ABSTRACT
Creative and philosophical thinking are intimately inter-related in the story of developing teachers’ educational practice. This chapter introduces the readers to the meanings given to creative and philosophical thinking through snapshots and commentaries on what they have tried and the way their methods developed. It illustrates the sort of responses teachers might get from their pupils and where some of the connections with the rest of the educational experiences they provide for them might be made. An experienced teacher and felt increasingly dissatisfied with what was happening in the classroom. The responses he was getting were leading him to assume that the situation was hopeless and it was stupid to expect more from these children. It was during this time of professional ‘frustration’ that those original questions arose, leading him to reflect more carefully on the whole complicated area of learning and how he could introduce changes in his practice to increase the motivation and interest of the children.
