Developing socially just pedagogy: what might be the role of learner agency and creativity?
Pedagogy has been identified by government and in academic research as a key element of solving the enduring problem of educational inequality in England. Within sociology of education, a response to educational inequality has been to identify the need for more socially just pedagogies (Lupton & Hempel-Jorgensen, 2012) to disrupt current ‘default’ pedagogy, which contributes to reproducing inequalities. While test results dominate policy and public discourse about outcomes, there is less focus on the role of education in developing pupils as agentic learners. Research has shown that schools located in disadvantaged areas may be more likely to adopt performative pedagogies in which pupils’ agency as learners is highly constrained in contrast to schools in less disadvantaged areas. This arguably has significant implications for pupils’ engagement with learning, their learner identities and development as socially critical and active citizens. 
 
Existing socially just pedagogies, such as productive and critical pedagogies and ‘funds of knowledge’ aim to place learner agency at their centre. However, while these pedagogies make important contributions to developing learner agency in various ways, the literature on creative pedagogy offers a unique perspective on learner agency through its central elements of relevance, ownership, control and innovation and through the concept of possibility thinking which foregrounds enquiry, risk-taking and developing creative thinking by moving from the question of ‘what is’ to ‘what might be’ (Craft et al, 2012). The presentation will explore how these aspects of creative pedagogy, in dialogue with existing socially just pedagogies, can support the development of pupils’ non-attainment characteristics in disadvantaged schools, through developing learner agency.
Reciprocity between narrative, questioning and imagination in the early and primary years: examining the role of narrative in possibility thinking
Abstract The concept of possibility thinking (PT) as a driving force of creativity has been investigated both conceptually and empirically for over a decade in early years settings and primary classrooms in England. In the first wave of qualitative empirical studies, play formed part of the enabling context. Criteria for episode selection for PT analysis were that episodes exhibited children immersed in sustained focused playful activity. During the second wave of PT studies, the research team's attention was drawn to children's imaginative storying in such playful contexts and it emerged that consideration of narrative in PT might prove fruitful. The current paper revisits key published work, and drawing on data previously analysed for features of PT, seeks to explore how narrative might relate to the current theorised framework. Fourteen published PT episodes are re-analysed in order to consider the role and construction of narrative in PT. The new analysis reveals that narrative plays a foundational role in PT, and that reciprocal relationships exist between questioning, imagination and narrative, layered between children and adults. Consequences for nurturing children's creativity and for future PT research are explored.
Exploring Children's Creative Narratives.
How should we understand children's creativity? This fascinating collection of international research offers fresh perspectives on children's creative processes and the expression of their creative imagination through dramatic play, stories, artwork, dance, music and conversation. Drawing on a range of research evidence from innovative educational initiatives in a wide variety of countries, Exploring Children's Creative Narratives develops new theoretical and practical insights that challenge traditional thinking about children's creativity. The chapters, written by well-respected international contributors: offer new conceptual and interpretive frameworks for understanding children's creativity contest conventional discourses about the origins and nature of creativity challenge the view that young children's creativity can only be judged in terms of their creative output explore the significance children themselves attribute to their creative activity argue the need for a radical reappraisal of the influence of the sociocultural context on children's creative expression discuss the implications of this research in relation to teacher education and curriculum design. This broad yet coherent compilation of research on creativity in childhood is essential reading for students, researchers and policy makers in early childhood as well as for Early Years professionals with a particular interest in creativity.