Discovering Vision

Theoretical foundations
and practical solutions
in the field of creative learning

Litekeenaren bila
Kohti uusia nkemyksi
Sviluppare nuovi orizzonti
Descubriendo horizontes
Visionen entdecken

Creative learning and networking for

European Innovation
A project funded by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture
Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission
Project number
143725-LLP-1-2008-1-ES-KA1-KA1SCR

The University of the Basque Country

(coordinator)
The University of Edinburgh
Educode
Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences
Tallinn University
Universal Learning Systems

Lead partners.
Management: Jess Ibez
Scientific team: Dr Idoia Fernndez; Dr Maite Arandia; Dr Ana Eizagirre; Dr Marta
Barandiaran; Izaskun Etxebarria; Dr Pilar Ruiz de Gauna; Dr Esther Torres; Ainhoa Ezeiza;
Nerea Agirre.
The University of the Basque Country

Involved partners.
Stephen Farrier; Dr John Davis; Dr Pat Gannon-Leary. The University of Edinburgh,
Scotland.
Dr Krista Loogma; Meril marik. Tallin University, Estonia.
Heidi-Maria Listo. Educode, Finland.
Kitte Marttinen. Haaga Helia University of Applied Sciences, Finland.
Dr Alan Bruce. Universal Learning Systems, Ireland.

Identifying Best Practices.

Stephen Farrier; Dr John Davis; Dr Pat Gannon-Leary. The University of Edinburgh,
Scotland.
Dr Krista Loogma; Meril marik. Tallin University, Estonia.
Heidi-Maria Listo. Educode, Finland.
Kitte Marttinen. Haaga Helia University of Applied Sciences, Finland.
Dr Alan Bruce. Universal Learning Systems, Ireland.
Jose Luis Fernndez Maure; Iaki Mujika; Ramn Martnez de Murgia, Tknika, Basque
Country.
Mauro Chiarel, Hannes Haller. Tangram SRL, Italy.

CREANOVA project
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication
reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained there in.

INTRODUCTION
The main aim of the LLP Transversal Research Creanova Project is the
production of theoretical and practical knowledge on creativity and
innovation in the learning process - as well as identification of concepts,
methods and best practices that demonstrate and reflect innovative
learning. This report presents the findings of the first part of that process. It
examines the theoretical and research background to innovation and
creativity in learning. It examines the foundations of human creativity in
relation to cognition, articulation and transfer of learning concepts and
methods.

It surveys the literature and academic research in regard to

conditions for innovation and creative learning while pacing hem in the
context of the profound systemic changes caused by process of socioeconomic transformation and globalization.
The Report was compiled by transnational academic, research and training
partners under the coordination of the University of the Basque Country
between December 2008 and October 2009.
The two key objectives have been:

To build a theoretical framework that defines concepts of creativity,

innovation and learning (and their inter-relationship in current global
contexts)

To identify key teaching-learning practices in selected countries that

underpin the development of creative and innovative skills in the
areas of Vocational Education and Training, Adult Education and
technical and creative industries.

This process has been enriched by the diversity of participating partners universities, adult education providers, private research agencies and public
statutory organizations. Working across eight countries, seven languages

and varying cultural and economic contexts has been a source of rich
learning for the whole team.
The document has three central elements. The first is to meet the
requirement to write a comprehensive paper that addresses the key aspects
under review. The theoretical approach encompasses contributions from
different disciplines (pedagogy, psychology, sociology and economics), in an
engaged social analysis of the world we inhabit. The hypothesis is that
creativity and innovation as part of learning do not arise in a vacuum, but
find their raison d 'etre and development in social, economic, political and
ideological contexts. The analytical focus moves from broader contexts to
more particular ones (group or individual) and then engages with the
educational world of education and formal learning.
The second part presents the tool designed for identification of best
practices in each of the countries concerned, as well as documented
practices. The tool is a questionnaire aimed to get documented descriptions
of selected practices in VET areas, technical and creative industries and to
facilitate comparative analysis. This aims to collect data and evidence on
successful practices that may be transferred to other contexts. This
preliminary analysis has shown certain trends in best practices and
contrasted them with prevailing ideas.
The study and discussion enabled an interpretative model based on four
key-factors:

need,

freedom,

interaction

and

environment.

These

encapsulate the meanings and elements present in the overall project.

The third part is a creative synthesis of the foregoing, and not its mere
summary. It reflects the key concepts with learning design specialists can
operate when approaching the dynamics and requirements of sustainable
innovation and creativity to meet the learning needs and challenges of our
times.

PART 1.
Theoretical Approach.
Theoretical interpretation.
Conclusion.
Bibliographic references.

PART I. THEORETICAL APPROACH

I. LEARNING AS THE CORE OF THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
1.1. From industrial societies to knowledge societies: key changes.
1.2. Understanding learning in the knowledge society
1.3. Learning as the Collaborative, Co-construction of knowledge
II. CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION: CONCEPTUAL
CONVERGENCE
2.1. Creativity as an object of scientific study: genesis and
development.
2.2. Innovation as an object of scientific study: genesis and
development.
III. CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE LEARNING IN THE WORLD OF
WORK AND EDUCATION
3.1. Society, learning and work
3.2. New learning environments: networking and community based
learning.
3.3. Towards new forms of professionalism.
IV. DEVELOPING CREATIVE COMPETENCE AND INNOVATION
4.1 Methodology, processes and conditions that promote the
development of creative competences that give rise to innovation

I.

LEARNING

AS

THE

CORE

OF

THE

KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

1.1. From industrial societies to knowledge societies: key

changes.
A key issue in the preparation of students for the challenges of life and the
globalized

The motivation for the Creanova project is the study of how

learning situations and processes are constructed to achieve sustainable

innovation. The main aim is linking creativity with capabilities to innovate
in the design and preparation of new processes, products or ideas. This is
also directly linked to entrepreneurship and innovative adaptation skills of
learners. Innovation is one of the four pillars of the Lisbon Agenda. Yet
there exists little evidence on what innovation is - and even less on how it
can be identified, fostered and developed in practical ways (particularly in
contexts of profound structural change).
Research on creative learning and innovation is critical for enhanced
European competitiveness in globalized contexts. Innovation includes
learning methodologies, practices, systems and applications. This includes a
focus on how such innovative practice can be rolled out to improve creative
competencies of learners and students in vocational, and adult education
and work-based environments.
The issue is also a priority for many policy makers in Europe. Due to the
recent advances in both the Bologna and Copenhagen processes, we are
facing a profound reform of the curricula on both vocational and higher
education levels. Development of research findings and a network of
competent institutions with experience in applying innovative methodologies
to promote creative competencies in vocational and adult education is a
valuable resource for relevant professionals and training institutions.
Furthermore, the application of these results to adult education should also
be straight forward, at least to specific target groups of training subjects.

10

Often, when starting to analyze society, one of the first concepts is that of
globalization of economic and financial systems. However, a more historical
and socio-cultural approach (such as those found in education and training)
suggests contemporary society is experiencing spectacular changes in the
social organization of knowledge production, use and distribution.
The term social organization of knowledge refers to the structures, rules
and values adopted by human groups to create, store and convey those
ideas,

In European history, the invention of the printing press (adapted

from Chinese precedents) represented the opening of a period in which

large-scale print dissemination mediated between people and culture,
producing hitherto unknown or unused applications of reading and writing
skills (Eisenstein, 1979). Protestant emphases on popular access to
personal Bible reading (and interpretation of this reading) in vernacular
languages marked not only a shift from Latin as the language of scholarship
but also the beginning of reading practices/uses that accelerated the
development of the printing industry. The linearity and recurrence of the
written

word

underpinned

the

emergence

of

associations,

schools,

illustration techniques, scientific method and the very organization of

written, legal registration of capitalist industrial companies (Graff, 1979;
Goody, 1990).
Knowledge thus itself became a message - to be repeated and conveyed to
far greater numbers of people.

The process of conveying knowledge and

information depended increasingly on more books being printed and the

assumption that recipients were able to read. People with access to
standard writing systems had the possibility not only to use but also
produce knowledge. They also had competitive advantage. However,
admission

to

knowledge

production

levels

was

restricted.

Different

normative and institutional strategies were historically organized to select

those perceived as capable of producing innovative breakthroughs - as
validated by accepted scientific communities. This entailed therefore
hierarchic, controlled and mediated knowledge ownership and transmission
systems.

11

Formal education systems transmitted and propagated accepted scientific

doctrine - knowledge produced by means of curricula that selected the ideas
and skills that learners or required for subsequent application to their trades
or professions. Education placed emphasis on teaching and instruction. The
professor or teacher played a major part in this framework, given that these
were the people who taught those that did not know. This was a banking
conception of education in which the student was an empty container that
had to be filled with content, opposed to a candle to be lit (Freire, 1970).
On the whole, traditional learning systems in the Western World were
modeled around the idea of differential access to learning and knowledge,
thus reflecting existing differences in stratified class systems. Classrooms
were structured in strictly didactic ways in terms of pedagogy. In addition,
classrooms were located in fixed places - the architecture itself reflecting
notions of hierarchy, order and control (Bruce, 2009).
Parallel to school divisions and stratification were similar systems in the
world of work to which schooling structures were linked more and more
explicitly during the age of industrialization (Braverman, 1974). Hierarchies
of knowledge transfer are seen in the division of work. This hierarchy can be
conceptualized as a type of pyramid. At the peak of the pyramid is the
owner-stakeholder (or entrepreneur, engineer or designer) who originates
an idea or technique that can then be implemented by taking advantage of
economies of scale (Miller et al, 2008). The concept of the independent
genius who creates new ideas or techniques and the technocrat who
ensures they are implemented by front-line workers maintains, legitimates
and reproduces an inherently unequal distribution of the capability to
produce, know, learn and derive shared benefit from the ideas/techniques.
The education and training of workers, given their subsidiary function, only
develops to the most basic level required to satisfy production needs.
Veblen powerfully conceptualized the impact of fragmented knowledge and
skill acquisition for craft workmanship resulting from industrialization as
long ago as 1914 (Veblen, 2006).
As in the case of the printing press, the Internet is a contemporary
technological tool that makes possible management of information and

12

knowledge in quantities hitherto incomprehensible - and in real time. In this

respect, it permits access to seemingly limitless amounts of information.
This is subject to access and digital literacy which itself can be mediated by
pre-existing power and access structures. The Internet has a demonstrated
intentionality that continues to guide the action of its creators.
Making a retrospective, summarized interpretation we can observe that, as
Castells (2001) states:
1.The Internet is the combination of an unprecedented linked
network of big science, military research and the culture of freedom
(in the European liberal sense of defence of individual freedom
against any kind of external limitation), born outside specific
company parameters and on which scientists and researchers
collaborated intensively.
2.Its creators deliberately worked on a precise computer architecture
evolving towards an open, decentralised, distributed and
multidirectional computer-based communication system capable of
encompassing the entire world (and with an inherent sense of
possibly changing it).
3. Internet genesis and development is a cultural practice regulated
by the cultural values of individuals (and even hackers) who network
with open, free software distribution rules. The protocols on the basis
of which they work are themselves susceptible to modification.
4. Institutions managing the Internet must constitute themselves
according to the principles of transparency and cooperation inherent
within their stated philosophy and practice to function effectively.
This

suggests

cultural

guidelines

potentially

based

on

cooperation,

reciprocity in knowledge distribution modalities, boundary crossing through

horizontal networking between people from different contexts or practices,
re-imagined notions of copyright and intellectual ownership rights and
community formulations such as the Linux Law: Given enough eyeballs, all
bugs are shallow (Miettinen, 2006: 177).
Perhaps the most significant impact, from the point of view of knowledge
and learning, is that development of advanced new technologies has
resulted in a massive reduction in the amount of time between learning by
using and producing by using. People learn by doing (repeatedly practising
a task with or without prior instruction) as well as by using (repeatedly
using tools/facilities without prior instruction) (Cedefop, 2008). These

13

processes lead to the production and creation of new knowledge, and hence
to its practical and innovating application. It is a sort of virtuous circle
between the diffusion of technological knowledge and its perfection
(Castells, 2001), always remaining within cultural parameters of trust,
openness and freedom.
In a graphic sense the Encyclopedia of Diderot and DAlembert (the book of
everything that could possibly be known) has mutated to a Wikipedia in
constant growth, a collective endeavour to improve knowledge (Taddei,
2009) in which millions of people learn but also themselves participate.
Knowledge and learning constitute the two faces of one same coin:
they represent the process of societal ascent from the primitive
forms of industry and information - predominantly economic-driven to the more advanced forms of community and freedom determined
by cultural achievement. Technology provides the ladder to climb the
value chain. (Carneiro, 2007:153).
Technological development is however never static. Recent studies are
already investigating how to project a future Europe in terms of education
and learning.
Society is no longer dominated by the industrial-era logics of massproduction and mass-consumption. Scale is no longer the guiding
principle. Instead, the pivotal act, the creation of added value, has
changed locations. There are hints of the potential of the present to
create a society where the division between the supply side and
demand side is marginal. These include tendencies towards selfgenerated personalization, the unique creation expressed in a
widespread do-it-yourself attitude, the breakdown of the
professional/amateur distinction and the emergence of web 2.0
technologies that give rise to social networking, collaborative content
creation and democratized innovation. (Miller et al, 2008: vii)
Although the future is uncertain, it is open to new constructions. Carneiro
(2007:157) describes three possibilities.

Paradigm shifts: from industry (past), to globalization (present

thrust), and moving towards a New Renaissance period (utopian
vision).
Delivery modes: from uniform, rote systems (past) to segmented
distribution
(present
market-driven
trend),
and
gradually

14

accommodating increasing levels of personalization/customization

(utopian vision).
Driving forces: from bureaucracy-led (past preference for national or
State-controlled systems) to market-led arrangements (present
move), which, in turn, should give way to empowered communities
(utopian vision of a radical devolution to civil society)

In this scenario, knowledge-based societies will have to overcome a number

of barriers, challenges and tensions that may prevent horizontal focus on a
common good being achieved. This shift to less hierarchical notions of
knowledge production has been underpinned by new social model thinking.
This highlights the need to understand local contradictions and promotes
the value of interaction, dialogue and reciprocity. At the centre of this shift
has been the aim to overcome borders, whether disciplinary, geographic,
institutional or cultural.
Such a shift raises questions regarding structures of learning, working and
production and how they might promote innovation and creativity. It is
necessary to consider and compare different types of organizational
structures that contribute to creativity learning and innovation. It should be
possible to identify different forms of organizational/societal structures from
evaluations of practice and to investigate how different methods for
developing innovation and creativity work in different societies, educational
systems or organizations. This also raises questions regarding the nature of
learning in knowledge-based societies.

It is important to consider what

learning looks like in societies where hierarchies are modified or shaped in

more fluid ways.

15

1.2. Understanding learning in the knowledge society

Theoretical issues concerning learning include cultural history activity
theory, expansive learning and dialogic learning. This encompasses issues
such as the politics of learning, learning through social interaction, the
social context of learning and transformational learning.
There has been shift in academic writing about learning and society. Some
authors suggest an economy of learning where individual, organizational,
company, sectorial or national success precisely lies with the ability to learn.
[The government of Singapore, planning in the current economic
crisis] realises that its future prosperity depends not on educating its
people in the knowledge and skills for a particular kind of economy,
but in developing its peoples capacity for learning and dealing with
change so they can respond quickly and flexibly, adapting and
retraining as future economic opportunities or recessions arise... the
vision... is to become a society of thinking schools, a learning
nation... the future of the nation depends on its people... and on a
higher degree of creativity. (Hargreaves, 2003:31)
Learning as a concept can mean flexibility, interaction and collaborative
action. This can involve exchange within or between communities or within
disciplines, organizations, jobs or students (Carneiro, 2007). In this respect,
one

of

the

strongest

potential

sources

available

for

learning

and

improvement in any area or organization lies in other people and social

capital - the forms used to share and develop knowledge with others.
(OECD, 2001)
Sharing ideas and experience, offering moral backing in the face of
new and difficult challenges, discussing ideas... that is the basis of
(effective) communities. (Hargreaves, 2003:129)
Socio-cultural definitions of learning can be linked to the notion of dialogic
learning within critical sociology (Beck, 1998; Beck, Giddens & Lash, 1997;
Giddens, 1995, 1998; Habermas, 1987, etc.) and critical pedagogy in
community education (Freire, 1970, 1994, 1997). The theoretical basis of
dialogic learning (Bruner, 1988, 1996, 2000; Habermas, 1987; Freire,
16

1970, 1994, 1997; Rogoff, 1993, 2001; Vygotsky, 1995, 2006; Chomsky,
1977, 2001; Aubert, Flecha et al, 2008; Sen, 1999) stresses an idea of
learning in keeping with:

Contemporary informational society

The

dialogic

about-turn

experienced

by

societies

and

even

interpersonal relations (in which dialogue acquires centrality and

greater presence in all social spheres from politics to sitting rooms,
passing through work, education and intimate relations)

Multiculturalism resulting from planetary mobility and the resulting

increased contact and interaction between vastly differing cultures.

This conception of learning is to be found in communicative and sociohistoric perspectives, thus explaining societal dynamism. Dialogue and
interaction are the dimensions sustaining the idea of learning, which are
therefore maintained by this perspective.
The observations and research on which the concept is based have
demonstrated how, through a dialogue (Auber; Flecha et al, 2008:
24-34; CREA, 2003-2005;CREA, 2006-2011)
The ideas behind dialogic learning can be summarized (Aubert, Flecha, et al,
2008:93):
1. Learning comes from the interactions established through dialogue
and is therefore mediated by language. From the perspective of
different authors (Chomsky, 1977, 1988, 2000; Habermas, 1987;
Cummins, 2002), all people (independent of social, educational,
cultural or financial status) have the ability to communicate, express
feelings, arguments or ideas, and to reach agreements with others.
2. Learning depends on the social interactions between people who are
equal to yet different from one another, and the extent to which they
agree on the direction taken by these interactions (Vygotsky, 1995;
Bruner, 2000; Rogoff, 1993; Wells, 2001).
3. All kinds of learning practice make sense within a specific sociocultural context, within the framework of cultural practice and cultural

17

community (Rogoff, 1993) in which one actively participates.

4. All communicative processes convey meaning and intention, explicit
or not, and comprise gestural and verbal language going beyond the
spoken word (Argyle & Trower, 1979). The totality has an effect on
the type of interaction provoked and is of enormous importance to all
human actions and relations (whether work situations, friendship,
education). In this respect, contributions to the act of speaking
(Austin, 1971; Searle, 1980; Searle & Soler, 2004) lead to reflections
on the consequences of verbal and non-verbal communication on
people (looks, gestures and body language).

5. Dialogic learning has the mission of transforming situations and

relations, making it possible to achieve greater levels of social
equality. The idea of the social subject rather than the dependent
object, submissive and adapted, is developed by Paulo Freire (1970,
1994, 1997), who clearly states we are beings of transformation and
not of adaptation (Freire, 1997: 26). This expresses value and trust
in the ability of all people to think, act, rebuild and change
contradictory situations and structures inherent in educational and
social practices - always based on an egalitarian dialogue. Rather
than

conservative,

transmission-response

pedagogy,

Freire

proposes an inquiring, knowledge-producing question pedagogy,

more keeping with contemporary needs.
There are four main aspects of dialogic learning described in the literature.
1. Using dialogue as a vehicle of exchange between people, creating and
modifying meanings according to agreement reached between all
parties involved in a working and learning space.
2. Based on trust in people and in their skill at collective creation,
generating new ideas and projecting them by means of actions in the
transformation of collective realities.
3. Incorporating the voices of all agents in professional, educational and
work contexts - a guarantee of a multidimensional and egalitarian
outlook.

18

4. Developing the idea of solidarity in everyday actions with people, as

the expression of struggle against exclusion and a contribution to
social cohesion.
Theories such as dialogic learning can be linked to more contemporary
approaches to cultural historical activity theory. This is based on the
concept of cultural mediation where the relationship between subject and
environment is mediated by signs and tools (Vygotsky, 1979 in Miettinen,
2006:175).

Correspondingly,

the

central

mechanism

of

learning

is

remediation, the finding and creation of new means. At first, this approach
seems to over-emphasise the role of the teacher. However, when allied to
notions of expansive learning, it promotes notions of the co-construction of
knowledge.
Expansive learning involves processes by which work organizations resolve
internal contradictions in order to construct qualitatively new ways of
working. It involves creation of new knowledge and new practices for an
emergent activity, learning embedded in, and constitutive of, qualitative
transformation of the entire activity system (Engestrm, 2004: 4). Spinosa,
Flores and Dreyfus (1997) referred to this process as reconfiguration.
Seplveda (2001) clarifies the meaning of expansive learning developed by
Engestrm, and its repercussions in social and educational practice. This
concept refers to the process by which people sharing a practice domain
(such as work, community, formal study) build tools. Mere relationships
evolve to ways of understanding relationships. This mode of understanding
takes shape through the effect of the activity developed by domain
inhabitants. The repertoire of their culture to act in a manner other than it
would have done if the ensemble of their cultural orders had not changed is
transformed. Expansive learning makes it possible to go beyond the
limitations people are subjected to by learned cultural understanding and to
visualise other kinds of cultural orientations of a more complex nature which
did

not

previously

exist

in

their

tradition

and

inherited

cultural

understanding. This offers a framework to imagine how to learn in the face

of complex, permanently changing societies. It offers a new manner of

19

learning in situations of accelerated change, when extreme contradictions

may manifest themselves. This emphasis is connected to Bateson (1985) on
third-order learning.
Learners question the validity of tasks and problems set by context
and start transforming the context itself. This kind of learning is
related to innovation. At school, this kind of expansive learning could
mean that pupils and teachers critically analyse the ways they study
and work and start to change them. (Seplveda, 2001:7)
In

general,

the

dialogic

approach

stresses

that

learning

based

on

relationships and fluid communication translates equally well into widely

differing educational experiences. Some students have gained enormously
from high value education in learning communities that have recently been
developed in the framework of primary, secondary and adult education
(Jaussi, 2002; Aubert, Duque et al, 2004). Other students have benefited
from dialogic approaches in fields such as lifelong training or from
developing educational communities to transform different organisations
(Fernndez & Arandia, 2003; Alonso, Arandia & Loza, 2008). This raises the
question as to how and whether such methods could be utilised to promote
creativity and innovation. Similarly, learning based on relationships can be
connected to ideas of collective intelligence to develop processes of learning
that promote social inclusion.
Avis (2002) draws out connections between expansive learning, social
capital and collective intelligence. These concepts are situated within their
socio-economic context, asserting that the development of social capital will
be a vehicle for economic regeneration and competitiveness as well as a
mechanism for the generation of social inclusion and cohesion. However,
Avis sees the progressive potential of expansive learning, social capital and
expansive learning as limited within a context that accepts current capitalist
relations.

20

1.3. Learning as the Collaborative, Co-construction of

knowledge.
Collaborative learning aimed at the co-construction of knowledge suggests
that learning and knowledge are linked but different. This consolidates the
idea that there may be many different ways of learning not considered by
currently constructed formal educational structures.
Learning points such as the formation of concepts, the creation of
artifacts, the application of disciplinary knowledge to the solving of
problems in areas of regular practices are difficult to teach by usual
methods, essentially because teaching has been developed with the
idea of conveying contents. (Seplveda, 2001:4)
Both extensive learning (Engestrm, 1987) and third-order learning
(Bateson, 1985) offer the possibility of leaving the received world of cultural
suppositions and questioning problems encountered in different cultural
contextual understandings. This makes it possible both to reveal new forms
of cultural and social action and to transform contexts themselves.
In this respect, we can affirm that this is the nature of innovation and
that it consists of the ability to extract ourselves from the available
alternatives in order to solve problems and raise problems in systems
with different presuppositions. This simply means looking at our own
everyday practice from a different angle. Thus, for example, based
on awareness of the contradictions of a traditional social or school
practice, it is possible to design a different practice in which, by
incorporating new tools, we can give rise to new ideas on the subject.
(Seplveda, 2001: 8)
In this respect, cultural-historical activity theory and its application to
innovative learning and knowledge transfer (Engestrm, 1987; Engestrm &
Escalante, 1995; Tuomi-Grhn, 2003; Slj, 2003) regards the innovation
process as the co-construction of a new service, product or a process that
includes mobilization of additional cultural resources (including different
types of knowledge) and reciprocal learning.
Many authors argue that social inclusion and cohesion can only be advanced
by creating conditions that guarantee opportunities for all to learn, not just
21

the

few.

Democratic

schools

(Apple

&

Beane,

1995)

and

learning

communities (Jaussi, 2002; Hargreaves, 2003; Torres, 2004) are clear-cut

practical examples of educational and social efforts that attempt to work in
inclusive terms.
This is a pragmatic defiance that can be dealt with by specifically
developing forms, experiences and opportunities permitting
youngsters and adults from the social risk sector to be able to
improve their available cultural information, acquiring knowledge,
skills and attitudes not currently present in their cultural repertoire or
in their cognitive codes... it is therefore necessary to ensure a viable
bridge between local cultures and the most universal aspects of
knowledge. (Seplveda, 2001:11)
Superficially it would seem that learning and knowledge building are closely
linked

to

one

another.

However,

Scardamalia

and

Bereiter

(2006)

differentiate between them. They consider that learning and knowledge

building are linked to yet different from one another and that they have
direct implications on the educational and working worlds. They point out
that different educational approaches maintain as essential goals that
students should succeed both in understanding big ideas in learning to think
for

themselves.

Achieving

this

requires

development

of

educational

processes where students assume significant responsibility in their work

with ideas and parallel critical capacity. Some of these approaches have
impact on both educational and knowledge building dimensions.
The distinction between learning and knowledge building is easier to
see when we move outside an educational context. Out in the world
of what Peter Drucker termed knowledge work, many people are
engaged in producing new knowledge. Their products may be
scholarly things like theories, histories, and proofs or more practical
things like designs, inventions, and plans. The common element is
that these products constitute new or improved ideas that the
community can use in producing more new or improved ideas. This
continuing process of idea creation, development, and improvement
is what we call knowledge building. In the process of knowledge
building, the knowledge workers naturally learn, and such learning is
essential to their careers as knowledge builders, but learning is not
what they are getting paid for. It is not their job. Their job is
knowledge building. (Scardamalia & Bereiter 2006: 4)

22

In terms of dialogic, expansive and third-order notions of learning, working

as a community and/or in collaboration is a crucial part of obtaining a more
complete and more complex understanding of learning. Thus, collaborative
learning and the creation of new learning environments based on trust
emerge as real driving forces in both education and work contexts
(Markkula, 2009; Hargreaves, 2003). The goal would seem to lie in the
consolidation of large communities, networks involving universities and
education, companies and governments who promote generation and
fostering of innovating processes and policy.
The evolution in the understanding of learning in todays world and its
evolving role in work and education points to an important cultural change
around cooperation, collaboration and collective creation in widely different
cultural aspects. In this new culture, community and its relational meaning
take on transcendental value. Along with the idea of community is the goal
of union between sets of different communities shaping communicative
networking processes.

This raises a number of issues in relation to the extent to which good

practice

examples develop

traditional barriers to learning.

community

of

learners

and

overcome

It also raises issues concerning power

relations in the learning process and the extent to which learning

opportunities are collaborative or characterized by continuing hierarchical
boundaries.

It finally creates the question of who builds the learning

process and the extent to which processes that promote creativity and
innovation also promote equity.

23

II. CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION: CONCEPTUAL

CONVERGENCE

The ability to create new solutions with new tools for constantly emerging
new social needs underlines a key conceptual issue: creativity and
innovation as parts of learning.

It is not always easy to differentiate

between these two concepts. Scott (1994) indicates that the terms
creativity and innovation are often used interchangeably in research
studies, and that distinction between the two concepts may be more one of
emphasis than of substance (West & Farr, 1990). In the late 1980s and
early 1990s some differentiation occurred:

Creativity was defined as the production of novel and useful ideas

(Mumford & Gustafson, 1998) or doing something for the first time
anywhere or creating new knowledge (Woodman, Sawyer & Griffin,
1993: 293)

Innovation was adoption or implementation of novel and useful ideas

(Kanter, 1988; Van de Ven, 1986) and encompassed adaptation of
products or processes from outside an organization.

More recently, West (2002) has synthesised research and theory to advance
the understanding of creativity and innovation implementation in groups at
work. This suggests creativity occurs primarily at early stages of innovation
processes with innovation implementation later. Amabile (1996) and later
West

(2002)

knowledge

discuss

diversity

influences
and

skill,

such

as task

external

characteristics,

demands,

integrating

group
group

processes and intragroup safety. Diversity of knowledge and skills is a

powerful predictor of innovation. But integration of group processes and
competencies are needed to enable the fruits of this diversity to be
harvested.

24

2.1. Creativity as an object of scientific study: genesis and

development.
In earlier times, research focused primarily on the relationship between
intelligence and creativity. Galton (1879) promoted the claim that creative
products come from general ability. James (1880) formulated the idea of
divergent thinking. Terman and Cox (1926) affirmed that creativity is a
comprehensive part of intelligence (Fuentes et Torbay, 2004). Guilford is
generally credited as the forebear of empirical studies on creativity. His
discourse as director of the American Psychological Association (1950)
underlined the need to become aware of the value of creative talent as a
basis for industrial and economic development, as well as the natural
consequence of its development and fostering.
There are several implications in these possibilities that bear upon
the importance of creative thinking. In the first place, it would be
necessary to develop an economic order in which sufficient
employment and wage earning would still be available. This would
require creative thinking of an unusual order and speed. In the
second place, eventually about the only economic value of brains left
would be in the creative thinking of which they are capable.
(Guilford, 1950: 448)
Since then, creativity studies have passed through different stages. These
range from views concentrating on the individual aspect to others more
systematic,

contextual

or

socio-cultural.

Aspects

of

creativity

being

investigated in the beginning of the twenty-first century are quite distinct

from those emphasized during the last century. Work in the 1950s led to
three major lines of creativity research (Simonton, 2000; Craft, 2003):

Personality

Cognition

Research on how to stimulate creativity

25

Earlier approaches emphasized the psychological determinants of genius

and giftedness. This was based on Guilfords examination of the limitations
of intelligence tests and his investigation of divergent thinking.
He analyzed several factors (Piirto, 2004; Runco, 2009) of divergent
production:

Fluency

Novelty

Flexibility

Synthesizing ability

Analyzing ability

Reorganization or redefinition of already existing ideas

Degree of complexity

Evaluation.

Torrance, inspired by Guilford, developed a test to identify creative

potential. By the 1970s, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was
widely used in schools (Piirto, 2004). However, today it is widely agreed
among psychologists that divergent thinking tests do not predict creative
ability, and that divergent thinking is not the same as creativity. It has been
argued that creativity requires a complex combination of both divergent and
convergent thinking, and creative people switch back and forth at different
points in the creative process. Instead of studying creative personality,
cognitive psychologists shifted the focus to creative mental processes. They
tried to explain creativity by showing how it emerged from ordinary,
everyday mental processes (Sawyer, 2006).
Amabile has provided a comprehensive framework for the topic, explaining
that creativity arises through the confluence of knowledge, creative thinking
and motivation (Adams, 2005). Gardner further explored the topic, pointing
out that in-depth experience and long-term focus in one domain (technical
expertise) are the foundations of creativity. Sternberg (1999) however
promotes a triarchic theory concerning the relationship between creativity

26

and intelligence, asserting that the synthetic, analytical and practical

aspects of intelligence are keys for creativity expansion.
But it is Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyis theoretical formulations that establish a
new landmark in creativity studies. Csikszentmihalyi argues that creativity
operates within a system that encompasses more than the cognitive,
including also milieu and context. Creativity does not happen inside people's
heads, but in the interaction between a person's thought and a sociocultural context (Csikszentmihalyi 1996: 23). Thereby, he regards creativity
a systemic rather than an individual phenomenon. Creativity is perceived as
the interrelation of three main components:

Domain, which consists of a set of symbolic rules and procedures

Field, which includes individuals acting as gatekeepers to the domain:

they decide whether certain ideas or product should be included in
the domain

Person, who is responsible of generating novel ideas.

According to Csikszentmihalyis model of creativity, the development of a

students or workers creativity depends on three interrelated components:
teachers/trainers (as experts on the field), school/work environment (as
domain) and a student/worker. According to this model, teachers/trainers
or co-students/ co-workers decide on the students/workers unconventional
thinking or acting based on their own previous experience, personal
preferences, values, educational or cultural backgrounds.
The consolidation and setting down of this complex concept of creativity has
also been enriched with subsequent theorisations made by Csikszentmihalyi
himself in collaboration with Howard Gardner and William Damon (2002).
Going further, they criticize his naive former vision and analyse the ethical
and social aspects implicit in all creative, innovating activity. In effect, the
creative and innovatory practices described and interpreted by science and
research do not occur in an abstract vacuum - as if nothing were happening
in the external environment.

27

Educational and training efforts may be rooted in the structure and

dimensions of the labour market, where asking oneself why, what for and
who for is crucial. The analytical approach to professional practices is useful
for observing the metamorphosis of the creativity discourse of creativity.
Professional action (work well done) in which creative and innovative
abilities question themselves about qualitative outcomes, thus addresses
human needs, beyond immediate interests of profit and gain.
According to Craft (2003), during the last thirty years creativity studies
have been led by systemic theories that regard creativity as a cofunctioning of several elements, including cognitive skills, personality traits,
social, cultural and historical factors. The current emphasis has shifted to
focus on ordinary creativity rather than genius, characterizing rather than
measuring, the social system rather than the individual. This can be
explored under four dimensions.
Creative teaching, teaching for creativity and creative learning.
Based

on

previous

research

on

nurturing

creativity

in

the

school

environment (Cropley, 2009), three interrelated aspects are of central

importance.

The teaching style and learning process supporting creative thinking

Learning motivation that ensures openness to new ideas and

experiences

Open learning environments as prerequisites for effective operation

of the previous two components.

Although the overall aim should be to ensure the expression of both

creativity of students and teachers, it has been criticized (Craft, 2003) since
terms with different meanings (e.g. creative teaching, teaching for creativity
and creative learning) are often used in the same sense. Creative teaching
(demonstrating original thinking and actions) may enhance learners
creativity but also may not. Teaching for creativity, on the other hand,
refers to teaching certain subjects (e.g. creative writing, art, music

28

composition, design) regarded as developing creativity. Creative learning

refers to learning that leads to new original thinking.
Starting from the assumptions of socio-cultural approaches of creativity
studies, environmental factors of school, institution or workplace that
support and hinder learners creativity and motivation can be considered.
However it is important in attempting to carry out this task to consider
different definitions of creativity.
Big C creativity versus everyday creativity
Csikszentmihalyi makes a distinction between Big C and little c creativity.
The Big C creative person is eminent, a person whose work is well known
by people within the field and domain. Big C creativity is that which leads
to a domain being changed. Little c creativity is what people use in their
everyday lives. Csikszentmihaly has defined creativity as any act, idea, or
product that changes an existing domain, or that transforms an existing
domain into a new one (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996: 28). Therefore, he is
concerned with Big C Creativity in his works.
Similarly Singer, summarizing the opinions of several authors, argues that
creativity is domain-specific. One person may demonstrate strong creative
potential in more than one area, but social contexts, the 10 year-rule and
the stochastic elements of risk and chance may contain comparably
outstanding accomplishments across domains (Sternberg et al, 2004).
During the last few decades much has been written about the creativity of
great scientists and artists, what motivates them, or about childhood
factors. Current discourse about creativity, on the other hand, focuses often
on the ordinary, rather than extraordinary. The assumption is that the
ordinary person can be creative. Everyday creativity means coping with
changing environments, improvising and adapting flexibly with continuous
change. Thereby, everyday creativity is first of all survival capability
(Richards,

2007).

In

addition

to

coping

with

constantly

changing

environments, everyday creativity means a powerful way of living. It is

29

suggested that creativity can even affect our health and wellbeing, personal
growth and development and the evolution of cultures (Richards, 2007).
Many writers argue that each person is capable of creative achievement
provided relevant skills have been acquired. This raises a number of
questions:

To what extent do projects/processes recognize the potential for

creative achievement of every person and to what extent do they
attempt to develop creativity by means of a creative education (a
form of education capable of developing peoples capacities for
original ideas and action).

Do projects/processes for promoting creativity have to involve

creative approaches to education?

How do extraordinary and ordinary creativity connect? Are they part

of a continuum?

Some writers argue that, by stimulating the creativity of all, more creative
behaviour

at

all

points

in

the

continuum,

is

produced,

including

extraordinary creativity. According to Sternberg, processes of little c

creativity and big C creativity are similar or the same and it is simply the
impact that can differ on oneself or on the field (Sternberg, 2004). Although
some recent theories maintain that in the case of the genius a qualitative
and quantitative change takes place, Amabile (1996: 36) believes [...] that
without compelling evidence to the contrary it is most parsimonious to
assume a continuum of creativity in both products and processes.
Creativity as a unitary concept versus different types of creativity
Unsworth (2001) questions one of the premises of creativity research,
namely that creativity is a unitary construct. Creativity has been defined as
the production of novel ideas that are useful and appropriate to the
situation (Amabile, 1996). Creativity is based upon novel and useful ideas,
regardless of the type of idea, reasons behind its production, or the process

30

starting point. Unsworth argues that this belief in homogeneity of creativity

hinders a fine-tuned analysis of processes and factors involved in creativity.
Unsworth argues that theories (as in Amabile) on factors affecting creativity
at work fail to differentiate between types of creativity. Those types include:

Responsive creativity (responding to presented problems because of

external driver)

Expected creativity (discovering problems as response to external

drivers

Contributory creativity (responding to presented problems because of

internal drivers

Proactive

creativity

(discovering

problems

because

of

internal

drivers).
Creativity as a decision
Sternberg (2003) regards creativity as a decision. According to his
investment theory, creativity requires a confluence of six distinct but
interrelated resources:

Intellectual abilities

Knowledge

Styles of thinking

Personality

Motivation

Environment.

According to Sternberg, the skill of creativity itself is not enough - one

needs to make a decision to use the skill. This suggests that creativity can
be developed and is not simply located in the individual.
These descriptions of creativity connect creativity to the ability of a person
in the work place to meet individual and social human needs. This develops
in close interaction with social and cultural contexts and is associated with

31

the ability or opportunity to learn in constantly changing environments

(creative learning).

Good practice examples help define what creativity

becomes:

A quality attributable to all people that gives rise to small innovations

in immediate environments

A process that leads to enormously important inventions for humanity

A continuum.

32

2.2. Innovation as an object of scientific study: genesis and

development.
Like creativity, innovation is associated with the tendency to think about
new and better ways of doing things and try them out in practice. According
to Jan Fagerberg (2003) interest in innovation began in the 1960s with the
landmark creation of the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the
University of Sussex. Innovation was not then a topic of interest to
economists because they associated economic change with issues such as
capital accumulation or market operation. Today, in contrast, many writers
are concerned with multidisciplinary research (in disciplines such as
economics,

sociology,

psychology,

management)

that

considers

how

innovation is stimulated by individuals, businesses, organizations and

networks.
The past focus was primarily on innovation in the market economy.

For

example, the Oslo Manual stipulates that its object of study is confined to
innovations in the business sector (manufacturing industry, primary sector
and services) implying that less is known about innovation processes in
non-market-oriented

sectors

(p.

25).

Regarding

market

innovation,

theorists like Schumpeter popularized the concept of creative destruction.

This suggested that that the economy is a dynamic system in which old
ways of doing things are destroyed and constantly displaced by new ones.
This dynamic view crystallizes in four different forms of innovation which
centre around attempts (led by entrepreneurs) to find new ways to exploit,
organize, source and supply new products, methods of production, markets
and businesses.
Today innovation concepts apply to a context where use of the Internet and
ICTs have reshaped the market economy (globalization) and have led to
unprecedented change in observed rhythms of growth and their intensity.
Knowledge has become the cornerstone on which to rest the development
and survival of companies and global regions. Creativity and innovation
have turned into new tools to lead processes effectively towards new aims.
33

Jan Fagerbert (2003) summarized the dominant discourse about the future
of the European and global economies.

Innovation introduces novelty (variety) into the economic sphere - if

innovation stops, the economy does not increase

Innovation tends to cluster in certain industries/sectors, which

consequently grow more rapidly leading to structural changes in
production

and

demand

and,

eventually,

organizational

and

institutional change

Innovation is a powerful explanatory factor behind differences in

performance between firms, regions and countries. Those that
succeed

in

innovation

prosper

at

the

expense

of

less

able

competitors.
This ideological habitat has been particularly true at European level, where
innovation has been one of the central planks of policy statements and, in
particular, the Lisbon Declaration (now superseded by the September 2008
financial crisis and subsequent economic recession). At the level of policy
for the national Member States of the European Union, innovation has been
advanced as a common mantra indicating the way forward.
The influence of these conceptions in a context of intense competitiveness
on the world market has brought about a number of behavioural changes in
companies. Literature on the subject indicates four main trends reflecting
the effect of globalization on innovation processes (Bruce, 2009):

Acceleration. Technological change has speeded up substantially over

the last few decades. This is mainly illustrated by the fact that the
time

required

to

launch

new

high-tech

product

has

been

significantly reduced. The process from knowledge production to

commercialization is much shorter. The rapid development and wide
dissemination of ICT has played a key role in bringing about this
change.

Inter-firm collaboration and industrial networks. New products are

increasingly

integrating

different

technologies

technologies

34

increasingly based on different scientific disciplines. To master such a

variety of domains is impossible even for big organizations. This is
also reflected in the costs of developing new products and systems,
which have grown. Most firms do not have the capability or the
resources to undertake such initiatives - this is the main reason for
the expansion of collaborative schemes for research and the growing
importance of industrial networks.

Functional

integration

and

networking

inside

firms.

Speedy

adaptation and innovation gives the functionally integrated firm an

advantage. Flexibility, interdisciplinarity and cross-fertilization of
ideas at managerial and laboratory levels within the firm are now
important keys for success.

Collaboration with knowledge production centres. Increasing reliance

on advances in scientific knowledge for major new technological
opportunities has been an important stimulus for firms to collaborate
with scientific centres like public and private laboratories, universities
and other basic and applied research centres.

These trends, more visible in some countries than in others, reveal a new
and more collaborative interconnected and relational conception in company
culture. They evoke a socio-economic model where the key to success is
using much greater degrees of diversity, interdependency and complexity to
manage risk and achieve goals. This way of doing things is diametrically
opposed to techniques of hierarchy, simplification, uniformity and control
used during the industrial era (Miller, 2003). The emergence of new cultures
in company practices raise questions on the concept of competitiveness.
The Blue Ocean Strategy (Chan Kim & Mauborge, 2005) or Von Hippels
(2005)

contributions

on

user-centered

innovation

(in

the

sense

of

democratizing innovation), for example, open up debates concerning the

relationship

between

competitiveness,

innovation,

involvement,

participation and democratic practice.

In parallel with the universalization of the creativity concept in recent years,
there has been further diversification of the concept of innovation, from one
that is linked with the economic sphere of private companies to one that is

35

linked with more public and social areas (social innovation). Social
innovation is defined as innovative activities and services that are motivated
by the goal of meeting a social need and that are predominantly developed
and diffused through organizations whose primary purposes are social
(Young Foundation, 2007). The accent is undoubtedly placed on the idea of
social and human need.
Figuerdo

(2009)

distinguishes

importantly

between

the

concepts

of

incremental innovation and disruptive innovation. Incremental innovation

builds on existing thinking, products, processes organizations or social
systems. They can be routine improvements or they can be dramatic
breakthroughs but they address the very core of what already exits.
Disruptive innovation is addressed to people who do not have any solutions.
It

takes

place

in

simple,

undemanding

applications

that

are

not

breakthrough. People are happy to use them in spite of their limitations

because no other solutions exist.
It is important to note that social and economic innovations are not black
and white concepts. A widening of the concepts of economic and social
innovation suggests that both can enrich traditional views of competition
and innovation by promoting the idea that both society and the economy
benefit from each other. For example, recent organizational innovation has
led to new forms of business organization that incorporate the social
(development of learning environments or communities in business that
involve sharing, openness, interdependence) without undermining the
classic concept of competitiveness (a typical example of this is the Basque
cooperative movement: Mondragon, CAF).
Innovation is a process that can stimulate research in other sectors of
economic, social and cultural life with objectives going beyond simply
making a profit. The knowledge gained from exploration, experimentation
and exchange of the practices stimulating learning can be utilised to
overcome the narrow limits of pragmatic and instrumental views of
creativity (Villalba, 2008) or to encourage innovation that connects new

36

conceptions of human development and competitiveness with the search for

new forms of social life (Carr, 1990).
Despite the apparent value of the concept and processes of social
innovation, little research has been conducted on the subject. The
investment budgets of governments and businesses are primarily spent on
business innovation, rather than solutions for common human needs. The
ways in which social innovation is produced and how experiences, ideas and
methods may be shared to accelerate solutions to the social problems
requires attention.
Several authors have tried to conceptualize social innovation and have
proposed prerequisites to the creativity and innovation process:

Social innovation involves implementation of new ideas. The ideas

and the creative thinking behind them are not enough if the ideas are
not adopted. (Mulgan et al, 2007; Mumford, 2002)

Social innovation satisfies emerging societal needs and is related to

socially desirable goals (Mouleart et al, 2005; Mulgan, 2006) socially important questions are answered

Social innovation requires changes in social relations (Mouleart et al,

2005) and in everyday practices (Hamalainen, 2005;Hamalainen &
Heiskala 2007; Mumford & Moertl, 2003) - wider impact is anticipated

Social innovation is a collective phenomenon and characterized by the

development of networks (Mumford, 2002).

Maintaining a holistic and systematic view of the creative process underlines

the importance of interaction between people, mediated by socio-cultural
contexts. This has led to understanding that innovation is not just a
technological-economic process but rather a complex interactive social
process in which many actors with different knowledge bases take part
(Tuomi, 2002). A wider and more systematic understanding of the
innovation processes involved has complemented the traditional linear
model of innovation. This has led to the creation of network models when
conceptualizing innovation (Schienstock, Hamalainen, 2001; SITRA, 2005;

37

Hamalainen, 2005; Tuomi, 2002). When the linear model looks at

innovation as an exceptional phenomenon based on a preliminary study, the
contemporary views refer to innovation as a fairly ordinary economic
practice related to work-based learning, changing market demands or new
possibilities of recombining existing knowledge in new ways or applying it in
different contexts (Schienstock, Hamalainen, 2001). Therefore innovation is
understood as new products and services as well as changes in the
application of technologies or adaptation of new ones. Organizational
innovations and new activities imply new knowledge.
The current financial crisis and subsequent impact on other economic
sectors have challenged neo-liberal belief in free competition and market
deregulation. The effects of this crisis on the global economy and people's
lives are still to be seen. There have been long-standing theoretical and
empirical challenges to neo-liberal perspectives. Such criticisms are found in
sociology (Habermas, 1984), pedagogy (Freire, 1997; Morin, 2003; Gadotti,
2003; etc.), psychology (Gardner, 2007) and economics (Sen, 1999; Davis,
2006). These see development as a process of expanding real freedoms and
criticize narrower versions of development (related to GDP growth, rising
personal

incomes,

industrialization,

technological

advances

or

social

modernity). Development requires removal of sources of deprivation:

poverty, tyranny, lack of economic opportunities, neglect of public services,
intolerance or violation of human rights (Sen, 1999).
This poses key questions around development of methodologies to
understand how projects and processes confront socio-political policy
analysis of creativity and innovation. More restrictive conceptualizations see
creativity and innovation as an agenda based on econometric concerns. At
the centre of this discussion is the question on how to develop methods that
investigate construction of learning and knowledge to transform power
relations, as in the concept of development at a human scale (Max-Neef,
2000).
Human needs, self-reliance and organic articulations are the pillars
which support Human Scale Development. However, these pillars
must be sustained on a solid foundation which is the creation of the
conditions where people are the protagonists of their future. If people

38

are to be the main actors in Human Scale Development both the

diversity as well as the autonomy of the spaces in which they act
must be respected. Attaining the transformation of an object-person
into a subject-person in the process of development is, among other
things, a problem of scale. There is no possibility for the active
participation of people in gigantic systems which are hierarchically
organized and where decisions flow from the top down to the bottom.
Human Scale Development assumes a direct and participatory
democracy.(Max-Neef, 2000:7)
Beyond conceptual nuances, reality shows that innovation processes are of
great social value. The proliferation of blogs, websites, networks, projects
highlight their value. One report (Young Foundation, 2007) on economic
growth suggests that 50-80% of economic value comes from innovation.
There is sufficient evidence that social innovation is an important value not
only for development but also economic growth. Overcoming obstacles to
sustained growth would seem to be achievable through the development of
processes of social innovation.
Innovation is a concept originally related to practical application and
development of new ideas in the industrial world with a key focus on
boosting competitiveness. However, the development of new technologies
affecting production, use and distribution of knowledge - combined with the
grave global structural problems - raises a parallel debate on the ultimate
aims of innovation. The twin aims of understanding processes and practice
in teaching/learning that promote innovation and creativity is intrinsically
linked to producing social value and contributing to both economic and
human needs.

39

III. CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE LEARNING IN THE

WORLD OF WORK AND EDUCATION

Any kind of innovation is related to both individual and collective learning.

Innovation does not consist of only new technologies, products, services
and processes. It also operates through different ways of learning as part of
the innovation process in which individual and organizational skills are
developed. A large part of this learning is work-based - learning that
happens in a work context and is related to the need to solve different
problems

(Loogma,

2004).

Cultural-historical

activity

theory and

its

applications in studies on learning and knowledge transfer relate to

innovation (Engestrm, 1987; Engestrm & Escalante, 1995; Tuomi-Grhn,
2003; Slj, 2003). Many authors regard the innovation process as a coconstruction of a new service, product or a process that includes
mobilization of additional cultural resources (including different types of
knowledge) and reciprocal learning.
One

of

the

main

contemporary

sources

of

innovation

are

inter-

organizational relations and learning networks. Researchers of social

innovation argue that social innovation often rises in the interaction of
individuals with different backgrounds (Mumford, 2002; Mumford & Moertl,
2003). This argument is supported by writers who argue that innovation
often arises in the border-zones of different but adjacent activity systems
(Tuomi-Grhn

&

Engestrm,

2003).

Interaction

between

different

networked activity systems leads not only to transfer of knowledge and

skills, but also to active interpretation and re-construction of culture-specific
knowledge. Some of the most favourable conditions for knowledge transfer
and expansive learning are border-zones of different activity systems schools, companies, public institutions (Tuomi-Grhn, 2003). One of the
examples of how boundary objects have been developed and innovative
learning facilitated is Lamberts model of learning studio (Lambert, 2003),
an intervention aimed at promoting innovative learning and knowledge
transfer in vocational teacher education. The learning studio is an example

40

of boundary encounter between a teacher education institution, VET schools

and workplaces.
Some authors of network perspective studying mechanisms of how social
context influences creative performance suggest that weak network ties are
preferable to strong ties when it comes to stimulating creativity at work.
Weaker ties are more likely to connect people with diverse perspectives,
different outlooks, varying interests and diverse approaches to problems.
Moreover, it has been suggested that individuals occupying a peripheral
position in a network with a large number of connections outside the
network will have the highest creativity at work, compared both to more
central actors and other peripheral actors with fewer outside connections
(Perry-Smith et al, 2003). Creative and innovative learning requires the
genesis of new educational spaces and time combined with a redefinition of
existing educational models in order to be able to ensure effective open
interaction between actors (people, organizations, activity systems) with
different backgrounds and knowledge.
There is a centrifugal force that tries to remove training from the traditional
paradigm taking shelter in formal, public, state-subsidized teaching directed
at all citizens as subjects with educational rights in school spaces and times
and endeavours to reroute it towards a new training paradigm with plural
learning options, subsidized by the purchasing power of citizens seen as the
consumers of a service circulating in the market network. A model meaning
increasingly greater amounts of investment in training, which have a direct
repercussion on the workers pockets and/or company budgets (Sanz,
2006: 404).
The fact that a series of institutions exist which increasingly depend on the
open commercial market rather than the public education system, may
increase situations of injustice or social inequality. It is important to
highlight this at public policy level so that society can take responsibility for
ensuring the rewarding (Illich, 1971) and democratic (Reimer, 1986) nature
of new forms of access to innovative learning.

41

3.1. Society, learning and work

The increased importance of innovation reflects the fact that it represents a
major response to intensifying competition by enhancing the learning
abilities of firms and workers. Neither firms, regions nor communities can
establish sustainable growth without innovation and learning. The scope of
the challenges posed by the globalizing learning economy requires that
innovation policies should be reformulated to include a learning component.
In the EU context there are two dimensions that should be carefully taken
into account when discussing the contents of any new policy approach.
First is the horizontal dimension, whereby different policy areas should be
effectively coordinated to produce synergies to enhance the learning ability
of the system. Second is the vertical dimension of this coordination, where
European, national and regional instruments and strategies are brought into
line with this new approach, complementing and supporting each other in
order to foster innovation throughout the EU.
These policy areas need to be adjusted and coordinated in such a way that
they promote innovation and growth without undermining social cohesion.
This points to the need for coordination of sectorial policies that have
traditionally been regarded as more or less independent. Competition policy
might be regarded as an instrument for effectively speeding up change, but
it must be tuned and adjusted to the potential for innovation, for human
resource development and for potentially re-distributive goals.
These issues are related to profound changes in society in general and to
the structured world of work in particular. There is a general acceptance
that traditional schooling, the front-end loading approach for preparation
for the world of work, is no longer appropriate. This is so for a number of
reasons which include:

Rapid changes in the world of work

The changing nature of goals for education and training

42

The realization that most people will have a number of occupations

and job changes during the period of their working life.

Emphasis has evolved from a concentration on instrumental concepts of

vocational education as a preparation for work during the years of formal
schooling, towards a concept of lifelong learning that is work related. There
is a growing realization that - as well as highly specific job-related technical
skills - the demands of the workplace make it imperative that social and
interpersonal knowledge, skills and competencies be incorporated into any
programme of learning both for and in the world of work.
Traditional companies often saw basic training as being all that was required
- enough to learn to do the job. This stratified and minimalist approach fits
badly with the realities of rapidly changing external environments where all
employees have to work together in anticipating both change and challenge.
In this context employees are no longer seen as merely selling their labour.
They are also seen as producers who have the capacity and, some would
say, an obligation to learn. Many companies increasingly see on-the-job
learning as essential to growth and to enhanced competitiveness. This is
because new skills are continually being acquired by staff. New ways of
using old skills are also being learned.
The learning organization produces employees who are:

Adaptable

Flexible

Innovative

Pro-active

Responsible

Highly motivated.

A range of literature suggests that workplaces must be turned into

sophisticated professional learning organizations in order to ensure that

43

learning becomes consolidated as an essential part of the organizational

culture.
This is a kind of learning which, in constantly demanding interaction
with those equal to and different from us, requires large doses of
intelligence and of emotional understanding that enables workers and
managers to motivate and improve their relationships with
colleagues, to bounce back from adversity, to work through the
difficulties and disappointing moments of change, to build highperforming teams, to solve problems effectively, to value the diverse
learning styles and cultural backgrounds of team-mates, and to solve
conflicts when they arise.(Hargreaves, 2003: 39).
In a globalized environment work is no longer a uniform progression of
production and consumption but is also an unfolding of a profound
restructuring of all social, cultural, personal and ethnic relationships and
understandings.

The

fact

remains

however,

that

modern

society

is

displaying worrying levels of uneven development and disturbing levels of

documented

inequality,

poverty

and

discrimination.

Environmental

degradation, homelessness, two-tier social service provision, absence of

planning, asset stripping of public services and blind reliance on everincreasing consumption patterns are but some of the indicators of current
social malaise.
In such a context the ability to cut costs, maintain increased production
rates and maintain competitiveness may tend to dominate all commercial
thinking and forward planning. When the imperative is to survive from day
to day, most companies can find issues around learning, planning, staff
qualifications and innovation either esoteric or irrelevant. It is suggested
that the role of the employer is to marshal economic and productive activity
to meaningful social ends. In this sense, employment can become
participation in profitable activities - profitable to all social stakeholders and
not just shareholders. Work itself, in this sense, goes beyond the mere
provision of jobs to the creation of value - in both economic and social
senses.
Learning, in the employment context, is most effectively understood when
positively linked with:

44

Creativity

Problem resolution

Change management

Diversity and inclusion

Improved communications.

Employers who have seen learning as more than skill-specific training have
been able to benefit from the extraordinary potential of new and diverse
elements in their workforces. This has meant that the voyage of discovery
around learning has become centrally linked to the strategic learning needs
of the employers concerned. The learning of the organization is tied directly
to the learning needs of each and every employee. Employers and
organizations who see only cost implications in the provision of work-based
learning are, at the least, missing out on the extraordinary potential of
thinking and acting in different ways.
Innovation is literally doing what has not been done before. It calls for
considerable creativity for employers to develop innovative practices. It is
often a veritable leap into the unknown. Yet all the evidence is that the
companies who achieve success do so because they are doing something
new - or something old in a new way. Innovation is not about market
gimmicks. It is about products and skills that emerge from new ways of
organization and human creativity. Innovation is based upon learning from
the past as much as about anticipating the needs of the future.
One certainty is that traditional ways of designing, producing and selling can
and will not work in the longer term. Traditional recruitment, training and
promotion practices will fail to maintain jobs if the only perspective is
competition with low wage economies or an undignified scramble to attract
inward job creation at any price.
Enterprises are becoming more aware that they need to become both more
flexible and more responsive to their external environments. The dynamic of
work-based learning offers not just the opportunity to meet minimum
obligations to staff. It offers an opportunity to maximize and sustain

45

profitable enterprise that benefits the entire community. The business

learning organization is by its nature innovative. It also values best practice
and the quality that focuses not merely on product characteristics but also
on the process that produces both consistently excellent goods and a
motivated workforce.
It is possible to observe that the meaning of work is experiencing a
redefinition in contemporary society. As a result, new concerns are arising
in working environments related to the connection between learning,
creativity and innovation. A number of these concerns are related to:
1. Promoting learning in companies and among workers
2. Recognition, evaluation and accreditation of learning in environments
other than formal, given that the traditional academic mode has lost
its monopoly over learning
3. Processes permitting development and consolidation of human capital
4. Optimizing the creativity arising from the effect of the wealth of social
diversity, more evident now than in earlier epochs
5. Systems to guarantee equal learning opportunities in a world affected
by inequality, within a context of fair social distribution of knowledge.
This suggests investigation of processes through which knowledge and
learning are recognized and how organizations cater for diverse learners in
diverse work places.

It also raises questions for the development of

methodologies to understand of teaching and learning that promotes

flexible and equitable creativity and innovation while also enabling formal
recognition systems for learning.

46

3.2. New learning environments: networking and

community based learning
As in the world of work, social change and the evolution of learning requires
change in other sectors, including education. The strength of todays
educational relationship is based on learning - above all on the specification
of contextual conditions to guarantee meaning and relevance. Environments
in the framework of lifelong learning where students assume responsibility
for creating and developing their learning is a balance between individual
and collective effort. The link between innovation and learning communities
and articulation of best practice is critical. Lifelong learning is at its most
effective when applied in community contexts. It also requires an attitudinal
and cultural change on the part of governments, policy makers, education
providers, learners and community actors.

Community based learning,

particularly in its lifelong learning and adult education initiatives, requires

more than government intervention or formal policy statements.
Local communities must be actively involved and committed. First, society
as a whole must:

Value learning

Support those who continue to learn

Make learning part of their countrys culture.

Second is the issue of resources - this is a perennial problem. This can be

addressed at community level by affirming and promoting the notion that
education serves the community in many ways. These extend far beyond
the purely economic concerns of society. Social change is mediated and can
be directed at community levels if learning is pro-active and centred on
community needs.
The community is based around the need for learning in a variety of ways
and levels. These encompass:

47

Community development

Social solidarity

The role of volunteering

Environmental management and conservation

Social inclusion measures

Religious bodies and groups

Arts and culture

Sports and leisure

Health and well-being.

At times of significant social change, communities need to be re-defined in

such a way as to be meaningful to the individuals who live there.
Community appropriation of lifelong learning and meaningful vocational
education applications entails a greater responsibility for growth and
advancement

lying

with

the

individual.

With

respect

to

community

development, individuals need to start seeing themselves differently They

need to see the importance of managing their own careers and to accept
responsibility for learning across a lifespan - not just while in school or
within formal learning structures.
If in society as a whole working with others, dialogue and collaboration
between different people is the obvious foundation of the construction of
any cultural, economic and political environment, education is equally
important. This is where the idea of community, shared and communicated,
takes on particular importance.
Community is not limited to the field of education. The past few decades
have witnessed increased interest in the concept of community in general.
Much of this interest stems from American perspectives and is based on the
perception that sense of community in the United States is weak and there
is a need to get American citizens to think about working together toward
the common good (Etzioni, 1993). John Goodlad of the University of
Washington, Head of the Institute for Educational Renewal, echoed these
sentiments in the 1990 editorial of the Holistic Education Review.

48

Our culture does not nourish that which is best or noblest in the
human spirit. It does not cultivate vision, imagination, or aesthetic or
spiritual sensitivity. It does not encourage gentleness, generosity,
caring, or compassion. Increasingly in the late twentieth century, the
economic-technocratic-static worldview has become a monstrous
destroyer of what is loving and life-affirming in the human soul.
(Goodlad:1997:p. 125).
In the past few decades, there has been a growing movement to reinvent
the way citizens learn and a fundamental re-appraisal of the methods
through which young people are introduced into society. This offers a
challenge to traditional schooling and education systems based on formal
teaching

and

instructional

methods.

Learning

communities

put

an

innovative focus on:

Methodologies: distance, open learning, asynchronous and student

centered

Lifelong learning

Freedom and opportunity in subject choice and pedagogy

Flexibility: resources, location and modularization

Choice and autonomy

Civic culture: responsibility, communitarism and trust.

The learning community does not have simply one way of defining and
understanding it. In the first place, a community is a series of people or
social entities with a shared vision. Hence, a learning community has the
goal of readiness to learn. It is a community open to the environment,
where the aim is to interact constructively. Second, different uses of this
concept are occurring in social and educational practice to take into
consideration (Torres, 2004).
Although they have many basic forms, learning communities in the
traditional school environment share two common academic elements:
shared or collaborative learning and connected learning. In general,
collaborative learning activities group students together to explore or apply
the course material; these approaches have been linked to significantly
enhanced

learning.

Collaborative

learning

in

the

curricular

learning

49

community model emerges as communities enroll the same students in

several common courses, thereby increasing the likelihood of an integrated
social and academic experience. Connected learning, in turn, encourages
students to connect ideas from different disciplines. This emerges in the
learning community model from the fact that the shared courses are
organized or linked around a single theme (Pascarella and Terenzini; Zhao
and Kuh, 2004). As a result of these two common academic elements,
learning communities represent a constructivist approach to knowledge,
encouraging students to socially construct their own knowledge rather than
simply accepting the information transmitted by the instructor. As a result,
learning is deeper, more personally relevant, and becomes a part of who
the student is, not just something the student has (Zhao and Kuh, 2004, p.
117).
The cooperative and connected learning environments established as part of
a learning community promote both academic and social engagement
(Tinto,

1997).

Decades

of

research

on

academic

engagement,

operationalized as effort or involvement, suggests that, other things being

equal, the more the student is psychologically engaged in academic and
academic-related activities and tasks that reinforce and support the formal
academic experience the more he or she will learn (Pascarella and
Terenzini, 2005). In terms of social engagement, the collaborative nature of
learning communities promotes student-to-student interaction and studentto-faculty interaction (Ewell, 1994); both types of interaction are correlated
with improved outcomes for students (Pascarella and Terenzini, 2005;
Tinto, 1997).
A learning community is lodged in a human and territorial community,
based on a common project towards which all agents involved work,
generating and developing ideas. This concept is related to different
contexts.

School

and

after-school

(formal,

non-formal

and

informal

organization, and the classroom itself as a community).

The virtual classroom,

mediated by

ICT, generating

networks

50

between

people,

education

centres,

professional

communities,

companies.
The Cedefop (2008) definition recognizes the different contexts, defining a
learning community as promoting a culture of learning by developing
effective

local

partnerships

between

all

sectors

of

the

community,

supporting and motivating individuals and organizations to learn. Virtual

communities foster new relational atmospheres through:

Network socializing processes, the exchange of experiences and the

construction of processes and ideas.

Geographic areas (city, district, groups of areas).

Economic and human development processes or the development of

social capital.

Citizen participation and development processes.

Professional development processes in which professionals work and

learn in the framework of powerful learning communities. The
European Distance and E-learning Network (EDEN) exemplifies a
virtual learning community, its purpose being to involve actors in a
European community of expertise to share experiences on how elearning can be used to strengthen individual, organizational, local
and regional development, digital learning literacy, best practice and
extended access.

Academic educational literature contains clear examples of centres working

based on the community idea (Apple & Beane, 1995; Jaussi, 2002). These
centres are deeply involved in discovering practical ways of increasing the
significant participation of all people playing a part in the educational
experience (families, volunteers, students, neighbourhood residents). The
goal is a more participative model, where teachers work jointly with one
another in the collective interests of students, school and the social setting.
It is envisaged that students are committed, active participants in their
learning and their community and teachers learn continually, while
equipped with resources to reflect and act. It is intended that families and

51

community play a real part in programmes and educational decisionmaking.

The learning community framework contains a different concept of the
educational relationship, the education agent, inter-institutional relationship
and the general contexts. This is because:

All are considered as learning objects: adults, youngsters, families

Intergenerational, mutual learning and learning between equals is

encouraged

The whole community is a potential agent to assume educational

functions

It maintains a holistic view of education and society

It fosters creation of innovation networks

It is a social project that promotes educational work

Lifelong learning lies at the root of all activity.

In Spain, the idea of learning community has been detailed in a socioeducational project engaging a wide network of centres spread over several
autonomous communities. Main features include pluralism and openness,
endowing it with a diversity mirroring the wider society. These Spanish
examples highlight how organizations can:

Overcome inequalities

Provide people with comprehensive education as a response to unmet

needs

Equip people with dialogue and critical analysis to contribute to the

construction of a more egalitarian, intercultural and inclusive society.

Questions arising centre on to what extent change in educational practices

can be achieved and on the development of methods to allow VET, workbased and adult education to meet the challenges of contemporary
education and society. The transformation from industrial organizations to
informational organizations is a critical strategic imperative. Competence is
not limited to the cognitive use of theory or concepts but encompasses

52

technical skills, interpersonal attributes and ethical values (Cedefop 2008;

European Commission, 2006).

53

3.3. Towards new forms of professionalism

The redefinition of all social and educational areas, and of the elements that
foster them, requires analysis as well as change in ways of understanding
professions. Both the working and educational worlds urgently require the
insertion of new ways of understanding the role of professionals within a
series of very widely differing socio-historical coordinates. Today it is out of
the question that anyone can work alone. The Freirian assertion that nobody
knows everything or nothing, but that we learn with others, has taken on
real presence and value. Nobody knows enough or could hope to achieve
enough

knowledge

to

go

it

alone.

Knowledge

creation

involves

reconstructing understanding to permit actors to imagine more creative and

innovative situations. Involvement in actions and problem-solving within
wider groups around a common purpose is imperative for innovation.
Whether called teams, communities, networks, the underlying fact is the
need to think with others, from different angles, to produce new ideas.
Professional culture thus needs reconstruction at several levels.

In

education, both adult learners and vocational learners need engagement

action of committed professionals who are aware of needs and contexts.
Professionals need to promote projects based on community values,
collective participation and multiculturalism. Finally learners need to
become involved in the educational processes to think and act above and
beyond

the

seductions

and

demands

of

the

knowledge

economy

(Hargreaves 2003: 76).

54

IV. DEVELOPING COMPETENCES IN CREATIVITY AND

INNOVATION

Creative competencies that lead to innovation need to be underpinned by

tolerance, openness, flexibility, autonomy, support and collaboration. These
issues require complex approaches to innovation and creativity that take
account

of

individual

capabilities,

group

values

and

formal/informal

organization rules.

4.1. Creative competences that should be developed to get

innovation
Creativity is possible in all areas of human activity. As all people have
creative abilities, these have to be developed to get innovation. Knowing
the characteristics of the creative individual is very useful to define learning
experiences that enhance creativity. Some research has been conducted to
understand better the personal characteristics of creative individuals,
especially in cognitive psychology. Not only personal characteristics of an
individual or possession of certain competence inevitably lead to innovative
solutions - environmental factors are of equal importance. Jane Piirto
(2004: 135-146) offers a conceptual framework - the Pyramid of Talent
Development - that considers person, process, and product, as well as
environmental factors. It includes 5 aspects of creativity:
1. The genetic aspect: Talent in domains, inborn or innate.
2. The emotional aspect: personality attributes present some way in
highly creative persons. These may be innate to a certain extent, but
can also be developed, encouraged, and directly taught. These
attributes

include

introversion,
excitability,

androgyny,

intuition,
passion

naivet,
for

work

creativity,
openness
in

imagination,
to

experience,

domain,

insight,
over-

perceptiveness,

perfectionism, persistence, preference for complexity, resilience, risktaking, self-discipline, self-efficacy, tolerance for ambiguity, and
55

volition or will.
3. The cognitive aspect: Piirto claims that the cognitive dimension in the
form of an IQ score has been over-emphasized with regard to
creativity. A reasonable level of intelligence may be necessary and
helpful for creative production, but for creativity, formal intelligence
is a minor ingredient. Things like motivation- wanting to create - are
more important

4. Environmental suns that could be linked to certain factors in the

environment, including positive and nurturing home environment;
community and culture conveying values compatible with the
educational institution and supporting home and school; school;
gender.
5. Chance.
Cropley (Cropley, 2009: 147-150), however, divides properties of the
individual into cognitive, personal and motivational properties. Among
cognitive aspects fostering creativity would include:

Rich and varied experiences in many settings

Fund of general knowledge

Specialized knowledge

Skill at seeing connections, overlaps, similarities and logical

implications (convergent thinking)

Skill at making remote associations, linking apparently separate fields

and forming new gestalts (divergent thinking)

Preference for accommodating rather than assimilating

Ability to recognize and define problems

Ability to plan personal learning and evaluate progress (executive or

metacognitive abilities)

In the case of personality, creativity requires:

Openness to new ideas and experiences

Adventurousness

Autonomy

56

Ego strength

Positive self-evaluation and high self-esteem

Acceptance of all (even contradictory) aspects of ones own self

Preference for complexity

Tolerance for ambiguity.

In order to foster motivational aspects, teachers should seek to foster in

students:

A concept of creativity and a positive attitude to it

Curiosity

Willingness to risk being wrong

Drive to experiment

Task commitment, persistence and determination

Willingness to try difficult tasks

Desire for novelty

Freedom from domination by external rewards (intrinsic motivation)

Readiness to accept a challenge

Readiness for risk taking.

Clark (2008), following her holistic vision of the concept of creativity, has
gathered the characteristics and abilities of creative people described in
various research papers (Amabile,1990; Sternberg & Lubart, 1993; Runco
& Nemiro , 1994) and classified them in four groups of creative individuals:
Cognitive Rational; Affective/ Social; Physical/ Sensing; Intuitive. Thus,
creativity, like all human abilities, is something all human beings have to a
greater or lesser extent. It can be improved over the years, while its
expression, according to Sternberg and Lubart (1997), requires knowledge,
intrinsic motivation and knowing how to display the new product. This
implies developing both inter- and intra-personal skills (such as the trust,
independent thought and communication described by Clark and Cropley).
Formal education should therefore work on the different human abilities and
intelligences (Gardner, 1993) and include them in the curriculum.

57

This raises questions on the methodologies required to understand how

learning processes and practices stimulate motivation and build on the
capacities of the social actors in defined learning spaces.

It also raises

questions for how examples of best practice can inform learners who have
different capacities, strengths and weaknesses.

58

4.2. Methodology, processes and conditions that develop

creative competences to create innovation.
According to Cropley (2009), personal attributes mentioned earlier are
highly dependent on various environmental systems in which creative
individuals become active.

Cropley (2009) highlights the ways in which

systems can be discouraging or inhibiting, or on the other hand nurturing,

stimulating or inspiring. It is suggested that organizations and systems
should be interested in the provision of a creativogenic climate that
embraces the concept of open teaching and learning as well as providing
the essential conditions for fostering creativity (Cropley, 2009: 147-150).
Creativity requires social environments to stretch individuals, balancing the
opportunity to act autonomously with the potential to collaborate with
stimulating groups and networks. It is also suggested that systems have to
involve tolerance, flexibility, openness and diversity (Cropley, 2009,
Sternberg 2003/2007). Several processes that promote tolerance are
detailed:

Acceptance of difference

Openness and tolerance of variability

Absence of rigid sanctions against mistakes

Encouraging and accepting constructive non-conformist behaviour

Encouraging and accepting original ideas

Creating an atmosphere free from anxiety and time pressure without

abandoning responsibility

Establishing psychological security, openness and freedom

Encouraging sensible risk-taking

Encouraging tolerance of ambiguity

Allowing mistakes.

A parallel set of processes that promote autonomy, reflection and selfefficacy is described:

59

Enabling self-directed work, allowing a high degree of initiative,

spontaneity and experimentation without fear of sanction against
incorrect solutions, errors, or mistakes

Creating organizational and structural conditions that allow open and

reversible distribution of roles, themes and problems, as well as
sharing of activities

Fostering identification of the person with learning activities by

allowing self-determination and joint responsibility

Supporting the development of positive self-assessment and a

favourable self-concept

Increasing autonomy in/of learning by recognition and self-evaluation

of progress

Fostering intense concentration and task commitment through high

motivation and interest in self-selected topics

Redefinition of problems

Questioning and analysis of assumptions

Helping persons build self-efficacy.

Processes that stretch and support creativity are also listed:

Offering meaningful enrichment of learners perceptual horizons

Providing challenging and stimulating learning materials

Providing support and positive feedback for questioning and exploring

behavior and problem-finding, not just problem solving

Making it possible for persons to experience social creativity during

group interactions and through joint projects with self-selected
partners

Reducing stress on achievement and avoiding negative stress by

introducing playful activities

Nurturing sensibility, flexibility and divergent thinking

Learning to sell creative ideas and persuade others

Encouraging idea generation

Encouragement to identify and surmount obstacles

Helping persons to find their interests

Role modeling creativity

60

Cross - fertilizing ideas across subjects and disciplines

Allowing time for creative thinking

Rewarding creativity

Encouraging collaboration.

The concept of open learning and instruction indicates a changed and

enriched role for the teacher, who is no longer merely instructor, evaluator
and

authority,

but

rather

stimulator,

moderator,

helper,

counsellor,

facilitator, participating observer, initiator, partner, instructor, mentor and

model (Cropley, 2009).
The above list of processes are extremely important as they may provide
the type of criteria by which everyday efficacy of best practice examples can
be evaluated in terms of the generation of innovation and creativity.
Specific and practical case examples provide substantive, qualitative and indepth models of what conceptual categories actually mean in different
socio-cultural contexts.

61

CONCLUSIONS

The way learning is understood in todays world has evolved dramatically. It

seems clear that the social spaces, organizations and policies that promote
forms of learning based on cooperation, collaboration and collective creation
from different cultural viewpoints, (based on the community idea) have
enormous possibilities for anticipating economic and social changes. They
also consolidate human potential, itself capable of both creating and
innovating.
Nevertheless, it is not always easy to differentiate between the concepts of
creativity and innovation. Creativity is a human ability developed in close
interaction with context, associated with the ability to learn in constantly
changing environments. It is attributable to all people and capable of
development. It is interesting to define the learning experiences which can
improve the creativity residing inside everyone, taking account genetic
factors,

emotional

aspects,

domain-specific

talent,

cognitive

and

environmental factors. At the end of the day, creativity is an increasingly

important value, both with respect to individual development and to
achieving professional and cultural development in a constantly changing
society which demands innovative responses.
On the other hand, innovation cannot be reduced to a simple matrix of
definitions, norms and procedures. To do so would be to reduce a complex
process of cognition, design and intentionality to a mere set of procedures
which, given the right environment and circumstances, could be reproduced
in any number of settings. Innovation involves a radical re-evaluation of
existing circumstances and conditions. It involves asking a rigorous set of
questions that interrogate what the current situation is and then sets results
against what could (or more intriguingly, should) be. Innovation exists in
real environments with strongly established structures and modes of
ownership which may, by their nature, be antipathetic to any form of
questioning or new thought.

62

We locate innovation in the key framework of contemporary life - the

process

of

relationships

globalization.
and

Globalization

structures.

It

powerfully

shapes

our

affects

very

all

human

understanding

of

knowledge, information, values and power. It is not an abstract. It is not

divorced from actually existing systems in the process of unprecedented
global

change.

movement,

The

impact

intercultural

of

sustained

communities

and

urbanization,
increased

demographic

stratification

is

profound and will condition the forms and nature of innovation produced in
globalized contexts.
Globalization

and

the

altered

relationships

that

emerge

from

the

globalization process therefore influence innovation in immediate and direct

ways. It also shapes the nature of the learning response to innovation. It is
one thing to create learning systems and methods that are innovative. It is
another thing to shape, sustain, own and develop them in innovative ways
over a period of time. In that context we have given consideration to forms
of learning and the development of learning communities which, in the right
circumstances, can help to ensure that the fruits of innovation are
meaningful to individuals and to communities and is structured in such a
way that equity, justice, participation and rights are served most efficiently.
The creation of a participative and democratic learning environment has not
been to the forefront in traditional discourse surrounding innovation. In fact,
the

discussion

on

innovation

and

creativity

has

been

increasingly

conditioned by images derived from free market liberalism and from the
sense of competitive pressures. The recent global economic crisis may
provide a welcome opportunity to re-locate innovation in the context of
community and shared ownership where values have equal importance with
rates of profitable extraction.
It is in that sense that innovation is re-imagined. An innovation that is more
than the sum of its parts. An innovation that responds as well as forges new
learning and new products. An innovation that takes risks and is not
circumscribed by narrow policy barriers. An innovation that is not a panacea
for current ills, but rather a mode of thinking, acting and doing that has at

63

its heart the transformation of relationships and conditions in our globalized

world.

64

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on

Education

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the

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Teresa (1996). Creativity

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76

PART 2.
Identification of the
Best Practices.
BPRecord Tool
Summary Table of Best Practices

77

BPRecord
In this questionnaire best practice refers to a method or process which promotes
creativity and/or produces innovations.
Background information:
Country:
Information collected by:
Name:
Organisation:
Role/Title:
Address:
E-mail:
Telephone:
Fax:
Web:

Source of information:
Interview
Informant:
Name:
Organisation:
Role:
E-mail:
Telephone:
Questionnaire
Informant:
Name:
Organisation:
Role:
E-mail:
Telephone:
Bibliographic References (Report /Journal/Book). According to international
convention:
Other:
Target group:
VET

Adult VET

Working life

Field:
Creative, (which)_____________

Technical (which)__________________

78

1. Training programme/course/project in which creative methods have been

applied:
1.1. Name:
1.2. Organisation:
Public sector / Private Sector / Other
1.3. Contact information:
Address:
E-mail:
Telephone:
Fax:
Web:
1.4. Number of participants:
Learners:
Trainers:
Others, who?
1.5. Approximate age division of participants (specifying age related to social
situation, e.g.: schooling, employment/unemployment, social exclusion situation,
etc.)
1.6. Duration of the experience:
Project start-up:
Current situation (underway, finished, others):
1.7. Source of financing (Institutions budget, specific funding for the project,
others).
1.8. Objectives of the practice:
1.9. Main contents:
2. Main reason to consider this example as a best practice?
3. Are skills of creativity (creative competences) defined in the programme/ course
/ project?
If yes:
Which?

4. What kinds of creative methods were applied in the programme/course/project?

5. How have methods supporting creativity been developed?
6. Why was it developed?
7. What was new and different in this training/course/project compared to
previous implementations of the same/similar trainings/courses/projects?
8. Were there new innovations generated as a result of the used creative methods?
If yes:
What kinds of innovations?
How was the innovation recognized? (how can it be called/defined as
an innovation?)
How can it be said that it was the creative method that generated the innovation?
Were creative methods used particularly to promote innovation or

79

could the innovations be generated without the method?

9. In addition to the methods used, were there particular elements identified in the
circumstances where the training /course/ project was held?
If yes:
What kinds?
Which eventual supports or equipments were used?
10. Were specific competences defined for trainers in order to carry out this training/course/
project?
If yes:
Which?
Was any additional training required to develop these competences?
11. What was the impact of the used method on:
1.

Participants motivation?

2.

Learning results?

3.

Other?

12. How was the training assessed?

1. By whom?
2. When?
3. What were the assessment instruments?
13. Which aspects of the used method were most valued by the participants?
14. Has the method been disseminated?
If yes:
How?
Where?
15. Has the method been implemented in other contexts?
If yes:
Where?
Were the results positive?

80

2. Summary Table of BPs

This table of BPs incorporates the central elements identified during the first phase of the CREANOVA project. The aims of the table are: 1) to help navigating in the large amount of data
provided in BPRecords and BP reports and 2) serve as a tool when selecting a best practice for experiments
No Ctry.

Title of BP

Target group

Field

Nature of BP

Duration

Methods

General impact

Innovative impact

Aspect valued by
learners

Special circumstances
* Tri-lingual training

ITA

ITA

ITA

EST

Sharing is the
method

Course for
managers of
Innovation

Learn to learn

Web-based
training course
Introduction to
advertising:
creativity with
borders and
game with
rules

Adult VET

Adult VET /
Working life
(handicraft
businesses)

VET

Adult VET /
VET

T/C

Training course
(on
documentary
film-making)

Training course
for managers of
handicraft
businesses
(aimed to help
in realizing
innovative
ideas)

Project (aimed
to apply
competences to
identify
innovative
solutions for
specific needs)

100% webbased training

course (aimed to
develop
creativity of a
learner in the
context of
advertising
training)

3 years

5 months,
(incl. 40 h
classes + 8
h personal
coaching)

3 years (5 h
a week +
leisure
time)

1 semester
for VET
students
and 10
weeks for
adult
learners
(staff of
NGOs)

SHARING is the method

and basis of the learning
process, incl. discussions,
involvement, participatory
projects, testing, bringing
out ideas, autonomy,
responsibility,
telling with fear,
community training,
exchange of ideas etc.
* Creative methods (incl.
holistic method,
subconscious process,
lateral thinking)
* interactive approach,
involvement of students,
simulations and guided
discussions, learning by
doing, ...
* Creative methods, incl.
lateral thinking and 6
thinking hats, the TRIZ
method and the holistic
method;
* Team work: strong
personal relationships, all
students are at the same
level, collaboration,
respect, acceptance of
other opinions, no
competition

* Freedom
Improvement in students
learning results

Creation of new industries

and companies on the
field by graduates

* Sharing ideas with

international professionals
and students
* Responsibility

* Melding of theoretical
principles and hands-on
experience

* Support for film projects

* encouraging people with

different background to
work together
Impact on students
motivation (became
aware of their potential)

No new innovative ideas

were generated,
participants already had
an innovative idea

* no assessment
* lateral thinking method

* Constant connection
between theory and
practice.
*Improvement of oral
and written expression
* impact on motivation
and learning results

* freedom
Innovative. products
generated

* transparency in methods
* relation-ships among
various actors

* Web-based course
lectures + creative
exercises
* exercises ask for
individual thinking, not
reproduction of
theoretical knowledge
acquired

* Flexible structures and

curricula

* teachers aim to create

positive and creative mood

* Impact on
studentsmotivation and
learning results

* individual feedback, no
traditional assessment by
using marks, but written
commentaries

81

Idea of innovative product

(reading game) was
generated in online
discussions

* freedom to choose your

study time and select from
exercises
* individual thinking
promoted

* free communication btw

learner and teacher

No Ctry.

EST

EST

Title of BP

The course
product
development
in Kuressaare
Ametikool

Creative
learning
environment in
Olustvere
Teenindus- ja
Maamajandusk
ool

Target group

VET

Field

Nature of BP

Training course
on product
development,
includes
generation of
product ideas,
product
realization and
presentation

Duration

3 weeks

Methods

* brainstorming, lateral
thinking, both analytical
and associative
approaches are used
* free atmosphere, no
right and wrong ideas,
discussion, reflection

General impact

Innovative impact

Aspect valued by
learners

* By now the course has

been incorporated into
national curriculum
Impact on learners
motivation and learning
results

Many innov. products

have been generated
(ancient handicraft work
in new forms)

* Students are not

producing working
samples, but original and
innovative products

EST

* Students are not

producing working
samples, but original and
innovative products
* Ecological approach and
recycling
* Feed-back from proff
artist

* Increasingly many
things taught in the
context of practical
training;
Adult VET /
VET

* general subjects
integrated into vocational
subjects;

Example of
creative school
environment

* independence and
responsibility asked from
students, freedom
provided in implementing
learning tasks

Impact on learners
motivation and learning
results (very low dropout
rate)

No innov. generated

Atmosphere inside of the

buildings and outside in
the school campus area

* Students imitating work

of a real company;
Practical
training of
computer
networks in
VET Centre of
Haapsalu

Special circumstances

VET

Training course

6 weeks

* continuous need for

solving problems
simulated by teachers
* team-work,
independence,
responsibility is
promoted, freedom in
problem finding and
solving

* Interwoven training and

real work opportunities

* Authentic learning
context
Impact on learning
motivation and learning
results

* freedom,
No innov. generated

* authentic learning
context

* Teachers role as an
observer and mentor
* creativity promoted in
the context of different
school subjects and
activities (project weeks)

Students:
* practical learning envir.

FIN

Demola

Working life

C/T

Project (open
innovation
environment in
order to
facilitate
innovation
project teams)

* brain-storming, double
teams etc.
2 years

* social interaction,
informal place,
communication in an open
innovation environment
visible to all actors,
anyone can contribute

* Raised motivation
(possibility to do real
things):
* Impact on learning
results and skills
(learning skills, initiative
and inf search)
* ability to act with
different people

Many kinds of digital and

social innovations has
been generated; small
enterprises has been set
up

* closer connection to
work

* BP promotes schoolcompany cooperation

* co-operation

* brings together actors

from different fields;

Work life:
* ex-perience of open
innovation process
* con-nection to talented
persons
* right to the designed
products

82

* Takes place in informal

place away from school in
an old building;

No Ctry.

Title of BP

Target group

Field

Nature of BP

Duration

Methods

General impact

Innovative impact

Aspect valued by
learners

* Positive impact on
learners motivation and
learning results, impact
on learners creativity

Still under way

Special circumstances

*Learner is in the center

* Learning in untraditional
places

10

FIN

FIN

HOPE project &

Fire Souls

Varikko- project

Adult VET /
Working life

VET

C/T

Project (aimed
to bring
revolutionary
change in
learning
methods and
learning
environments)

Project
(individual study
plan as a mean
for preventing
students dropout)

* Making a learning
agreement with oneself;
1,5 years

* Dialogue, sharing,
reflection, reading and
meeting with experts

* Learning in untraditional
places
* Social media tools used,
incl Youtube, Facebook

* learners responsibility
of ones learning and
freedom, mistakes
regarded as source of
learning

3,5 years

* Integrating general
subjects to voc subjects >
learning e.g. Swedish in
authentic environment >
action learning learning
language while doing
practice; The method TPR
(Total Physical Response)

* Impact on students
motivation and learning
results
* Drop-oup rate
decreased*

Students built an
interactive visual tool
(board) used in teaching

* Learning from senior

students
* Learning outside of class
* Integr. general subjects
to voc training

* Learning outside of
classroom (real work
environment)

* Senior students as
mentors to younger ones
* Out-of-school learning

11

FIN

The
enchantment of
an older
wooden housefixing,
experiments,
creativity

Working life

Training
program

6 c.u.?

* Experiential learning:
living in a village of old
houses
* Inventory learning;
identifying diff historical
issues in the buildings

Impact on learners
motivation and learning
results

Some new tools for

teaching (puzzle works,
miniature models, a CD)

* Concrete-ness

Impact on learners
motivation and learning
results

Final products made by

students at the end of the
studies include innov
aspects

* Plurality of methods
available

* Designing new models

for teaching

* Out-of-school learning
envir.
* Promoting integration of
subjects
* Experts of the field
involved to the training

* Experimenting and
workshops
No specific method, but
combination of elements
which bring creative
solutions:

12

FIN

Training
program at
Pirkanmaa
Educational
Consortium

* Individualizing tasks
VET

Training
program

4 years

* Students tutor eachother (senior students

tutoring)
* Moodle-based studying
and guidance

* Practice- orientedness

* Using professional
networks as a support in
guidance

13

FIN

Training in
Rautaruukki OY

Working life

Workplace
learning
environment

* Mixing people with

different backgrounds and
from diff divisions

* Atmosphere (safe,
enough time, interaction,
trust)
* Encouragement by
leaders

* Idea contests

83

No Ctry.

14

FIN

Title of BP

Target group

Field

Nature of BP

Duration

Entrepreneurshi
p

Adult VET

Training
program on
entrepreneurshi
p

1,5 years

Methods
* Team-learning
* Learning in non-formal
contexts ( country-side
resorts, by the lake)

General impact

Innovative impact

Aspect valued by
learners

Impact on learners
motivation and learning
results

Taidosto-cooperative
society was established

* exceptional learning
environ.

Special circumstances
* exceptional learning
environment
* safe and secure to
express oneself

Method/system/philosoph
y includes following
aspects:

15

FIN

Training system
in Satakunta
College of Arts
and Crafts

Adult VET

System applied
to carrying out
different courses
(programs of
audio- visual,
animator, tvassistant,
movie-assistant)

* emphasis on constant
doing
The process
started in
2000

* offering continuous
positive feed-back
* students encouraged to
take risks

Impact on learners
motivation, learning
results and professional
development

Innovations (new kind of

videos) produced

* Free atmosphere
* Possibility to influence
ones own studies

* No hierarchical relations
to students

* Learning environment
open as possible
* Pulling down the
hierarchies
* Raising students point
of view in the center

* Doing things in different

ways is encouraged
* goal mind-map
16

FIN

Entrepreneurcourse

VET

Training course

2-3 months

* internet-based learning
envir.
* discussions
* networking

* Impact on learners
motivation and learning
results.
* Developed initiative
and learners
independence

Innovative products
generated (e.g. felted
woolen yoga-mat, a felted
light etc.)

* Freedom
* possibility to influence
what one wants to study *
presence of Taidosto
cooperative society

* the presence of
Taidosto-cooperative
society
* Open atmosphere

* success-story analysis

17

FIN

TIP TOPToolbox student

mobility project

VET

Mobility project
where several
Finnish schools
are partners
(integrating
creative thinking
and
entrepreneurshi
p into voc
studies)

* Being in international
atmosphere and real
organizations

2 years
project;
second
project ongoing

* mixed teams (diff org

and fields)
* virtual social
cooperative
* holistic approach to
well-being
* entrepreneurial
approach

* Impact on students
motivation and learning
results
*Growth of students
individuality, networks
and self-esteem

* Innovative business
ideas

The whole project

* international period used

for creating business ideas

* lot of support and

guidance

18

FIN

Labor-intensive
training
experiment/
Construction

VET

Training project:
practice-oriented
training
experiment

* Learning by doing
emphasized
3 years (ongoing)

* lots of guidance
* immediate feedback
* Practice diaries filled in
on a daily basis

* Impact on learners
motivation and learning
results (hand-based
skills, ability to plan ones
work
* Minimal absent rates

84

* Some innovative
solutions

* learning in authentic
context
* social network
* possibility of doing

* Work-practice in
different workplaces as a
dominant element

No Ctry.

19

20

21

BAS

BAS

BAS

Title of BP

Target group

Field

Nature of BP

Duration

Publicity
campaign

Working life

Publicity
campaign (in
order to change
the image of
VET in society)

3 months

Training course
led by David
Parrish (aimed
to foster
entrepreneurial
spirit)

Bizkaiacreativa

Guidance for
the search and
improvement of
employment of
people over 45
years in the
district of
Debabarrena:
the value of the
age

Working life

Adult VET

Educ.

Project (aimed
to provide
training for
unemployed
people over 45
years )

Methods

General impact

Innovative impact

Aspect valued by
learners

Special circumstances

* strategic analysis
* lateral thinking

No innovations generated

* experimentation with
new technologies (e.g.
mobile marketing)
Aspects emphasized:
* Impact on learners
motivation and learning
results

3 days

6 months

* music therapy
techniques (Bonny
Method of Guided Image
and Music)

* Clarity
* organization

* need to anticipate
changed, not just react
them
* threats can be turned
into opportunities

Improvement of
participant motivation,
social skills and higher
work values

No direct innovations
generated, but the
approach itself is
innovative

* coaching (participants
discussing their lives as
they deserved to be lived)

Coaching techniques:

22
.

23

BAS

BAS

Development of
personal
resources and
purchasing
personal and
social habits for
employment

Program for
Prevention and
Social
Integration

Adult VET

Adult VET

Educ.

Educ.

Project aimed to
provide training
for unemployed
people (among
immigrants,
people with
disabilities,
people in
rehabilitation
process)

Training
program for
people with risk
of social
exclusion and
difficulties in
integration (lowskilled,
unemployed and
people with
mental disorders
and addictions

* creative
communication: verbal
and non-verbal
* initiative, autonomy and
pro-activity
7 months

* decision making and

problem solving attitude
* motivation

* atmosphere created to
work
* Being considered as
active agents, as
individual

* self-reflection
* using role-plays,
visualization, lists of
strengths and weaknesses
etc
* Theatrical techniques
based on the game
* Role-playing, simulation
games and viewing
movies
5 months

* Visits to book fairs,

libraries and adult schools

Impact on participants
motivation and
improvement of social
and personal skills

* paperwork and
questionnaires filled in for
making entries in
different entities

85

No direct innovations
generated, but the
approach was innovative

* Possibility of creative
and interpretative work
* Freedom

In order participants could

reconcile family life and
attending the program the
Social service gave a grant
in order to provide
childcare facilities, school
meals and day center

No Ctry.

24

25

BAS

BAS

Title of BP

Empresa Joven
Educativa

Interciclos

Target group

VET

VET?

Field

Educ.
26

BAS

KREA EiTB

Adult VET
Ent.

27

BAS

GIGA (Gaitasun
Industrialak
Garatzen)

Working life

Nature of BP
A project
(activities
concentrating on
AGOPE module
(management
and
Administration
of Small
Establishments)
aiming to
develop
initiative,
creativity and
entrepreneurial
capabilities
Production of
audiovisual
materials using
various
multimedia
techniques
Project aimed to
develop a
process and a
method for
creating
practical
creativity spaces
Project aimed to
promote
innovation in
SMEs
(implementation
of services, Job
Training
catalogue,
seminars,
development of
proff profile of
Technical
Process Trainer

Duration

A school
year (incl
90 hours of
training)

An
academic
year

Methods

General impact

Innovative impact

* Methodology includes
all steps of creative
process: the conception
of an idea, creation of the
catalogue, sales
techniques

* Impact on learners
motivation * theoretical
skills and application of
skills into real-life
situations

* imposing active attitude

of the students towards
knowledge

* Stronger capacity to
carry out initiatives

* brainstorming

* Impact on teachers and

learners motivation

* team-work in teams
comprised of specific
professional profiles

* Increase in participants
self-esteem

Innovative products
developed (e.g.
assembling computers of
recycled materials)

28

BAS

Centers of
Vocational
Training

Project aimed to
establish and
apply a model of
transformation
for the Centers
of Vocational
Training
(Guneka model)

* Forming part of the

teaching process
* Methodological approach

Special circumstances

A project currently
underway in 40 centres

No direct innovations were

produced, but the
approach itself is
innovative

* opportunity to work
under conditions similar to
real job market

* Favorable atmosphere
where initiatives may
emerge and develop

An online creativity course

has been developer

* 6 hats technique
4 years
(underway)

4 years
(underway)

* creating an internal
network of facilitators of
creativity (management
team, a talent manager, a
drive (15 professionals
from EiTB)

* Problem solving
* Trial and error
experiments etc

Useful for internal clients

and have became a
reference for other
companies

* Impact on motivation
* Impact in new
companies attracted to
the project

Yes, two companies

opened up new lines of
businesses

* creation of selfmanaging teams

Modelo
avanzado de
gestion en la
formacion
profesional

Aspect valued by
learners

4 years

* imagination by means
of creative groups

* Ability to present
proposals

* permanent framework
established

* generation of ideas to
face challenges
* outlining ideas by teams

* The relationship with the

technical staff of the
companies

* diversification of
learning methods used in
VET Centres

* using what-how matrix

in the implementation of
objectives

* investment in capacity
and time
Organizational and
cultural change

* organization of the
Centre into independent
units
* association btw
objectives, training needs
and development

* cooperative learning

86

Collaboration with
businesses in the design
and elaboration of didactic
and technological projects

No Ctry.

29

30

BAS

BAS

Title of BP

Belkoian Project
(Problem Based
Learning)

PROYECTO MLS
(Problem Based
Learning)1

Target group

VET

VET

Field

Meth.

Meth.

Nature of BP

Project aimed to
implement a
work method in
the classroom
where the
learner plays an
active role in
his/her learning
process

Project aimed to
implement a
work method in
the classroom
where the
learner plays an
active role in
his/her learning
process

Duration

7 years
(underway)

Methods
* The creative SORMENCREA method which
develops creativity
through a problem
solving process known by
IDEAL
* Use of problem-solving
tool that encourage
disperse thought

General impact

Innovative impact

Aspect valued by
learners

Special circumstances

* teamwork

Impact on participants
motivation

New learning-teaching
methodology as
innovation

* teamwork

* opportunity to organize
ones time
* support of teachers
* learning aspects not
directly related to the
material

* teachers role as tutor

or expert

7 years
(underway)

* The SORMEN-CREA
method which develops
creativity through a
problem solving process
known by IDEAL
* Use of problem-solving
tool that encourage
disperse thought

* teamwork

Impact on participants
motivation

* opportunity to organize
ones time
?

* support of teachers
* learning aspects not
directly related to the
material

* teamwork
* teachers role as tutor
or expert

31

32

BAS

Diffusion of
entrepreneurial
culture

GBR

Find Your
Talent
programme

VET

VET

Educ.

Project aimed to
promote
entrepreneur
culture by: a)
initial training;
b)additional
training; c)
implementation
of mobility
projects;
c)implementatio
n of Innovative
Business Center
in Audiovisual
field
A programme
piloting 5 hours
(in and out of
school) of
culture per week
building on the
national
curriculum and
work of the
Governments
creative
education
project Creative
Partnerships

2-3 years
(throughout
the last
year of VET
training
(repeated
every year)

* development and
realization of business
plans, encouraging
introspection, inner
world , curious mind and
lateral thinking

* gives children and

young people the chance
to try out different
cultural and creative
activities

Same information presented in the BPRecord as for the Belkoian Project

87

Emphasis on the role

culture can play in
improving social, economic
and environmental wellbeing of communities

No Ctry.

33

34

35

GBR

GBR

GBR

Title of BP

14-25
Academic Hub

Tyneside
Cinema

Cultural
Leadership
Programme

Target group

VET / Adult
VET

Adult VET

VET / Adult
VET / Working
life

Field

Nature of BP
The 14-25
Academic Hub
supports
collaboration
between
University of the
Art London,
several
secondary
schools and
further
education
collages.
Learning
Engagement and
Development
opportunities for
children, young
people, schools,
colleges,
individuals and
businesses
(courses,
projects, events)
Programme
seeks to benefit
the wider
creative and
cultural sector
(advertising,
design, historic
environment
etc) by providing
support and
development for
leaders in the
sector

Duration

Methods

36

GBR

VET

Programme
aimed to
develop pupils
and students
life skills

Innovative impact

Aspect valued by
learners

Special circumstances

* Impact on skills
development
(communication,
teamwork, negotiation
and problem-solving)

* unique design concepts

* sharing curriculum and

facilities by schools,
collages and universities,
sharing e-learning
materials
?

* students interchange
through mentoring
* sharing industry and
community contacts
Example of many events
Enslaved fashionshow in co-operation with
fashion professionals

Since 1937,
variety of
courses,
from 1
week long
to 1 year
long
projects

* screening and filmmaking projects

* industry events,
introducing pupils to the
professional film world
* Inset sessions on using
film and the moving
image in the classroom

* e.g. Practitioner
Leadership Development
Placements

* Pupils work in teams to

create a brief for a design
project that will improve
the quality of life in their
school
Sorrell
Foundation
Young Design
Programme

General impact

6- year
programme
(underway)

* Pupils as clients are

assisted by university
students and professional
designers or architects
* Essential skills as
teamwork, problemsolving and
communication are
learned

* awareness of what FE
and HE can offer
* raise of self-esteem

88

Encouraging real life

experience of the cycle of
design project

No Ctry.

37

38

39

40

GBR

GBR

GBR

GBR

Title of BP

Train to Gain
Service

Whitehall
Innovation Hub

Flanders
District of
Creativity

Edinburgh
International
Festival

Target group

VET / Adult
VET / Working
life

VET

VET

Working life

Field

Nature of BP

Programme
helps to plan the
workforce
development of
organizations,
collages,
universities,
training
providers etc.

Whitehall
Innovation Hub
aims supporting
innovative
thinking and
practice across
Whitehall

Duration

Methods

4 years
(underway)

* Train to Gain broker

assessing the training
needs of organizations

Aspect valued by
learners

Special circumstances

* improved long-term
competitiveness of
organizations

* 78% of employers
happy with skills
brokerage services

Advice on the best training

+ training subsidies and
wage compensation

* impact on skills
development

*creation of innovations
(virtual school)

* impact on
entrepreneurial creativity

Mission: Advancement of
social justice and relief of
poverty by removal of
barriers to ed
achievements and
employability

* better skills of
workforce

* Research and
consultancy work
* network formation
Started in
2008

* active learning events

for departmental leaders
* corporate mechanisms
that help incentivise
innovation
* Flanders DC fellows
entrepreneurs telling their
inspiring stories in schools
or events

FlandersDC is an
initiative
consisting of
several projects
aimed to
support
entrepreneurial
creativity

EIF aimed to
promote
cultural,
educational and
economic wellbeing of the
people of
Edinburg and
Scotland.( a
year round
programme of
education and
outreach work

Innovative impact

General impact

* GPS ( brainstorming
method) for Entreprises
* SAP Lounge
entrepreneurial creativity
day
* Annual conference on
entrepreneurial creativity
etc

* Art Practitioner Summer

School
Founded in
1947

* Young Critics
programme
* several workshops and
seminars

* Inspirational lectures
presented in schools

41

GBR

The Stephen
Lawrence
Centre/
Stephen
Lawrence Trust

VET

Centre/Trust
aimed
researching
ways to identify
gifted or
talented
individuals in
voc learning

Trust
established
in 1998

* under- and
postgraduate bursaries
and student scholarships
awarded

* advisement of
government departments
and businesses working in
the built environment
sector

89

No Ctry.

42

43

44

GBR

GBR

GBR

Title of BP

The Princes
Trust (The
Business
Programme)

Urban Learning
Space

JISC

Target group

VET

VET / Adult
VET / Working
life

VET

Field

Nature of BP

Programme
aimed to help
people to
explore and test
their business
ideas, write
business plans
and start their
own businesses
or achieve
alternative goals
in training or
work

C/T

ULS is an
innovative
learning lab that
supports project
design,
implementation
and evaluation
on public
learning spaces,
creativity and
multimedia

JISC
programmes
aimed to fund
infrastructure,
services,
innovative
projects and
studies.

Duration

Methods

General impact

Innovative impact

Aspect valued by
learners

Special circumstances

* Development of guides
covering all aspects of
starting a business
Since 1976

* cash awards to help

develop employability

* Working with 14-30 year

olds who have struggled at
school, have been in care,
are long-term unemployed
or have been in trouble
with the law

* Innovative tools
developed

* funding to set up
community projects

* Establishment of a
network of partners based
on education providers
and influential public
bodies

Since 2005

* Use of creative
engagement methods and
a range of research tools
and methods to gather
information needed to
design new models for
learning
* learning led projects,
innovation led projects
and event series
* innovative use of ICT to
support education and
research

9 years

* managing and funding

of more than 200 projects
within 15 programmes,
49 services that provide
expertise, advice,
guidance and resources to
address needs of all users
in HE and FE

90

No Ctry.

Title of BP

Target group

Field

Nature of BP

Duration

Methods

General impact

Innovative impact

Aspect valued by
learners

Special circumstances

* Use of guest speakers

and contributors with
direct experience of
conflict and/or peace and
reconciliation strategies.
* Use of strategic
partnerships with
government, public and
community organizations
to compete learning
dynamic and facilitate
learner driver strategies.

45

IRL

Conflicts of
Interest

Adult VET

To meet postconflict,
reconciliation
and conflict
transformation
needs of
communities
affected by
State and
communal
violence in
Northern
Ireland.

8 weeks

*post-war, civil conflict

environment.

* Use of advanced
technologies to
incorporate media critical
studies in analysis of
filmic portrayal of conflict
in Northern Ireland.

* Innovative engagement
with antagonistic
communities with lengthy
histories of intercommunal violence and
State repression.

* Use of structured
international comparative
analysis and incorporation
of peace building
interventions.

* Modular structure is
tailored to individual
learning needs.

* Use of innovative
learner accreditation
systems.

* Delivery method
flexible and tailored to
adult learning style.

* Cross-referencing of
academic and practical
examples. Participant
contribution is
encouraged through use
of story-telling and
creative outputs
especially photographic
and filmic representations
of conflict

91

*Strong experiential
component.
Community linkage, use of
film, use of individual
testimony, use of
international comparative
modules

*Strong focus on selfexpression and

development of identity
*Additional focus on
reconciliation and conflict
transformation
methodologies used
guided creative
expression.

*Also the course is

designed to be used in
both jurisdictions on the
island of Ireland (Republic
and NI).
*It is also designed to
incorporate
representatives of Roman
Catholic and Protestant
communities.
*There is a strong
emphasis on neutrality
and cultural respect for
both traditions in the
materials, venues,
methodologies and modes
of delivery.

No Ctry.

Title of BP

Target group

Field

C
46

IRL

Mediastacks

VET
Mult.

Nature of BP
The aim of the
training is to
give a variety of
media
production,
facilitation and
project
management
skills to
practitioners
working face-toface with young
people and to
increase their
capacity to
undertake
youth-in-action
projects
involving digital
media. By using
the stack of
media exercises
in various
arrangements
youth workers
can tailor the
media
experience
based on their
knowledge of
the young
persons needs,
capacity and
interests.

Duration

Methods

General impact

Innovative impact

Aspect valued by
learners

Special circumstances

* Youth at risk
The methodology is based
on non-formal learning
and involves group work,
team based tasks and
participant led activities.
The training focuses in
particular on

2 weeks

(1) media techniques

developed by Bradog in
partnership with the
Empower Media Network
(2) process-based group
facilitation skills

Strong development into

media training and
expressive arts for young
people that builds on
youth-work methods and
strategies of community
empowerment.

(3) skills needed to

develop projects under
Action 1 of the YIA
programme.

92

Use of pioneer techniques

within a non-formal
community-based
educational settings.

Digital creative
expression, development
of products, learning
arising from increased
competence and technical
expertise

*It works primarily in a

community-based
environment, with most
activities taking place after
school or on the weekend.
It practices non-formal
learning methodologies
throughout all our
activities.
*It uses the mediums of
sport, arts, digital media,
training and cultural
exchanges to engage
young people. It operates
a variety of clubs and
drop-in centers which
allow young people the
opportunity to relax and
socialize in a safe and
friendly environment

No Ctry.

47

48

IRL

IRL

Title of BP

Cultr
celebrating
diversity

Quality and
Learning:
project
initiatives

Target group

Adult VET

Field

Nature of BP

The impact of
inward to
migration in
recent years has
been profound.
At local level few
initiatives were
promoted to
develop
language
competence or
intercultural
contact.
Cultr provide a
drop in centre
facility for ethnic
minorities living
in Co. Meath
who need advice
and information
on a range of
issues with
translation in a
number of
languages
facilitated by
both staff and
volunteers.

T
Working Life

Qual.
Syst.

The emphasis
has been to
create a
valuable on-line
educational
resource centre
(for parents,
carers, school
boards of
management,
teachers
/educators)

Duration

Ongoing

Methods

Language training;
cultural events; storytelling; capacity building;
focus on rights seminars

General impact

Innovative impact

*Strongly recognized and

supported initiative that
contributed significantly
to the development of
integration strategies and
techniques for
immigrants and their
families in Meath.
*Excellent results in
terms of Language skills
acquisition.
*Spin-off results in terms
of cultural and social
integration and the
creation of an annual
inter-cultural family day
for immigrants and local
communities

ongoing

*Music, story-telling and

pottery have all been
employed.
*Assistive technology

Innovative use of
methodologies,
techniques and tools
within a framework of
quality management and
knowledge transfer in
highly specialized sector
(significant physical
disability).

93

Interactive, crosscommunity engagement,

use of cultural devices
(music, food, story-telling,
language and creative
expression skills). Strong
backing from statutory
agencies.

*Strong emphasis on
total-organization
engagement. The strategy
was to engage trainers,
educational staff,
management and families
in meeting the needs of
diverse learners with
significant challenges in
terms of disability.
*Innovation was directly
dependent on innovative
management systems,
quality based and
referenced to
independently assessed
needs and outcomes.

Aspect valued by
learners

Language training;
information retrieval;
intercultural awareness.
One-to-one advice and
mentoring on integration
modalities.

Special circumstances

*Cultr has been strongly

supported by local
government, the Citizens
Information Board, trade
unions and migrant and
community groups.
*The training requires
significant coordination of
resources, communities
and agencies.

* NGO sector
*Assistive technology is
critical (context is
significant physical
disability)

PART 3.
Final conclusions

94

FINAL CONCLUSIONS

In this report we have reviewed the meanings surrounding concepts of

creativity and innovation as shaped by the versatility, dynamism and
change of globalized environments. Those meanings mutate in the sense of
the central place of learning in developed societies. Flexibility, interaction,
interchange, collaboration, inclusion and open communication between
communities are key identified spaces in which creativity and innovation can
be understood. A creative and innovative society is a society ready to learn.
These theoretical key concepts, at the same time, are the root of the
practices

that

promote

creativity

and

innovation.

The

analytical

development has led to some conclusions:

1. It is not always easy to differentiate between concepts of creativity and
innovation. Parallel to the universalization of the term creativity, there is
the

intermingled

(sometimes

synonymous)

use

of

innovation,

particularly when applied in the learning context.

2. Creativity is a human ability (with ontological, cognitive and social
bases) to produce new ideas, to solve problems in different ways.
Innovation is the successful response to social needs (including
economic responses to market logic and competitiveness) in terms of
greater equity, sustainability and equal opportunities.
3. During the last 30 years creativity studies have been informed by
systemic theories that regard creativity as a co-function of several
elements, including cognitive skills, personality traits, social, cultural and
historical factors. The current emphasis has shifted to include: ordinary
creativity rather than genius; characterizing rather than measuring; the
social system rather than the individual.
4. Creativity can be related to the ability of a person in the workplace to
meet individual and social human needs, whether basic or related to
higher levels of development, production or learning.

95

5. Creativity is a human ability developed in close interaction with context

and

associated

with the

ability

to learn in

constantly

changing

environments (creative learning). It is a quality attributable to all people

and one that is susceptible to development.
6. This raises questions concerning the extent to which the good practice
examples perceive creativity as:

A quality attributable to all people that can give rise to small

innovations in the immediate environments.

As a process that leads to enormously important inventions for

humanity as a whole.

7.

A continuum.

At the end of the day, creativity has become an increasingly important

value, both with respect to individual development and to achieving
professional training and cultural development in a constantly changing
society which demands innovative responses.

8. Factors and conditions that foster the development of creativity are:

pulling down structures / teaching-learning in non-formal, out-of-school
environments / interaction / networking / connections to real-life /
doing, hard work / freedom, allowing experiments and mistakes /
freedom of expression/ open innovation environment / technical &
technological solutions and equipment used in a supporting and versatile
ways / challenge / need / mixing people and expertise / trust / team,
collective / informal interaction/ time/ openness to other persons,
things, environments, realities, experiences.
9. Innovation cannot be reduced to a simple matrix of definitions, norms
and procedures. To do so would be to reduce a complex process of
cognition, design and intentionality to a mere set of procedures which,
given the right environment and circumstances, could be reproduced in
any number of settings. Innovation, at a minimum, involves a radical reevaluation of existing circumstances and conditions. It involves asking a
rigorous set of questions that interrogate what the current situation is
and then sets the results against what could (or more intriguingly,
should) be.

96

10.

Innovation exists in real environments with strongly established

structures and modes of ownership which may by their nature be
antipathetic to any form of questioning or new thought.

11.

Innovation can be conceptualized and generalized as occurring in

four circumstances:
a. Crisis -reaction to severe challenge or urgent needs.
b. Values - a planned approach to enhance socio-economic goals.
c. Profit - the commercialization or added values of a product or
service.
d. System

eminence

creative

energy

deployed

to

maintain

hierarchical or established systems.

12.

Innovation is a concept originally related to the practical application

and development of new ideas in the industrial world with the focus on
boosting

competitiveness.

However,

the

development

of

new

technologies affecting the production, use and distribution of knowledge

combined with the grave socio-economic challenges, raises a parallel
debate on the ultimate aims of innovation.
13.

There is a need to de-couple innovation/creativity from the

traditional linear notion of progress. We live in multifaceted and
complex times of great contradiction. Innovation may be developed and
located- in very non traditional places. Innovation itself may be
incremental or disruptive.

14.

Innovation that produces social value and that contributes to

economic and human needs is a challenge

- if we are to achieve the

development of methodologies to understand how teachers, learners and

workers can collaborate to promote inclusion and common welfare.
15.

There is a further diversification of the innovation concept, changing

from one inked to merely private companies economic sphere to more
public and social areas (social innovation).

16.

Innovation is located in the key framework of contemporary life

the process of globalization. Globalization powerfully affects all human
relationships and structures. It shapes our very understanding of
knowledge, information, values and power. It is not an abstract. It is not
divorced from actually existing systems in the process of unprecedented
global change. The impact of sustained urbanization, demographic

97

movement, intercultural communities and increased stratification is

profound and will condition the forms and nature of innovation produced
in globalized contexts.
17.

Globalization and the altered relationships that emerge from the

globalization process influence innovation in immediate and direct ways.

18.

Globalization also shapes the nature of the learning response to

innovation. It is one thing to create learning systems and methods that
are innovative. It is another thing to shape, sustain, own and develop
them in innovative ways over a period of time.

19.

The learning experiences which can improve the degree of creativity

residing inside each and every one of us must be defined (taking account
of individual genetic factors, emotional aspects, talent in specific
domains and cognitive and environmental factors).

20.

The learning environment, however positive, is profoundly shaped by

the context (national, economic, political and cultural) in which it is
shaped and developed. Innovation is often forged in contexts of common
purpose or threat (such as war or conflict) and not always as a result of
policy initiatives. The current context is shaped by crisis and a
fundamental re-shaping of the socio-economic paradigm not seen since
the 1930s. Unprecedented challenges traditional assumptions of linear
notions of progress. Creativity and innovation are now critical to reorientate socio-economic priorities.

21.

Educational and learning processes must be focused on the training

of the learner as subject (autonomy, awareness, criticism, decision), not
as an object.

22.

Creative and innovative learning processes exist within wider

educational

conceptions:

entrepreneurial

formation,

education

for

sustainable development and global responsibility and intercultural

education.
23.

The way learning is understood in todays world has evolved.

Educational and learning processes must collaborate in the development
of equity and social justice. Educational and learning processes have to
aim to overcome inequalities resulting from the fragmented access to
knowledge. Social spaces, organizations and policies that promote forms
of learning based on cooperation, collaboration and collective creation

98

from different cultural viewpoints have enormous possibilities for

anticipating economic and social change and consolidating human
potential.
24.

Learning communities, in the right circumstances, can help to ensure

that

innovation

outcomes

are

meaningful

to

individuals

and

communities, structured in such a way that equity, justice, participation

and rights are served most efficiently.
25.

The creation of a participative and democratic learning environment

has not been to the forefront in traditional discourse surrounding
innovation. In fact, the discussion on innovation and creativity has been
increasingly conditioned by images derived from free market liberalism
and from the sense of competitive pressures. The recent global economic
crisis may provide a welcome opportunity to re-locate innovation in the
context of community and shared ownership where values have equal
importance with rates of profitable extraction.

26.

It is in that sense that innovation is re-imagined. An innovation that

is more than the sum of its parts. An innovation that responds as well as
forges new learning and new products. An innovation that takes risks
and is not circumscribed by narrow policy barriers. An innovation that is
not a panacea for current ills, but rather a mode of thinking, acting and
doing that has at its heart the transformation of relationships and
conditions in our globalized world.

We want to end this report emphasizing that nowadays any orientation

towards change is currently associated with the three major concepts
previously mentioned: Learning, Creativity and Innovation. One of the
challenges we shall face in the next phase of the CREANOVA project is
precisely to detect the best creative and innovative practices that we can
transfer either between countries within the same field of work or between
various areas of intervention.
As a result we have attempted to find broad interpretative categories from
which to integrate the different methods proposed from different theoretical
contributions and practical achievements - and to do so from a transcultural
perspective. To search for these macrocategories allows us to pass from one

99

culture to another. This does not aim to establish cultural hierarchies in

practical analysis but to integrate perspectives. Interpreting and assessing
the

creative

processes

outside

specific

socio-cultural

contexts

risks

interpreting creativity hierarchically.

From the literature review carried out four main pedagogical concepts
emerged that help us to understand those educational contexts that
enhance creative and innovative learning. These are:

Need

Freedom

Interaction

Environment

These concepts embrace most of the key factors emphasized both by the
theoretical work and different best practices. We can see them as
macrocategories to help analysis, selection and transfer of good practices of
creative learning while keeping intact criteria of difference and diversity.
Need is a root from which creative and innovative processes emerge. It can
be

understood

as:

survival,

troubleshooting,

genesis

of

problems,

motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic), personal need and a collective need to

create a connection with society.
Freedom is associated with ideas as: transgression, readjustment of rules,
openness, trust, dialogue, elimination of hierarchies, inclusion, challenges,
risk-taking, decision taking, participation, self-management, altruism.
Interaction refers to: communication between teachers and students,
peers, others, and interaction between systems, actors and institutions,
virtual interaction, teamwork, networks.
Environment

includes:

nature,

closed

environments,

open,

virtual

environment, and so on.

10
0

We propose this model of interpretation as an open and flexible model.

Flexible because its aim is not so much focus on discussing the concepts
with which to associate a given factor or element, but to provide a
framework

for

interpreting

and

constructing

concrete

methodological

proposals. It is open because, although at first we have identified these four

factors, is a scheme open to the incorporation of new categories in the light
of the results of the next phases of our investigation.

10
1