A Narrative Inquiry into Experiences and Perceptions of Creative Education in 21st Century Caribbean/OAS Contexts

Abstract
In thisthesis, you will find an account of a narrative and auto/biographical inquiry into the experiences and perceptions of persons involved in creative education in 21st century Caribbean/OAS contexts. I wanted to elicit stories about creativity in education from a range of participants in postcolonial spaces.
This is premised on my belief in the notion—expounded by people such as Ken Robinson (2001) and Rex Nettleford (2009)—that creative approaches are needed to foster creativity to help people/countries function as effectively as possible within the current global climate. As a creative practitioner, I am also interested in the distinction made by persons such as Anna Craft (see Craft et al. 2001), between creative teaching and teaching for creativity.
Here, too, I critically examine my personal and academic journey and the process of my narrative inquiry which involved forty-eight participants, using semi-structured, open-ended individual and group narrative interviews. These narrative interviews were ‘thematised’ and compared using an eclectic, theory-based axiological lens comprising perspectives on creativity in education, critical pedagogy and transformative learning.
Moreover, this thesis highlights new understandings that emerged from the narrative data about definitions of creative education; initiation into creative education, memorable experiences, challenging experiences, perceptions about the impact of creative teaching and values in creative education in the research contexts. Based on insights gained from the narrative interviews of the participants, this thesis suggests a re-visioning of creative education as ‘critical-transformative pedagogy for creativity’ that aims to empower learners for creativity learning outcomes through creative education that is aligned to ethical principles.
As such, this thesis also makes a recommendation for the practical application of the knowledge gained from this inquiry to the conceptualisation of a hybrid model of creative education as a core-curricular, creativity-focused pedagogical construct.