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Who Stands for What Is Right? Teachers’ Creative Capacity and Change Agency in the Struggle for Educational Quality

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Creativity Under Duress in Education?

Part of the book series: Creativity Theory and Action in Education ((CTAE,volume 3))

Abstract

Freedom, opportunity, equality, and justice—these ideals are education’s promise to people seeking to improve their lives and worlds. Yet, many learners are caught up in inequitable instructional systems and difficult socio-cultural, economic, or political circumstances. For students in these challenging contexts, teachers are the potential frontline activists in ensuring access to educational quality. The question is, how are we preparing teachers to live up to such expectations for social justice advocacy and change? In this chapter, I confront teacher education’s struggle to develop teacher change agents: teachers who are willing and able to take a stance for equity and opportunity in their school communities. Observing that creativity is the impetus for change, I propose that understanding teachers’ creative capacities in the context of engaging with and influencing their environment can inform teacher education for social justice. To this end, I explore the construct of teacher as change agent. I also highlight studies of teachers’ creativity featuring theories of creativity, critical reflective practice, and educational quality aligned with constructs of leadership, social justice, and the notion of “change agent.” Applying an analytical tool of 22 creative capacities derived from my conceptual analysis of social and psychological theories of creativity, I illuminate how presence of these capacities facilitated acts of social responsibility, and how their absence hindered such acts. The results offer insights that inform teacher education for social justice.

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  1. Narey Educational Consulting, LLC, Pittsburgh, USA

    Marilyn J. Narey

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  1. Marilyn J. Narey
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Correspondence to Marilyn J. Narey .

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  1. Blacksburg Campus, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Carol A. Mullen

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Narey, M.J. (2019). Who Stands for What Is Right? Teachers’ Creative Capacity and Change Agency in the Struggle for Educational Quality. In: Mullen, C.A. (eds) Creativity Under Duress in Education?. Creativity Theory and Action in Education, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90272-2_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90272-2_17

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