Journal article
Supporting Initial Teacher Education student creativity and critical thinking using active constraints in assessment: A scoping review
Thinking skills and creativity, Vol.63, pp.1-19
03/2027
Appears in Recent Faculty of Education Publications
Metrics
1 Record Views
Abstract
Assessment design plays a critical role in shaping student learning in higher education, particularly in disciplines where creativity is both a learning outcome and a pedagogical approach. In Initial Teacher Education (ITE), this role is intensified, as assessment tasks often function as the primary site of learning for time-poor students and simultaneously model pedagogical practice for future teachers. While constraints are frequently embedded within assessment tasks, their role in supporting creativity remains under-theorised and inconsistently articulated in the literature. This scoping review examines how constraints are used within assessment tasks that aim to foster creativity and/or critical thinking in social sciences, humanities, education and creative arts courses in higher education in order to consider implications for enhancing creativity through assessment tasks in ITE. Using a scoping review framework, 28 empirical studies published since 2000 were identified and analysed thematically. Six key themes emerged: the role of prior experience, constraints as catalysts for creativity, task design and flexibility, rubrics and scaffolding as support structures, the domain-specificity of creativity, and the presence of “invisible architectures” in task design. Findings indicate that constraints function as powerful pedagogical mechanisms when they are intentionally designed, aligned with disciplinary practices, and calibrated to student readiness. However, many studies prioritise creative outcomes without sufficiently detailing the task conditions that shape them. Drawing on these findings, the paper positions constraints as active contributors to assessment design and introduces a design-oriented framework to support educators in making constraints explicit and pedagogically purposeful.
Details
- Title
- Supporting Initial Teacher Education student creativity and critical thinking using active constraints in assessment: A scoping review
- Creators
- Sian Chapman - Murdoch UniversityDavid Roy - University of Newcastle AustraliaWilliam Baker - University of TasmaniaKatie Hotko - Southern Cross UniversityAmy Hamilton - Flinders UniversityKatie Burke - University of Southern Queensland
- Publication Details
- Thinking skills and creativity, Vol.63, pp.1-19
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Grant note
- This research was supported by a small research grant provided by the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA).
- Identifiers
- 991013403071802368
- Copyright
- © 2026 The Author(s)
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article