…creating a safe space allows participants to feel safely vulnerable in their ideas, which serves as a foundation for trust… To nurture a safe space for creativity, set the tone from the get-go… Be open and vulnerable as a facilitator, which could tangibly translate as establishing an environment of constant learning
When surrounded by their peers, or anyone they perceive to be more knowledgeable than themselves, students may often be reluctant to express their ideas or questions in class. This doesn’t just apply to creativity, but it can certainly be a hindrance to students who are trying to explore new ideas or ways of thinking.
By ensuring your classroom is a safe space, where everyone is confident that they are as welcome to be heard as anyone else, you provide your students with the opportunity to really express themselves, to feel confident in sharing their ideas.
In Creativity in the Classroom, Alane Jordan Starko states: ‘Like other kinds of self-efficacy, the higher an individual’s creative self-efficacy, the more likely that person will attempt creative endeavors and persist until he or she succeeds.’
She continues:
‘A 2018 meta-analysis (Haase & Holf) examining the relationship between creativity and creative self-efficacy across 41 studies found that the more individuals believed in their capacity for creativity, the more creative they were likely to be.’
By encouraging students to share their own thoughts and ideas, to ask questions, to challenge accepted beliefs on a topic, to think differently, you will encourage their creativity to grow, to give them confidence to speak out, and in doing so, allow them to gain a deeper insight into their studies.
Any act sending the message that students are important, valuable, and full of potential builds a foundation of psychological safety. Perhaps the most obvious type of acceptance is the teacher’s willingness to examine student ideas, even when they initially appear strange or inappropriate.
How do you create a safe space in your classroom? Ensure your students know their voice is welcome in class, that you and other students want to hear them. Ask them their opinions; allow them to question, with respect of course, the ideas of others, even your own.
Much of what we have learned about managing creativity is about configuring tools and resources to enable different people to feel comfortable and supported in the process.
For those students who may be reluctant to speak up in class, or for those who feel themselves to be uncreative, it can be a real challenge to step into the creative mindset and to share their own creative ideas. In a safe space though, the more they see others do it, the more opportunities they are given to speak themselves, the more likely they will begin to think creatively and to take the chance to share.
… everyone is already capable of creativity – it’s not a case of injecting them with some magic new ingredient. Instead we need to look for ways in which this natural capability can be drawn out, developed and extended.
