A Comparative Study of Creativity Education Programs for Japanese, Korean and Singapore Primary School Students: Lessons for Iran

The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of creativity education in primary schools of Japan, South Korea and Singapore in order to provide useful suggestions for educational policy makers of the Iranian education system. The present study is a qualitative, non-experimental and comparative research using a four-stage approach introduced by George. Z. Bereday and John Stuart Mill’s method of agreement. The observation unit of study is macro, and the strategy of countries’ selection is “similar systems, similar results". Research findings show that in all three countries, and especially in the last two decades, educational policymakers have been focusing on diminishing the authority of the test-driven system and replacing it with a learner-centered system based on creativity. Also, the similarities between the social systems of all three countries have led to many similarities in the current practices of their educational environments (schools and classes). Other research findings show that in all three countries, numerous national initiatives focusing on the training of creative learners have been approved by educational policymakers. Despite these similarities, it has to be said that the success of rejecting the test-driven system and adopting new teaching-learning approaches are not the same across the three countries. For educational policy makers in Iran, this research finding can imply the dangers that rejection of the test-driven system will create if there is no proper social context.