Creating something out of nothing: Developing my professional creative practices

• Main Authors: Sívertsen, Ásta Möller, Jónsdóttir, Svanborg Rannveig, Guðjónsdóttir, Hafdís
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2022
• Subjects: action research; creativity; flow; preschools' daily schedule; preschool teachers' role; professional development; starfendarannsókn; sköpun; flæði; dagskipulag leikskóla; hlutverk leikskólakennara; þróun fagmennsku; Pillar; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3589

Creativity is a fundamental pillar of education in Iceland, particularly important for the development of young children. Preschools that use the Reggio Emilia approach treat children as capable individuals born with “a hundred languages / a hundred hands / a hundred thoughts / a hundred ways of thinking / of playing, of speaking.” The teacher’s role in creative work is to facilitate opportunities for working creatively, emphasising the process rather than the outcome. This paper describes an action research project I, the first author, conducted on my work in preschool. The purpose of this project was to promote creative practices in my unit, with emphasis on the children reaching a ‘state of flow’ while working on projects based on their ideas. The research project ran from late January 2018 until the end of October the same year. The research question was: How can I as a preschool teacher support creative practices in the classroom on a daily basis? I analysed the data with the support of the second and third author who were my critical friends and wrote the article in collaboration with them. In this article I analyse how I reflected on my teaching practices and formulated my professional working theory.Data collected included a research journal, observations on creative work practices in the classroom, and photographs. I wrote down my feelings and changes I made in the field. I read my research journal regularly during data collection, made changes based on new approaches, and wrote down the effects they had on my teaching practice. I collected the emails I sent to my critical friends weekly during the data collection and writing phase. In these emails, I reflected on my feelings and on the changes made in the field, and asked questions regarding my actions. Once I had the required permissions, I began observing creative work practices in the classroom and taking photographs.Data were analysed consistently and as a whole by the end of data collection. Alongside gathering data, I regularly analysed them ...