46-69

• Kampylis, Panagiotis G.
• Saariluoma, Pertti
• Berki, Eleni

Background: The fostering of creative thinking has become a key target for Greekprimary education and for music education in particular. Creativity researchers have proposednumerous recommendations concerning fostering creative thinking in the context of primaryeducation. However, there is limited research regarding creativity recommendations (CRs) proposedby primary teachers.Focus of Study: The qualitative study presented here aims to investigate and analyse Greek primaryteachers‟ CRs because they are the professionals who foster (or should foster) students‟ creativity inpractice.Setting: Three comparable focus groups were formed. Discussions took place in June 2008 inAthens, Greece, and lasted approximately two hours each. The first author of this paper acted asmoderator.Participants: Twenty-one Greek primary teachers with diverse backgrounds and expertiseparticipated voluntarily. All participants were in-service teachers in primary schools in the Athensregion, and three were music teachers.Research Design: Qualitative study relying on data collected through recordings of discussionswithin the three focus groups.Data Collection and Analysis: Transcriptions of discussions within the three focus groups resulted inan electronic document of approximately 45,000 words. A six-phase thematic analysis was adoptedfor locating, analysing, and reporting teachers‟ CRs.Results: Primary teachers‟ CRs were classified under three broad categories: (1) features of thecreative teaching and learning process; (2) common traits of the creative student, and (3)characteristics of the creative environment. Data analysis revealed that teachers‟ CRs deal mainlywith the characteristics of the creative environment, particularly the inhibiting features. Very few of the teachers‟ CRs are student-centred, and even fewer are student-oriented or student-originated.Finally, we propose four essential CRs missing from the previous taxonomy.Conclusions: The study provides a starting point for further research on CRs provided by primaryteachers. We conclude that primary teachers need a comprehensible and practicable set ofrecommendations on how and why students‟ creative thinking should be fostered.

• Educational sciences

• Εκπαίδευση
• Μουσική στην εκπαίδευση

fostering creative thinking, creativity recommendations, primary teachers, primary education, manifold thinking

Author Note:This research has been financially supported by grants from the Greek State Scholarship Foundation(I.K.Y.) and the Greek Ministry of Education, Life-Long Learning and Religious Affairs. At the later stages,COMAS, the graduate school of the Faculty of Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä has alsoprovided financial support. The authors thank the Greek teachers who voluntarily participated in thefocus groups study.All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Panagiotis G. Kampylis,50A Agiou Ioannou str, 14342, Nea Philadelphia, Greece.e-mail: pankabilis@sch.gr

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