Waddington, John (2018) The Perceptions of Creativity and Mathematics in Post 16 Arts Education. MA by research thesis, University of York.

The aim of this study is to establish the perceptions of creativity and mathematics in a specialist arts College including those of both staff and students. In addition, it aims to identify associations between the delivery of creative subjects and the potential to use these within mathematics based pedagogic strategies. Research questions explored 3 main areas, what are staff’s perceptions of creativity in a specialist arts College, is there an association between the creativity of arts students and performance in mathematics in a specialist arts College and what are staff’s attitudes in a specialist arts College towards mathematics in the curriculum?

Current UK educational practice has been described by Robinson (2011) as having a negative impact on the creative ability of young people identifying that many students who enter pre-school have a creative confidence that is lost by the time they leave school. In consideration of mathematic pedagogy, Dalby et al, 2016, in their study ‘Locating mathematics within post-16 vocational education in England’ also suggest that there is a need for widespread improvement in the approach to the delivery of Mathematics. However they suggest that achieving this is far more complex, particularly in Post 16 education. This is due to students’ prior history of perceived failure in the subject resulting in students that are very demanding to teach due to their lack of interest in the subject and disaffection in their studies. The results of this study showed a clear association between the mathematical performance of students and their creative fluency and flexibility. Staff were very positive towards creative learners and have very clear ideas regarding what makes learners creative and good mathematicians and in many aspects these attributes overlap. They utilised a broad range of strategies to develop long-term creativity goals of learners and, despite strategies being under developed in the promotion of mathematics, activities that embed mathematics in the creative curriculum are broad ranging to support cognitive development associated with mathematical skills and concepts. However, it is the potential of the development of creative fluency and flexibility that remains unanswered and requires further study to identify the potential of the development of these attributes on mathematical performance.