Exploring creative thinking skills in PISA: an ecological perspective on high-performing countries

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Comparative Education

Background:

• Creative thinking is increasingly central to global educational reforms.
• The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 included creative thinking as an innovation domain for the first time.
• PISA 2022 assessed the capacity of 15-year-old students to generate, evaluate, and refine original ideas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine key findings from the PISA 2022 creative thinking assessment.
• To analyze results from high-performing jurisdictions: Singapore, Canada, and Finland.
• To apply Bronfenbrenner's ecological perspective to understand systemic influences on creative thinking.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of PISA 2022 creative thinking data.
• Application of Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory.
• Qualitative examination of educational policies and practices in selected countries.

Main Results:

• The ecological systems within Singapore, Canada, and Finland appear to influence their students' creative thinking outcomes.
• Specific systemic factors contributing to high creative thinking performance were identified through the ecological lens.
• Cross-jurisdictional analysis revealed diverse approaches to fostering creativity.

Conclusions:

• While direct policy transfer is complex, insights can be gained from high-performing nations.
• An ecological perspective offers a valuable framework for understanding and nurturing creative thinking.
• Researchers, policymakers, and educators can benefit from studying these contexts to enhance creative development in diverse educational settings.