The Arts in Schools - Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

38 Quality Quantity by itself is insufficient, indeed almost irrelevantnot as a criterion of creativity. J S Bach wrote a large numberquantity of cantatas, but we remember them because they weregood ones. Similarly, if we were assessing the creative achievementof Hemingway or Emily Bronte against that of IanFleming or Georgette Heyer, the raw number of worksinvolved would be a comparatively minor consideration. 6Generally, however, we do also look for the ability to produceworks of a high standard on more than one occasion.Our seventh condition of creative work then is consistency. 1But essentially the work must be judged as being good ofits kind. It must come up to and possibly surpass the acceptedstandards of excellence in its own sphere. It is in this respectthat the context of creative work is particularly important.39 The In describing something as creative we are judging it incontext of relationship to particular standards of achievement. Whatcreative those standards are and how we apply them depends uponwork the sphere of activity in question. Creative work is possiblein all the various modes of thought and action of whichhuman beings are capable. It makes just as much sense totalk of creativity in science, engineering, mathematics andphilosophy as in the arts. It is not only artists, writers,musicians and dramatists who are creative, but also thosewho put up hypotheses in science; who work out alternativegeometries; who advance new interpretations ofhistory; who develop new accounts of meaning in philosophy.All of these may be creative according to the conventionsand standards obtaining within the area of workconcerned and in terms of the conditions we have outlinedhere. For this reason and in terms of our general educationalprinciples, it is not enough to, promote creative activity onlywithin one or other part of the curriculum. The need andthe opportunities for creative activity must be seen as centralto all work in schools.40 A Our view of creativity is radically different from some ofdifferent those commonly put forward in education. We make noview of apologies for this. We believe that our analysis well accordscreativity with the standards and criteria of judgement ordinarilyapplied in calling a person's work creative and that theseshould apply in school. Furthermore, it generates someuseful guidelines for the promotion of creative activity byall teachers.41 Implic- First, our analysis suggests that there is no necessary conationsfor nection between IQ and creativity; or between divergent,teaching unconventional and fantastic thinking and really creative32