Teachers' beliefs about creativity and its nurture: A systematic review of the recent research literature

The successful implementation of creativity in education is largely dependent on teachers' own beliefs about creativity, which have been investigated extensively in the past 25 years. With the growing emphasis of creativity in education, teachers today might not hold the same beliefs highlighted by earlier research. The current systematic literature review sought to identify, describe, appraise and synthesize the most rigorously available recent empirical evidence base on in-service K-12 teachers' beliefs about creativity. 53 studies published between 2010 and 2015 were included in the review. Findings suggest that teachers hold several beliefs that enable and numerous that hinder creativity development in schools. The review also highlighted recurrent incongruence between teachers' positive or adequate beliefs and their enacted classroom practices. Finally, several contextual, student- and teacher-related factors were identified as influencing teachers' beliefs about creativity. Overall, teachers' beliefs were found to be heavily context-dependent. Implications for policy, practice and research are discussed.