Inquiry Areas of Creative Interest - what are the things I am already curious about? What creative opportunities exist?

Following from our recent Skype I decided to simplify things (as there is so much you can explore!) I decided to start by coming up with 5 areas I want to look at within my school that are all opportunities for the use of Creativity. You talked about exploring what 'already exists' in mainstream Education, so I thought today, 'when are the moments that there are profound creative opportunities in school at the moment?'

These are all moments that I haven't yet analysed, particularly the creativity within teacher planning! (This would be a topic that would help me massively in developing as a teacher!) Maybe I could use some lesson plans as evidence and data to analyse?

Title: An exploration of the Creative Arts in mainstream Education

Main Areas to look at in my Inquiry that already exist

Creativity in English Lessons

·         When are the arts used in lessons?

·         How often are the creative arts used within lessons?

·         What dramatic and artistic techniques to teachers use in their lessons?

·         What effect does it have?

Using Creativity in Teacher Planning

·         Why do primary teachers feel the need to schedule in drama within their lessons?

·         Are creative techniques used sufficiently in teacher planning?

·         How do teachers create their lesson plans together in their teaching planning meetings? What works? How do they create something they all agree on?

Creativity Opportunities in Wider Curriculum Subjects

·         What are the opportunities for creative development within wider curriculum?

·         What are teacher’s viewpoints on the wider curriculum?

·         How do various teachers teach wider curriculum subjects? Such as Art? PE? Science? History?

Creativity in Assemblies

·         What different artistic stimuli are included within assemblies by teachers?

·         How do leaders and teachers of assemblies use the arts to their advantage throughout assemblies?

·         How do external educational companies, such as The Family Trust use dramatic and performance techniques effectively?

Creativity in Religious Education

·         How have I been using the arts in my religious education lessons?

·         How are the children responding to the use of arts in my lessons?

·         What are the ways I haven’t used the arts in my lessons yet?

·         In what ways have the children been able to be creative within religious education lessons so far?

·         How can I be more creative in my teaching methods? 


I sent these ideas to Adesola and she told me that these looked like some good ideas, however it's important to remember that I try not to tie ideas down. It is all a reflective process, not necessarily a structured one. She advised me to look into literature that follows up these questions and then collect the data from what I read. This looks like a good starting point - reading up on all current ideas and working out for myself what this tells me about my school, the UK, my practice, my topic etc. This is my next plan...better get reading!