In-service teachers’ seeing mathematical creativity: Unravelling and launching mathematical creativity tasks

The development of mathematical creativity—typically characterized by fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration—has garnered growing attention within mathematics education due to its cognitive value and potential to enhance problem-solving competence. Despite this increasing interest, existing research highlights a critical gap: in-service primary school teachers often exhibit a limited understanding of mathematical creativity and face significant challenges in recognizing and assessing its manifestations in classroom settings. While prior studies have explored the influence of creativity-focused coursework on prospective teachers, investigations involving in-service educators remain sparse. Addressing this gap, the present qualitative study introduces a structured educational program designed to enhance the conceptual understanding and pedagogical practices of seven Greek in-service primary school teachers regarding mathematical creativity. The program integrates theoretical frameworks with creativity-enhancing tasks sourced from established literature, encouraging participants to analyze, solve, and adapt these tasks. Data were collected through pre- and post-program interviews and questionnaires and analyzed using thematic analysis to capture shifts in perception. The findings reveal that although participants exhibited modest enrichment in their understanding—particularly concerning the value of open-ended and non-routine tasks in fostering fluency and flexibility—they continued to struggle with promoting originality and elaboration. These results underscore the necessity for sustained, targeted professional development initiatives that support teachers in identifying and implementing strategies to nurture all dimensions of mathematical creativity. This study contributes to the field by offering empirical evidence on how thoughtfully designed programs can incrementally refine in-service teachers’ perceptions and instructional approaches toward creativity in mathematics education.