By University of Georgia
Subconscious biases may impact how creative your child’s teacher thinks they are, which could have resounding impacts on their academic future, according to a new study from the University of Georgia.
Researchers found that a teacher’s perception of a child’s creativity is influenced not only by the student’s behavior and “gifted” identification, but also by less traditionally creative characteristics like socioeconomic background and proficiency in English.
“It matters how teachers perceive students’ creativity,” said Sofiia Kagan, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in the UGA Mary Frances Early College of Education. “Otherwise, how can we develop and improve students’ creativity, if teachers do not actually think that students are capable of being creative?”
Teachers look at creativity with a narrow lens
The word “creative” is typically associated with unique, imaginative qualities.
But teachers don’t judge all kids’ creativity equally. The study found that if a student was predisposed to having behavioral issues or was labelled as “at risk”, that determination was made on academic prowess instead.
These kids were evaluated on if they were creative, instead, through achievements in reading and math.
“Teachers don’t actually think of creative as creative. They think of it as successful. They mostly perceive it as well-behaved and as student achievement, which is kind of sad,” Kagan said.
Additionally, the study showed that being gifted positively predicted teacher ratings of students’ creativity, but receiving special education services negatively predicted teacher ratings.
Some children have to work harder to be considered creative
Teachers appeared to notice creativity only in kids who were native English speakers or were not from low-income households, those who did not qualify for free or reduced lunch.
“Teachers seem to notice students’ creativity but only for those groups of students who are a little bit more privileged than other students — it goes hand in hand with achievement and being well-behaved,” said Kagan. “We see this major disconnect in children’s actual ability and teacher perception of students’ creativity.”
Depriving some kids of a validating term like “creative” could negatively impact the trajectory of their educational opportunities, Kagan said.
“To be able to develop student creativity, we need to start with teachers,” she said. “Students would benefit more if the ‘gifted’ education would be available for everybody.”