Margarida Romero

Creativity is increasingly recognised as an essential competency in education, both for learners and educators. However, despite institutional injunctions to foster pedagogical innovation, its integration into teacher training remains marginal and lacks a structured framework. Through the compilation and analysis of the author's research, this thesis aims to explore the role of creativity in transforming educational practices by examining its theoretical, methodological, and practical dimensions within teacher training programs. It seeks to address a dual problem. On the one hand, creativity in education remains largely underexploited and is often reduced to its artistic or intuitive dimensions, without being conceptualised as a learning competency for students and a professional skill for teachers. On the other hand, existing training programs do not provide a structured framework for teaching creativity as both an object of instruction and a pedagogical tool. To address these gaps, this thesis proposes an innovative conceptualisation of creativity in education through two central notions: didactic creativity and the didactics of creativity.To investigate these concepts, this research adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from educational sciences, creativity psychology, and pedagogical innovation. It is based on a corpus of scientific articles published at different stages of the author's research trajectory, illustrating the evolution of theoretical reflection and the diversity of conceptual frameworks employed. The methodological approach primarily relies on research-intervention and design-based research, which enable the analysis of the effects of innovative pedagogical interventions within teacher education settings. The findings suggest that integrating creativity into teacher training could constitute a powerful lever for pedagogical transformation. Teachers who develop didactic creativity would be better equipped to adapt their practices to contemporary educational challenges, particularly by enhancing student engagement, fostering differentiated instruction, and co-constructing knowledge. However, the thesis also highlights the institutional and cultural barriers that hinder the adoption of these innovative practices, notably the rigidity of curricula, the absence of structured training in creativity, and professional resistance to pedagogical approaches perceived as unconventional. One of the major contributions of this research is the structuring of a theoretical and methodological framework that allows for a systemic approach to creativity in education. By shedding light on the interrelationship between creativity, teacher professionalisation, and pedagogical innovation, this thesis proposes concrete pathways to embed creativity within both initial and continuing teacher education programs. Finally, this thesis opens up new research and action perspectives for scaling up innovative educational models. It calls for a rethinking of teacher education by promoting an agile, adaptive, and reflective approach, in which creativity is not only encouraged but systematically taught and operationalised. It also emphasises the need for educational policy evolution, ensuring that creativity becomes a structuring axis in teacher training and professional development.