Creativity and Design Thinking in ITE

Introduction

Creativity and design thinking are widely recognised as essential competences for future teachers. Yet, there is limited evidence of how these capabilities develop during initial teacher education. This study follows 12 student teachers across four years, examining which dimensions of the Design Thinking mindset develop, which remain underdeveloped, and which educational conditions support or constrain that growth. The findings offer evidence-based insights to help teacher educators, programme leaders and mentors strengthen Design-Based Education and prepare future teachers to respond creatively to complex educational challenges.

What is the reason for the project?

Creative educators who can think in terms of design are widely recognised as important in the literature and in strategic frameworks for initial teacher education. However, recognising the importance of these capabilities is not the same as understanding how they develop. Without evidence of which dimensions of the Design Thinking mindset student teachers acquire, and under what conditions, programme design, mentoring and assessment can be based on assumptions rather than evidence.

Using Vignoli et al.’s validated 10-dimension Design Thinking mindset framework, this study draws on interviews and Teaching Practice logbooks collected across all four years of initial teacher education. It examines which strengths remain stable, which dimensions develop but remain fragile, and which remain underdeveloped. The findings show how mentor quality, structural conditions and programme design can support or constrain creative professional growth.

Which problem does the project address?

The project addresses the lack of evidence about how the Design Thinking mindset develops during initial teacher education and which educational conditions influence that development. Without this insight, it is difficult to know how programme design, mentoring and assessment can best support future teachers in developing design-oriented professional capabilities.

How does the project team approach this?

The study uses a qualitative, longitudinal research design. It applies the validated 10-dimension Design Thinking mindset framework developed by Vignoli, Dosi and Balboni (2023) to analyse two complementary sources: semi-structured interviews lasting 30 to 45 minutes and Teaching Practice logbooks from 12 student teachers across all four years of the ITEPS and ITESS programmes at NHL Stenden.

By combining retrospective interviews with logbook entries recorded during the programme, the study captures both how student teachers reflect on their experiences and how they document their practice as it unfolds. Thematic analysis identifies patterns within and across the four programme years.

The project is led by Majid Soltani, lecturer and researcher at NHL Stenden, in collaboration with Migchiel van Diggelen and Callum Philbin. Kristien Koning, ITE Leader, and Cristina Cosentino, ITESS Leader, have contributed their programme-level perspectives to the research questions and the ongoing development of the project.

What are the main results?

Two dimensions of the Design Thinking mindset, Empathy and Optimism to Create Value, emerged as stable strengths. They were evident from the first year and remained present even under challenging placement conditions.

Four dimensions, Learning Orientation, Experimentation, Collaboration and Creative Confidence, developed steadily but remained fragile. Their development often depended on mentors and was limited to lower-risk forms of creativity.

By contrast, Holistic Thinking, Critical Questioning and Abductive Reasoning remained underdeveloped across all four years, despite occasional examples of these behaviours in practice.

The study also identified four programme-level factors that shape the development of the Design Thinking mindset: structural constraints such as assessment demands and school culture can suppress creativity; mentor quality strongly influences students’ creative development; links between theory and practice remain largely mentor-driven rather than student-initiated; and InterVision has considerable untapped potential for design-oriented reflection and learning. These findings inform six evidence-based recommendations for strengthening Design-Based Education in initial teacher education.