Measuring Teacher Creativity-Nurturing Behavior and Readiness for 21st Century Classroom Management

Introduction

The full-blown coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in reshaping of the 21st century classroom management to remote learning via the utilization of various online teaching and learning platforms like Google Classroom, Google Meet, Microsoft Team, etc. across the world. Sharing of knowledge, and learning materials among virtual learning communities are borderless at anytime, anywhere globally (Ismail, 2020). This necessitates teacher readiness to nurture creative students’ behavior in 21st century classroom management. The vision is to transform this space into an environment conducive for creative learning (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2013). This development highlights the critical role of teachers’ 21st century classroom management as they are the most effective agents for change in the classroom (Izani Ibrahim & Yahya Don, 2014; Sellars, 2012). Effective classroom management is critical to ensure that students achieve the six 21st century aspirations, which are the acquisition of knowledge, thinking skills, leadership skills, bilingual skills, ethics, spirituality, and national identity (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2013). The education system needs to facilitate the transition process of producing a future workforce that is equipped with knowledge and skills to face the challenges of the 21st century (Karpudewan & Chong Keat, 2017). Teacher readiness to assume this responsibility is therefore paramount.

Readiness for change is important to determine the success of new implementations in the organization (Anghelachea & Bentea, 2012; Davis, 1989; Rafferty, Jimmieson & Armenakis, 2013; Teo, 2010). The changes in the national education system, specifically the enculturation of the 21st century classroom and its management require teacher readiness (MoE, 2013). Effective teachers interact with their students, thereby creating an environment that respects, encourages, and stimulates learning. These effective teacher expectations can only be materialized through effective classroom management (Ayebo & Assuah, 2017). Consequently, the situation in the classroom has become more complex (Ahmad & Ghavifekr, 2014). Past studies acknowledged that teacher influence was very significant in determining the outcomes of change (Erwin & Garman, 2010; Hall & Hord, 2011). The critical role of teachers in the classroom is also due to their close relationships with their students (Tai, Omar, Mohamad Sahari & Khuan, 2015). However, teacher readiness is often found problematic and commitment is frequently low when faced with change (Toprak & Summak, 2014). Thus, education reforms are not possible without the prior endorsement of teaching staff.

Teacher creativity has long been acknowledged as an important element in producing creative and innovative learners (Olawale, Adeniyi & Olubela, 2010; Craft, 2015; Saibon, Har, & Abd Razak, 2017; Doyle, 2019). In the classroom, the nurturing of creativity and innovation among teachers is a similar component (Karwowski, Lebuda, Wisniewska & Gralewski, 2013; Baruah & Paulus, 2019). Promoting creativity in the classroom is an important aspect of the teacher-student relationship (Cropley, 1997; Sawyer, 2012), encompassing factors such as varying expectations, mutual respect, creative behavior, flexibility and discussions (Davies, Jindal-Snape & Collier, 2013; Ucus & Acar, 2018). Teachers’ mindset of the traditional teaching and learning process using chalk and talk, one-way input delivery should be gradually transformed into accepting and incorporating creative pedagogy in teaching (Saibon et al, 2017).

Enhancing and nurturing creative and critical thinking skills are important goals for 21st century learning (Bloom & Doss, 2019). Creativity has the potential to stimulate positive change in pedagogical practices and turn the classroom into an active and vibrant learning community (Erin Justyna, 2016). Unfortunately, the literature reveals that the creative potential of students is not nurtured in the classroom (Beghetto, 2010; Sawyer, 2010; Bloom & Doss, 2019; Fasko & Rizza, 2019; Ahmadi, Peter, Lubart, & Besancon, 2019). In the Malaysian context, the current form of assessment which emphasizes on examinations does little to encourage our young minds to explore further because the teaching and learning are skewed towards memorization of facts (Karpudewan & Chong Keat, 2017). This should not be the case, as creativity has a fundamental role in the learning process and specifically greater retention of knowledge (Elaldi & Batdi, 2016; Gajda, Karwowski & Beghetto, 2017).