Creativity in 21st-century education

The 2006 UNESCO conference Building Creative Competencies for the 21stCentury had international participants and a global reach. The Director-General’s proclamation that “Creativity is our hope” captured the essence of the proceedings and participants saw the focus on creativity as offering solutions to global problems. However, educators tend not to understand creativity appropriately or to value it strongly—and they tend to see it only through Western eyes. Only by considering other cultural views will we gain insights that can inform educational practice in the 21st-century global community. This article discusses some recent studies of creativity, reflecting the growing global interest in it and comparing that interest with established Western perspectives. A more comprehensive, international perspective might support a press for fostering creative thinking in schools and inform practices in our increasingly interconnected world; however, teacher training must introduce teachers to the diversity of views and the expectations of local people. © 2014, UNESCO IBE.