A typology of student creativity: creative personal expression, boundary pushing and task achievement

Categorisations of creative persons, processes and products have previously been theorised to assist in demystifying creativity and explicating its attributes. The majority of these have been developed from research of adult creators and tend to focus on one element of creativity. The research presented in this article reports a typology of creativity developed from a study of 20 secondary school students' self-reported creative experiences. Using a qualitative grounded theory methodology, the study drew on data from focus groups, individual interviews, an online discussion forum, and emails. From this, three empirical Types of Creativity emerged: creative personal expression, creative boundary pushing, and creative task achievement. These patterns of creativity describe the motivations for student creativity and the outcomes produced, while also considering the processes they used, and enabling or inhibiting dispositional and environmental conditions. Understanding the different types of creativity manifested by students may assist schools to better support creative development and achievement.