Creativity in Practice: Practitioner Views and Barriers in Early Years

This work explores how early years practitioners understand, support and experience barriers to creativity within educational settings. Drawing on qualitative data from four practitioners across diverse early years environments, the research examines how creativity is defined, observed and facilitated through both child-led and adult-guided approaches. The study highlights that creativity extends beyond artistic expression, encompassing problem-solving, imagination and critical thinking. Findings reveal that practitioners value the creative process over the final product and recognise the importance of play and autonomy in nurturing children's creative potential. However, structural barriers such as curriculum constraints, limited resources and policy pressures within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) often restrict creative opportunities. The study concludes that fostering creativity requires reflective, flexible practitioners who balance structure with freedom and advocate for creativity as a fundamental element of early childhood development rather than a peripheral subject area.