Developing creativity in preschool children with behavioural and/or emotional difficulties: experiences of teachers

Abstract

One of the fundamental goals of education is to recognise a child’s creative abilities and to create conditions for acquiring and expanding these competences. The success of education of children with behavioural and/or emotional difficulties highly depends on the education system’s ability to provide inclusive, high-quality education and services, as well as create an environment that meets the individual needs of each learner. It is relevant to find positive attitudes within the educational community, teachers’ willingness to work, and the ways to develop creativity in children with behavioural and/or emotional difficulties. This article explores teachers’ experiences of creativity development for preschool children with behavioural and/or emotional difficulties. The research method employed was semi-structured interviews with eight preschool teachers who have experience working with children with behavioural and/or emotional difficulties. The findings of the study have revealed that important factors in the education of children include: a creative teacher, democratic relationships among the participants in the educational process, a safe environment, and motivating the child to be creative; barriers to creativity are related to the child’s lack of self-confidence and negative reactions or criticism from adults; creativity of preschool children with behavioural and/or emotional difficulties is most stimulated by providing support, respect, encouragement, and privacy; the most frequent ways of fostering creativity in preschool children are through the activities of art, music, dance, drawing, etc. The results of the study are important in the context of inclusive education and point to directions for further research on the possibilities of creativity development.