Learning the "lessons of the arts" : creativity, creative arts education and creative arts educators today

In 'A Whole New Mind', Daniel Pink proposes that right brain (creative, non-linear) thinking will be paramount in the coming economic and working reality of what he terms the new ‘Conceptual Age’. Pink’s ideas follow a recognition that has been growing since the late 1990s of the contribution of the creative industries sector in sustaining the growth momentum of advanced economies. In such an environment, it is perhaps no surprise that employers list creativity among the attributes they seek in potential employees and that, in turn, creativity is becoming widely recognised as a valuable personal asset. In this context, creativity is regularly identified as a skill/attribute that students will gain during their secondary or tertiary education. Yet most of the discussion in higher education around creativity focuses on students, and how teaching can develop and enhance their creativity, with little about the creative arts educators who will supposedly foster this attribute. This paper, therefore, investigates creative arts education in terms of the importance of creativity for students and educators’ creativity and its relationship to academics’ personal job satisfaction.