What's stopping us? Barriers to creativity and innovation in schooling across Europe

Theoretical definitions of creativity influence how and to what extent it is valued pedagogically and hence the usefulness accorded to innovation in the classroom. If it is seen as a realm for young geniuses, removed from the everyday of learning situations, then creativity becomes an elite affair and not the remit of most teachers. Similarly, if pedagogic innovation in teaching is something that requires an enormous infrastructure of new technological tools, then its absence can be blamed on the lack of such tools. A democratic view of creativity as something that can be nurtured to greater or lesser extents in all humans and that enhances both learning and life-skills, however, is, of late, a more common claim in discussions of this topic. Classroom practices, however, do not always remain in synch with the latest debates in any given field. This chapter articulates practical insights from research carried out by the authors for the Institute of Prospective Technological Studies (henceforward IPTS) in Seville on creativity and innovation in compulsory education across Europe.