Continuum Studies in Lifelong Learning – serie

Most people accept that early years education should aim to develop children's creativity, but this raises a number of questions: What is creativity? How does it relate to such concepts as imagination, self-expression and intelligence? Why is it valuable?--and in what ways? Can creativity be taught? And, if so, how? And how can it be assessed?In this carefully-weighed, clearly written and scholarly study, Anna Craft answers these and related questions, providing in the process a comprehensive guide to creativity for all those who work with children in the early years.

James Avis develops an important argument in this wide-ranging book, in which questions of social justice play a central role. He explores the socio-economic and policy context of education in advanced capitalist societies, and indicates the manner in which the rhetoric of policy-makers distorts the way in which skill is marshalled in the economy. The result is that oppressive and exploitative features of paid labour are underplayed in this rhetoric. He examines the lived experiences of teachers and students in post-compulsory education and explores their contradictory positions. If questions of social justice are to be addressed, an economically driven model of education should be rejected in favour of one that is politically engaged and utilises an expansive model of practice, extending into the wider society.