Creativity – a transversal skill for lifelong learning. An overview of existing concepts and practices: Literature review report

In the past several decades, in Europe and across the world there have been significant changes. The main trends include: - The increasing complexity of problems such as climate change, global migration and growing resistance to life-saving drugs; - The ubiquity of data; - The proliferation of knowledge sources from the Internet and wider digital world; - The increasing interconnectedness and global nature of our relationships; - The potential of automation via Artificial Intelligence and its impact, often contested, on life and work; - Increased self-employment; - Global population growth; - Economic and social inequities; - Growing recognition of the importance of lifelong learning; - An ageing society. To this list can be added the likelihood of further global pandemics and their implications for society. Such challenges have heightened the need for all individuals to develop capabilities, competences and dispositions that go beyond foundational skills such as literacy and numeracy. Hence, in public and academic discourse, the focus has shifted towards problem solving, critical thinking, ability to cooperate, creativity, computational thinking, self-regulation, adaptability, communication and learning to learn. Among other skills, creativity is widely acknowledged as vital for progress in knowledge societies and innovation-driven economies. It is also increasingly valued in relation to individual and collective identity, mobility, and well-being. At the individual level, creativity is thought to embrace curiosity and intellectual restlessness, a tolerance for uncertainty, risk, and ambiguity, and the capacity to be adaptable and flexible. These dispositions facilitate higher learning, long-term employability, and upward social mobility. Creativity can also benefit physical fitness, emotional resilience, mental health, confidence, agency, and engender a sense of empowerment. At the collective level, creativity helps to promote social engagement, community identity and cohesion, stimulates economic growth and supports the good functioning of democratic societies. Given growing evidence of the many benefits of creativity, it is hardly surprising that, across continents, it is central to the discourse on the key competences and core life skills needed today. This report presents a review of how creativity has been framed, conceptualised, and defined providing an overview of existing concepts and practices. It also reflects on the links between creativity and key competences for lifelong learning.