three-day workshop on Creativity and Cultural Education held during theFifth Warwick International Early Years Conference (March 2005). At both events,there were fascinating presentations on very young children’s cultures, their creativeactivities and the creative environments that support these. Moreover, there was generalagreement between delegates: firstly, that culture and creativity should be regardedas socially constructed, dynamic dimensions of children’s activities and socializationthat emerge through interactions with other people and with the environment and,secondly, that there are important relationships between creative and cultural educa-tion that have significant implications for pedagogy and practice in the early years.In the UK this latter view has been spelt out in some detail in the RobinsonReport,  All our futures: creativity, culture and education  (NACCCE, 1999). Keyrecommendations from this report were that: ● the importance of creative and cultural education should be explicitly recognizedand provided for in schools’ policies for the whole curriculum and in governmentpolicy; ● teachers and other professionals should be trained to use methods and materialsthat facilitate the development of young people’s creative abilities and culturalunderstanding; * Corresponding author. Faculty of Education and Language Studies, Briggs Building, The OpenUniversity, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK. Email: [email protected]    D  o  w  n   l  o  a   d  e   d   b  y   [   O  p  e  n   U  n   i  v  e  r  s   i   t  y   ]  a   t   0   8  :   2   7   1   0   J  u  n  e   2   0   1   3  192 D. Faulkner et al. ● there should be partnerships between schools and outside agencies to provide thekinds of creative and cultural education that young people need and deserve.The Robinson Report and its recommendations served as a ‘call to arms’ toeducational researchers, policy makers and practitioners. The six years since itspublication have seen a proliferation of research, systematic reviews and reports oncreative teaching and learning (e.g. Craft, 2001a; Fryer, 2003; Learning and Teach-ing Scotland, 2004; Sharp, 2004), and the establishment, in 2001, of the BritishEducational Research Association, Special Interest Group on Creativity and Educa-tion by Anna Craft and Bob Jeffrey. There have been important developments inearly years and primary education policy spearheaded in England by the Qualifica-tions and Curriculum Authority (e.g. Craft, 2005), in Wales by the Welsh Assemblygovernment, the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations andAssessment, and Learning and Teaching Scotland. Partnerships between schools,creative professionals and outside agencies from all areas of the arts, sciences andICT are happening through initiatives such as the National Lottery funded NationalEndowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and the CreativePartnerships programme funded jointly by the Department for Culture, Media andSport and the Department for Education and Skills. National and local evaluationsof projects supported by these programmes are currently underway (e.g. Doherty &Harland, 2001; Evaluation Team, Faculty of Education, University of CentralEngland in Birmingham, 2003; EXCITE! Research Team, 2004; Faulkner, 2006).In England and Wales creative development is now one of six Areas of Learning thatforms the basis for the foundation stage curriculum for three to five year olds (e.g. QCA,2003), and in England now forms one of the six Areas of Learning and Developmentbeing proposed for babies and children up to the age of five (DfES, 2006). Given allthe research and activity taking place in the UK and the rich accounts of innovativeresearch and practice centring on children’s creative and cultural education fromaround the world shared by international delegates at the Fifth Warwick InternationalEarly Years Conference, it seemed timely to propose this special issue of the journal.In the initial call for submissions the editors wanted to encourage people to submitexamples of research that matched one or more of the following criteria: ● the development and systematic evaluation of curriculum innovations thatpromote the creative talents and/or cultural understanding of young children; ● methodologically focused work on the design of creative pedagogies intended todevelop young children’s thinking, learning and creative expression; ● systematic explorations of learning models and assumptions implicit in curricu-lum and pedagogy intended to nurture young children’s creativity; ● systematic evaluations of innovative partnerships between early years educationalsettings and outside agencies designed to extend the learning experiences of youngchildren; ● the development and evaluation of initial training and continuing professionaldevelopment opportunities for early years practitioners that allow them to planand implement a creative curriculum that meets the learning needs of all pupils;    D  o  w  n   l  o  a   d  e   d   b  y   [   O  p  e  n   U  n   i  v  e  r  s   i   t  y   ]  a   t   0   8  :   2   7   1   0   J  u  n  e   2   0   1   3  Editorial  193 ● methodologically focused work that explores the what, how and why of docu-menting ‘creative learning’; ● international comparisons of early years provision designed to offer learning oppor-tunities that promote young children’s creative talents and cultural awareness.We had a very encouraging response to this call and received many interestingabstracts from colleagues—far too many, indeed, to include in a single issue. Thepapers that we eventually selected were those that, to us, seemed to meet the abovecriteria most closely. They were also papers that introduced new perspectives andways of thinking about young children’s creative and cultural development andeducation or papers that challenged traditional perspectives. All of the papers in thespecial issue demonstrate how research on everyday aspects of early childhood andyoung children’s experiences can inform our understanding of how creative thinkingskills and cultural awareness develop and/or are revealed through close observationand careful documentation. We chose not to include research that explores the rela-tionship between play, creativity and imagination as this has been documentedadequately elsewhere (e.g. Moran &  John-Steiner, 2003; Duffy, 2006). We deliber-ately wanted to move away from the commonly held assumption that creative andcultural education is the preserve of the arts rather than the concern of the curricu-lum as a whole. Also, we wanted to challenge assumptions that ‘cultural’ educationis solely about introducing children to high culture through drama, music and thearts.  All our futures  offers a much broader definition of cultural education as ‘Formsof education that enable [children and young people] to engage positively with thegrowing complexity and diversity of social values and ways of life’ (NACCCE, 1999,p. 5). Some of the contributions selected, therefore, describe large-scale, nationalcurriculum initiatives that locate creative and/or cultural education outside of thearts. Other papers take the view that childhood cultures are distinctly different fromthose of adults. Listening carefully to what young children talk about when they areengaged in imaginative activities such as drawing, story telling and music makingcan provide unique insights into their creative intentions and cultural constructions.The first two papers, by Margaret Barrett and by Elizabeth and Andrew Coates,respectively, exemplify this view and argue that children are active agents in thecreation of their own cultures rather than passive recipients and imitators of adult-based cultural values and activities. The two papers also offer systematic overviewsand critical evaluations of traditional models of learning and assumptions implicit incurricula and pedagogies intended to nurture young children’s creativity.Barrett draws on a longitudinal, ethnographic study of children’s music-makingactivities as composers, song makers and notators in Tasmania to present a convinc-ing argument that young children’s invented song making is foundational in thedevelopment of creative thought and activity. A detailed case study of a young child,Charli, and the songs she invented between the ages of four and six years is offeredas evidence in support of this argument. Barrett shows how invented song is aplayful activity that involves both the generation of srcinal material through sponta-neous improvisation and the reworking or adaptation of familiar songs and rhymes.    D  o  w  n   l  o  a   d  e   d   b  y   [   O  p  e  n   U  n   i  v  e  r  s   i   t  y   ]  a   t   0   8  :   2   7   1   0   J  u  n  e   2   0   1   3  194 D. Faulkner et al.Her research shows that invented song should be understood as a dialogicalcommunicative practice that takes place between children and between adults andchildren. Invented songs are not static entities. Although they may have a constant,underlying theme, this is elaborated and changed through repeated performance aschildren use the songs to express feelings and establish their identity in the here andnow.Children’s spontaneous song making has been observed in many different cultures.While she makes no claims as to its universality or otherwise, Barrett points out thatthis challenges notions of musical creativity and giftedness and suggests that musicalability is distributed normally within populations rather than being restricted to aminority of talented individuals within a population. The dialogic nature and srcinsof invented song also challenge the notion that children’s spontaneous music makingis usually a solitary creative endeavour. In a discussion of the perceived status of children’s musical output, Barrett exposes an assumption implicit in traditionalmodels of musical development and learning that spontaneous music making issomehow deficient and lacking in value because it does not conform to the accepted,‘high art’, cultural canon. One of this paper’s main messages for early years educatorsis that, within the general domain of children’s music making, invented song is adialogic tool that children use to express their identity and construct cultural mean-ings and understanding. It should therefore be respected as a musical form in its ownright and should be actively encouraged rather than marginalized. Just as Barrett challenges traditional models of musical development, Coates andCoates challenge traditional, developmental accounts of age-related changes inchildren’s drawing abilities. Such accounts focus on the end product, the drawingitself, and neglect the simultaneous utterances that children often employ as arunning commentary during each drawing episode. Coates and Coates argue thatclose attention to these simultaneous utterances can inform researchers and practi-tioners about the nature of children’s creative intentions and thought processes.Over the course of a year, Coates and Coates undertook a detailed ethnographicstudy of three- to five-year-old children’s drawing activity in four early years settingsin a large city and neighbouring towns in the Midlands of England. Acting asparticipant observers, they played an active role in the talk and conversation thatchildren naturally engage in during self-directed drawing activity. Field notes, audiorecordings and transcriptions and the drawings themselves were used to explore therelationship between the drawings, the accompanying narratives and the thinkingprocesses children engage in during each drawing episode. A key aim of the studywas to consider what these relationships reveal about children’s creative and concep-tual development.According to Engel (2003, pp. 50–51), ‘When children tell or write a story, theirexperience as they make the story is one way they explore spheres of reality andmodes of thinking. Not only do they “work on” whatever content is in their story,they also “work on” how to blend, contrast and integrate different spheres of experi-ence and different modes of thinking.’ Story making is not necessarily always anindividual activity; young children also enjoy co-constructing stories and draw on    D  o  w  n   l  o  a   d  e   d   b  y   [   O  p  e  n   U  n   i  v  e  r  s   i   t  y   ]  a   t   0   8  :   2   7   1   0   J  u  n  e   2   0   1   3