Previous studies have shown that creativity has become an educational imperative and one of the core competencies recognized by proponents of 21st century education. Teachers’ perception regarding creativity are an important key to understanding the creative processes in the classroom. The current study investigates the differences in creativity perception and creativity potential between 59 special education teachers and 58 general education teachers. The Teacher’s Perceptions of Student Characteristics Survey was used to examine the teachers’ perception regarding their own creativity and regarding their desirability of the traits associated with creativity among their students. The RAT measured the teachers convergent thinking creativity and the TACT measured the teachers’ divergent thinking creativity.

The results indicate that although teachers in both study groups perceived themselves as having a high creativity level and considered creativity to be the most important educational goal, most teachers preferred less creative characteristics among their students. The findings also highlight the differences between general education teachers and special education teachers in their perception of creativity and their creative ability. Finally, this study further assessed the contribution of the teacher’s background characteristics and their creativity level to the overall ratings of desirability of the traits associated with creativity and of the traits contradictive to creativity among their students. The results emphasize the tension between highly regarded values such as creativity and the system’s demand from teachers to master knowledge and skills of the curriculum, especially in GE whom exhibited stronger preference for non-creative traits among their students.

先前的研究表明，创造力已成为教育的当务之急，也是21世纪教育支持者认可的核心能力之一。老师对创造力的理解是理解课堂上创造过程的重要关键。本研究调查了59名特殊教育教师和58名通识教育教师在创造力感知和创造潜能方面的差异。教师对学生特征的感知调查用于检验教师对他们自己的创造力以及他们对学生中与创造力相关的特质的可取性的看法。RAT测量了教师的趋同思维创造力，TACT测量了教师的趋异思维创造力。

结果表明，尽管两个研究组的教师都认为自己具有较高的创造力水平，并认为创造力是最重要的教育目标，但大多数教师更喜欢学生中创造力较低的特征。调查结果还凸显了通识教育教师与特殊教育教师在创造力和创造能力方面的差异。最后，本研究进一步评估了教师的背景特征及其创造力水平对学生创造力相关特质和与创造力相抵触的特质的总体可取性的贡献。