In tandem with the changes that are taking place in society, the learning needs of our students are changing as well. The ability to think from different perspectives, solve problems in new ways, and produce innovative original works is of great importance. Creativity, therefore, serves as one of the major educational goals of this worldwide curriculum reform. Based on empirical data, Forrester and Hui (2006) pointed out that teachers may be significant gatekeepers of student creativity which means the students’ creative abilities are most likely to be cultivated in an environment in which their teachers’ creative abilities and strategies are actively engaged. Consequently, the study will focus on teachers’ beliefs about creative teaching. And the results may further help researchers understand the implementation of creative teaching.

Teacher beliefs and their behaviors

Teacher beliefs are closely connected with their classroom behaviors (Clark & Peterson, 1986 ). To some degree, teacher beliefs are also aligned with their decision making in instruction and the teaching strategies they adopt. Many studies have focused on the interpretation of teacher beliefs about their teaching and learning (Cheung & Wong, 2002). However, only a few have been conducted to explore and interpret teacher beliefs about creative teaching.

The conception of creativity

Creativity is a multi-facet concept that is open to different views and interpretations (Brown, 1989; Ripple, 1999). Several studies of creativity have focused on the cognitive and personality attributes of a person, whereas others have focused on creative behaviors, processes, products, and environment. Definitions of creativity, therefore, vary according to the different perspectives and domains of creativity being focused on. Mooney (1975) advanced the 4Ps model to interpret the concept of creativity, which includes four components: person, place, process, and product. His classification is widely accepted by other scholars.

With regard to the person dimension, the following five attributes of creative personality seem to co-occur across the western studies (Sternberg & Lubart, 1995):1) Willingness to take risks (Davis, 1995); 2) Tolerance of ambiguity (Dacey, 1989); 3) Perseverance (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988); 4) Openness to new experiences; and 5) Conviction and courage to believe in oneself (Ochse, 1990). It is noted that the results of a similar study in Hong Kong are different from the western research (see Rudowicz & Yue, 2000).

Over the last twenty years, a great number of studies have explored aspects of pedagogical approaches which foster pupil creativity. However, the relationship between teachers’ perception of creativity and their behavior has not attracted many researchers’ attention yet (Jeffrey & Craft, 2004).

Based on the previous review, this research mainly focuses on Hong Kong teachers’ belief about creative teaching and their corresponding classroom behaviors. This research will also focus on the environmental impact factors, such as subject, teacher professional development, and school culture, distinguished by teachers.

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