Teachers’ Perception on Creativity: A Case Study of Primary Schools in Indonesia

Abstract

This  study  is  an  initial  attempt  to  build  understanding  about  primary  school  teachers‘ perception  of  creativity.  Therefore,  the  ways  to  identify  and  to  improve  creativity  among primary  school  teacher  can  be  developed.  In  addition,  this  study  examines  the  factors  that enhance creativity and also the obstacles to creativity. Curriculum as the main guidance and underpinning in the implementation of education is also analyzed. Fifteen primary schools in Yogyakarta, Indonesia are involved in this study. The data gathering process was carried out from the use of interviews.   This study found that teachers perceived creativity in education as creative teaching, which means that it is an approach to teaching that emphasizes an interesting and effective way of teaching, rather than teaching creativity which refers to teaching for the purpose of providing and  nurturing  creative  thinking  in  the  students  (Jeffrey  and  Craft,  2004).  The  teachers  also perceived that creativity in teaching was a way to prevent the students from boredom so that the students‘ engagement could be improved. Achieving the target, specifically reaching the best  score  in  the  final  examinations,  was  identified  as  the  factor  that  mostly  motivated teachers  to  use  creativity  in  the  classroom.  For  teachers,  Curriculum  2013  opened  up  more opportunities  from  them  to  improve  creativity.  However,  a  qualified  and  more  structured training  program  was  still  needed  to  perform.    As  a  result,  the  teachers  could  get  more comprehensive  information  and  knowledge  regarding  the  concepts  and  the  applications  of this  new  curriculum.  Several  factors  such  as  the  availability  of  infrastructure  or  facilities, teacher  parallel  groups,  and  workshops  and  training  were  identified  as  ways  of  improving creativity.  Meanwhile,  short  times  provided,  paperwork,  and  other  teacher  duties  were identified as obstacles of creativity.  Based on the findings, this study recommends that the improvement of creativity should be expanded within the syllabus of teacher training, and other teacher qualification programs. It is  important  because  teaching  practices  in  Indonesia,  especially  in  primary  school,  are dominated by a teacher-centred approach and poor creativity.  This study is divided into some main parts. The first part is the introduction that provides the background  related  to  the  main  discussion.  The  second  part  describes  the  definitions  of creativity based on several sources and becomes the reference to the discussion of creativity in this study. The third part clarifies the role of creativity in the scope of learning activities in classroom. The fourth part presents primary school teachers‘ perception on creativity.