**2. Conceptual perspectives**

Creativity in this study understands as a new way of using imagination, or ideas to create something, for example, as having creative skills important for daily life and self-esteem or as the prerequisite for change. Various understandings of creativity, in relation to purposes, contents, and structural frames, are likely to produce different epistemologies about how creativity perceives and acts [1, 2]. In this way, creativity can be perceived every time when action takes place, based on different preconceived frameworks. Both social and relational factors can inspire or limit us. Creativity means a challenge and places us in a position to confront opportunities for change. People refine ideas and action patterns grounded in their knowledge experience, thus generating individual and unique creativity development patterns [3]. It has been argued that the major challenge for western countries is to contextualize education and knowledge about local and global transformations and how they influence life conditions for young people [4]. This study has its roots in universities' educational environment, where the organization of learning influenced by curriculum theories acknowledges the development of competence important to equip students in their role of helping clients in vulnerable situations. The role of social education should be to use a creative approach to existing professional rationales or discriminating societal structures [3–5].

Educational institutions that provide higher education within the organizational field comprising social professions have many similarities and address specific professional fields of actions, clients, technology, and theoretical approaches. Although they have different missions and different practical conditions, they can show some similarities, as they are knowledge-building organizations that work to combine the interests of the individual, state, and society. They have different prerequisites and can be organized on different principles and prevailing institutionalized perceptions, which give each institution its own identity. Further, educational institutions can be isomorphic despite offering education for similar types of professions. This is because their organization addresses different areas of knowledge based on public. This project case explored social work and social care related to young people's living conditions in Sweden, Poland, Lithuania, and Eastland. Five social work and social pedagogy departments participated. The existing differences lie in each institution's mission and role as an actor in the various national contexts. It was of interest to exchange experiences and, in an international joint collaboration project, develop new forms of education adopted for the social professions working with youth. The creative forces focused on collaborative logics, occurring pedagogical factors, and capacity building when dealing with professional issues arising from work with vulnerable young populations [6]. This also creates cooperation between individuals as bearers of competence

and/or function. Individuals are deliverers of competence while functions carry qualifications.

#### **2.1 Perspectives on importance of creativity logics**

It is acknowledged in social professional's everyday work that increasing socioeconomic inequalities and growing social problems are often individualized and considered as related to an individual's shortcomings or established cultural backgrounds [7]. The polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman [8] claimed that the aspirational and individual independence of modern times has, in fact, rendered us incapable of interacting with other people. Through his concept of fluid modernity, he formulated thoughts and theories of individualism, loneliness, and current vulnerability. Freedom choice, without deep ties to each other, causes cumulative effects such as emptiness, resorts to consumption, and the economization of society's institutions.

Contemporary studies that deal with young people's living conditions demonstrate social vulnerability through problems regarding access to the labor market, high levels of unemployment, risk of increased criminal behavior, various addictions, increased poverty, and need for financial support [9]. Research investigating increasing immigration and challenges of localized social practices in Sweden found that global transformations influence the traditional methods of social work practices (for example, see [10]). It is, among others, within this context of socio-cultural structures, which limit an individual's opportunity to improve their living conditions, that conventional ways of social interventions articulate a need for progress and development.

Nonetheless, in this development project, it was important to discover how to help social work students play an effective role in the growing diversity of social problems beyond the particular individual case [11, 12]. It was also important to include their viewpoint to embrace both a unique individual perspective and the systemic structure surrounding their client [7, 13]. Such a position includes practicing multilevel social work and requires critical standpoints on hindrances at micro, macro, local community, and globalized levels [9, 12–14]. Subsequently, the overall inquiry question that guided the developmental process and collaborative creativity in this developmental project related to—How can educational programs support students of social professions in their function within local arenas and in a globalized world when improving young people's life chances?

In the context of personal and environmental factors, this scholarship implemented a variety of creativity concepts [1, 2, 15–17]. Furthermore, perspectives in the project created communities of practice [18], notions of activity theory [19], and the concept of a dialectical process between objective and subjective reality were important tools in co-construction of collaborative creativity [20, 21]. Additionally, creativity concepts in Ref. [1] and handbook for students and teachers developed by the project team [10] were found to be very important tools to stimulate curricular learning and the development of a learning environment that effectively energizes creative thinking skills growth.

The notion of proposed functionalist and interpretative concepts for understanding creativity in the context of this scholarship was consciousness-creating tool when retrospectively analyzing the project work process and its outcome [1, 2, 15, 20]. The interpretative approach focuses on the individual micro level and quality of communication between concerned participants [1, 3, 22]. Aspects of relationships in meetings, and the trust they create, are considered influential in how creative process unfolds [2, 23–25]. Furthermore, cultural aspects influence relationships in organizational

meetings, that is, cultural aspects of individual and organizational everyday lifestyles [21, 24, 26]. The functionalist approach is to see creativity as a goal from macro-perspective placed upon the national power holders, such as the national EU agency and the international Erasmus+agency, which have distributive power over resources and bureaucratic goals. In this project's development work, consideration was also given to societal values in laws, regulations, governing documents, etc.

#### **2.2 Creativity in a professional space**

Operations in social field practices include, among others, empowering people, helping, communicating, assessing, providing social service, collaborating, and leading change process—but also making use of a large measure of creativity [2, 6, 22, 27]. These types of professional positions, actions, and roles have been described in Michael Lipsky's concept as front-line bureaucrats or street-level bureaucrats [28]. The thought models in social work, and social contexts, take into account the development ecology and see process as mutual interactions and as ongoing development, which affects relationships within and between both the individual's immediate environment and larger social context [14]. Since the 1990s, much has happened in society that has affected social work. For example, the client groups have changed and bureaucratic governance, digitalization, and marketing have been prominent factors [13, 29, 30]. Furthermore, the work expanded in other ways, for example, through educational development and specialization [7, 31].

In relation to professional life, the literature has shown some recurring and overlapping broad forms of creativity [1, 6, 22, 32]. Freedman [15] proposes that creativity, as a process in context and a learning process involving critical reflection, which is functional and provides a form of leadership. This creative process cannot be considered per see since it does not appear in a historical vacuum but, in fact, always refers to some past experience being reconsidered in the present. Consequently, the task and professional space of creativity are characterized by the framework that the organization has for the task the practitioner has [13, 22, 23]. According to Czarniawska-Joerges [20], human organizations create structural and practical aspects and capture symbolic and intersubjective understandings of meaning, which constitute and influence one another. Departing from studies on general notion of creativity in organizations creativity research recognizes the multifaceted nature of the creativity constructs ranging from minor adaptations to radical break troughs. It has been argued that organizational factors, such as work resources and organizational climate, lead not only to creative and innovative changes but also be beneficial for the individual in terms of better psychological well-being [16, 24, 25]. Consequently, because social work, educational approaches, and the practice of social interventions are so multifaceted and relative, the meaning of creativity is never neutral but always connected to historical, situational, organizational, and dialogic interpretations.

Furthermore, applied working methods have, to large extent, personal professional significance but can change due to the culture of community of practice and the improvisations that become necessary [11, 22, 29, 32]. Thus, the practitioner's creativity as a professional is shaped in part by the individual and their mission. Other factors, such as routines, professional interpretations, and traditions, as well as individual factors of the social worker and client and the interaction between them, are also significant [16, 17, 32, 33]. Another pattern in literature in the concept of creativity within professional space is the importance of building the knowledge base and presenting

#### *Collaborative Creativity in International Social Pedagogy Educational Settings DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110124*

something new [16, 22]. A further important aspect relates to the so-called "community of practice" designed collaboratively by the project's team members. It is defined that communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or passion about the topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing establishment [18]. An important aspect within such structures is that creativity develops through knowledge creation such as building the knowledge base, while lifelong learning is acknowledged as existential base for the individual's intuition and cognitive development [3, 11, 31]. Supplementary, knowledge growth is recognized as important in the creation of professional roles and professional expertise. Contemporary scholars have begun reconsidering a range of methods related to creative practice to support learning and creativity of ideas and to generate reflections in response to those ideas [11]. For another example, see in Ref. [34], studies of students´ learning outcomes found growth in academic capability when implementing the 4C learning model. This model refers to students as creative, active, collaborative, and critical learning groups.

In addition, other corresponding forms of professionalism, such as space for independence in the performance of work, are important factors for the practitioner's possibility to be creative. To these, another aspect can be added, namely the individual's degrees of freedom in their professional role, access to resources, and opportunity for development [23, 25, 35]. The environment's acceptance of and contextual receptivity for change and different ideas are very important [26]. In social professions, there are strong points of contact between systematic humanizing support work and the search for creativity [2, 13, 17]. Psychosocial and social pedagogical social work can be seen as a kind of liberation from the oppressive mechanisms at work that limits both the professional caregiver and client. Creativity is, therefore, understood as shaped by individual, structural, and environmental factors as well as the position of the profession in terms of authority, occupational value, and positional strength**.**

## **3. Creative development example**

There is no shortage of project ideas within the context of higher education. The outcomes of various project-related activities may be very different, but the logics of project work are build on development of new growth models and sources of inspiration, and create inputs for changes [12, 16, 31, 36]. Based on the previous development work and the discussion of creativity needed for the development of social, cultural, and support systems for the well-being of young populations in European countries in general [6, 12], a project was conducted called Social Professions for supporting Youth in a European Solidarity Context [37]. The goal of this work was the development of the art of education for students aiming to enter social professions. Hereunder, I look at how a project understood as creative process engages its members in a profoundly reflective, dialogical, creative, and functional relationship that creates a specific community of practice.

This study is partly influenced by qualitative methodology including data sampling and analyses on the descriptive level, and partly by participatory methodology. Given the specific focus on this study, a retrospective review of documentation from formal project meetings, interim reports, notes from international seminars, and memos from meetings with teachers, students, and field workers was conducted (n = 182). Each document was fully transcribed by a member chosen at the start of each meeting/assembly or voluntary secretary. Sampling of empirical data was completed purposively to allow

analyses from different sources in order to ensure a mixture of perspectives. Basis for an organized and thematically sorted platform for the construction of meaning and data interpretation was generated using open coding methodology using the constant comparative method [38]. As reflexivity is a key component in qualitative research, two academic seminars and two critical friends not engaged in the project were further involved to stimulate reflections and discussions relating to the subject, deepening the analysis. This also generated an extending understanding and confirmation of trustworthiness [39, 40]. In this respect, the methodology of data interpretation has pointed out the importance of involving and co-producing understanding and knowledge development through participatory encounters and co-influencing the existing reality. The intersubjective understandings and interpretations were questioning data from the perspective of this broader question: How the ongoing collaborative processes mirror creativity and how the participants figure out its occurrence or shape?

According to these elements, on general level, the analysis identified three interrelated, overarching, and intertwined creativity frameworks: an integrative creativity, functionalist instrumental creativity, and adaptive developmental creativity.

#### **3.1 Integrative creativity**

An integrative course of action initiated the start of project work. It was important to create a common picture of the current state of knowledge encompassing the client population concerned, as well as the needs of various social services, and to relate this to an international context. There were many conflicts to clarify current cooperation and, not least, manage contradictions between the planning process, the project's goals, and a shortage of resources. In this perspective, it was important to focus on the needs of client, development of educational and pedagogical practice, and building up knowledge about the existing professional realities.

Another appeared creativity process was one to connect and integrate project team members. This entire creative process developed through actions such as local and international meetings, discussions, exchange of experiences, studying format documentation, making knowledge overviews, etc. This development creativity process occurred both in groups and individually. When sharing one's own and other's ideas about the subject and their working methods, in collaboration, ideas for future implementations developed. In joint work, participants both supported each other and challenged each other to go a step beyond their usual way of thinking. Creativity could take the form of both a group process and an individual, intuitive, and mental process [3]. The collaborative context is built on joint experimentation and on experiences from resources obtained in partners' contexts [6]. During such processes (e.g., exchange teaching practices course layout and contents exchange) the creative dimensions of both physical and distance meetings between team members were crucial. It was a process of cooperative and intuitive formulation where it was important to meet, listen, and reflect on the manifested issues.

Studies of the role of intuition in educational creativity contexts found intuition understood as specific way of knowing, one that does not really articulate the origin of how a specific situation or subject is perceived [3, 27, 31]. The integrative phase in this project was, in the beginning, dealing with some of the occurring problems more intuitively than cognitively, for example, viewing problems solution as hypotheses. The project team could react in an affective tone or sometimes exhibit more profound involvement, for example, deep engagement with a task force that later showed little importance for enhancing problem-solving formulations or activities. Despite

#### *Collaborative Creativity in International Social Pedagogy Educational Settings DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110124*

certain circumstances being in place and different approaches of problem-solving, the project developed great results such as new didactics based on cross-border analysis of contemporary status of young people in partner countries (for example, see [37]. These results formed a base for the conceptualization and development of a new international course module from a socio-cultural, socio-ecological, and sociopolitical perspective related to the life needs of young people.

#### **3.2 Functionalist instrumental creativity**

Within the functionalist and instrumental rationalistic creativity logics, the focus was placed on creativity in economy management, teaching technology, and knowledge creation [4, 10, 41]. Each university contributed with its competence for curricula development and teaching methods. It was ascertained that the goals of the project were extremely overambitious and it was especially important to facilitate the distribution of tasks, as well as make decisions regarding recording and the responsibilities within the work process. In organizing learning, the project group focused on involving and taking advantage of the academic teachers' and students' ideas, needs, and views regarding the subject and teaching methods [34, 39]. It was important to mobilize several possible creative sources. Knowledge overview carried out by groups in participating institutions created the basis for curriculum development and the new course content. Urgent and actual topics, and concepts crucial for contemporary social professions related to the perspectives of young people, were broadly selected to inspire educators and students [4]. Further, a pilot study of the curriculum at each institution was conducted. The project groups developed a sharing of similar intentions between institutional approaches regarding the teaching and facilitating the students in acquiring skills needed for work with young people. A collaboratively developed handbook becomes an important tool in the direct teaching situation [10]. At this stage, creativity was intertwined in many of the projects both extensively intuitive and practical rational forms. This is in line with previous authors (e.g., [41]), examining broad tendencies in project management that suggested the changing development from dominated hard paradigm to tendencies for acceptance of the more soft paradigm. At this stage, the collaborative creativity was intertwined in many of both extensively intuitive and practical rational forms. Nevertheless, all creativity forms were primarily related to the interpretative dimensions within each university's structures of environmental and organizational logics [20, 25, 26]. The project team of attending academic teachers and students through concrete actions, discussions, and knowledge development while implementation of the pilot course deepened creativity of the curriculum. Given and structurally–developed course frameworks were open for creative changes. Students gave their views on which areas they perceived as most important for them to gain competence to meet with, treat, and create interventions for young vulnerable clients. The progression of functionalist creativity related to structural plans and schedules and measurements of factors indicating the progress and status of the work process. As also suggested in other studies [1, 15, 31], the sense of various relationships and elements of diverse situations were understood as more connected to analytical thinking than intuitive conceptualizing of occurring situations.

#### **3.3 Adaptive creativity**

Adaptive creativity meant a very intensive work phase for all partners. The shaped knowledge and previous experiences problematized and further processed more

concretely in the direction of the goals that had been set in the ambitions of the project [2, 4]. For example, traditional education adopted more integrative curriculum development where each university contributed with specialist knowledge [10, 11]. The needs inventory and the research processed collaboratively by each institution showed that extensive investment in social implementations is needed to help young people in contemporary societal conditions [4]. The collaboratively created new course module, therefore, contained five sections of knowledge areas that students could master for professional social pedagogical work with young people: various aspects of general characteristics of youth problems, social exclusion vs. inclusive education, un-employment vs. wellbeing, then prejudice vs. tolerance, and risk vs. protective factors [10].

Within this process of creating collegial culture, development embraced increased interconnection of communication. The joint work highlighted issues connected with development and innovations and, most of all, positive meetings between people and the developmental conditions of the meetings, such as creative relations, exchange culture, and shared knowledge of social values [20, 21, 24]. The developed or occurring situations could be described as partly intuitive logic and partly ritualized social responsivity [42].

Everyday life, according to Goffman [43], is lived unconsciously (e.g., socially created rituals) and is very difficult to uncover. In the same way, the professional community created within the everyday framework of the project exhibited partially intuitive unconscious forms as well as logically planned cognitive ones. This important implication was reflected in how the project practice formed pattern of routines, behaviors, and rules constructing social order [18, 20, 28]. These structures could benefit the creativity forms of all participants individually and the group community of practice at each university.

The members´ individual opinions, experiences, and ideas were acknowledged seriously. Challenges were recognized and worked through [4, 10]. Icebreakers were processed away and techniques for future work were introduced, discussed, and carried out. The established interconnection between member institutions may make a positive contribution to the improvement of international change and new forms of creative pedagogical achievement. For example, most of the participating universities have updated their courses and educational programs. Among other things, it can be mentioned that Klaipeda University includes its international students in the program and Malmö University generated CIM (Certificate of International Merits) in the graduation degree of Swedish student participants.

## **4. Creativity paradigms combined**

Within the framework of the project, through pedagogic research methods, a new international education module has been developed and implemented. The innovative process was an attempt to evoke the reality of the future with conscious intention in the universities' pedagogical approaches and through meaningful professional contexts [1, 11]. The notion of rituals in everyday life and the project's daily routines united and ritualized appearance of social creative responsiveness [2, 42, 43].

#### **4.1 Collaborative creativity**

Carrying out development through projects means being able to detach oneself from various existing organizational prefixed logics. The multiple sources and various

#### *Collaborative Creativity in International Social Pedagogy Educational Settings DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110124*

multilayered aspects connected to collaboration within this project formed unique collaborative creativity in the educational context. This, implementation of the SP Young project [37], resulted in opportunities for curriculum development, adopted for use in international academic contexts and adjusted to university requirements within the European Union [44]. The working process builds a base for reciprocal creativity for improvement of learning goals and institutional appreciation. In addition, the collaborative creativity recognized the participating universities´ multiple educational abilities. Creativity and professional development were expressed in a search for various forms of knowledge as well as through deep interactions and inspirations, in accordance with created or existing circumstances for action [21].

The resulted outcome from this study showed integrative, functionalist, and adaptive creative logics that did not emerge in a linearly rational manner, but rather appeared situationally—formed in relation to certain issues in the project's practicum, with specific actors involved and related to particular contextual circumstances. Thus, as it is pointed out in the literature [15, 17, 24, 45], the cultivated collaborative forms of creativity in this project had its nourishment from a diverse set of contributing factors. Major indicators of creative development were the participants´ personal and professional competence; openness to change was a crucial condition of the developmental atmosphere both within institutions and cross-institutionally.

A major challenge for Western countries is to contextualize education and knowledge related to both local and global transformations and how they influence life conditions for young people. Cultivating awareness of important social and educational issues provided openness to facilitate the collaborative exploration of links between both social work practices in participating countries at the individual micro-level and societal globalized macro perspectives.

The risk of modern society lies in its fragmentation ensuring unstable networks [8]. Within social care and educational research, it is emphasized that an increased awareness must emerge about complex systems surrounding the individual [7]. Difficult life events and stress increase the risk of a number of problems, for example, physical and mental illness, social vulnerability, and lack of protective factors [9]. In general, the risk of adverse outcomes increases as the number of negative factors increases. Despite the fact that there is a great variation at the individual level in coping with negative life events, it is also no longer possible to make point-by-point measures for vulnerable people. It is the knowledge and need for collaborative creativity that makes demands from both educators and professionals working in the field.

In this chapter, not all aspects of creativity may have been considered due to the arrangement, content, process, and design of the project concerned. However, this study indicated three forms or logics of collaborative creativity: integrative creativity, functionalist instrumental creativity, and adaptive developmental creativity. Further, this study indicated that collaboratively developed stimulation between students´ creative self-concept and creativity in teachers' guiding strategies (e.g., group work, reflective learning discussions, situational case methodology [10, 11], etc.) was beneficial for students' learning situations. Nevertheless, it may not be possible for the project participants to take into account each available institutional resource during the process; hence, as much as possible, this could be supplemented by examples given during the international meetings, study visits, sharing of documents, etc. The creative mechanism and creative thinking affecting the whole growth process are understood through exploration of the creativity progression and as a tool for the application of the evolving project process.

After the implementation of the pilot course, students gave positive feedback about the module content and learning process. They were very much looking forward to the summer course, which ended the project, to physically meeting their colleagues from other participating universities. Furthermore, the curriculum design incorporated multiple themes regarding young people's vulnerability and contemporary life situations. This allowed students to approach the subject from different angles. Various situations integrated into curricular activities and students' creative thinking integrated into the subject curriculum may thereby inspire students´ future performance. Cross discussions, reflections, and sharing of experiences related to both local and global perspectives help students to achieve more holistic understanding of themselves and their future personal roles.

In project meetings, there are usually clear motives for encounter and story provided to, for example, fulfill specific objectives. Nevertheless, that narrative falls out in a certain way is far from obvious—there are always alternative ways to perceive a present story. In the same way, narratives from different institutional contexts could meet, intertwine, and form new approaches to practice. This was possible through development of the collaborative logics that intertwine integrative, functionalist, and adaptive creativity forms. For example, digitalization and Zoom meetings due to COVID-19 presented the project with major challenges. However, because the group was not locked into one mode of functioning, it was able to creatively deal with the situation, and thus the project was able to successfully achieve goals. However, today's situation shows what challenges await in the future and how certain stories and forms of work will be silenced. Regardless of societal development, it is difficult to imagine a society without human encounters where perspectives are exchanged, or to imagine organizations without development projects, where creativity is allowed to flourish.

## **5. Closing remarks**

The conceptualization of collaborative creativity in capacity building was founded on three separate but interrelated and associated creativity logics: integrative creativity, functionalist creativity, and adaptive creativity. No matter what mark the developmental work has left on the participants, the odds are likely that the educational programs and participating institutions have been somewhat positively affected. It is assumed that this developmental work could take place due to the occurrence of the creativity forms. The practical outcome of the development work is more related to collaborative creativity ideas and the creativity potential within the created community of practice than to the flexible aspects of the project's formation itself.

Collaborative creativity is indicated to be a context-dependent process and shaped both as intuitive and structural development. This study showed that it flourishes when it shapes and encloses integrative, functionalist instrumental, and adaptive creativity growth. The *integrative creativity* forms bridges and conflicts and helps create new insights. It helps to connect and integrate task forces, people involved in the process, and existing knowledge, as well as crucial environmental factors. The *functionalist instrumental creativity* showed to be intertwined in both intuitive and rational collaborative forms related to interpretative dimensions of contextual structures and existing relational elements. The *adaptive creativity* meant mastering raised process characteristics. It builds up developmental conditions and diverse forms of ritualized social responsivity. These core structures promote approaching different reality angles and cultivate intersectional creative mechanisms.

## *Collaborative Creativity in International Social Pedagogy Educational Settings DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110124*

In summary, the use of creativity concepts can provide a conceptual lens to illuminate a change process; it captures both internal and professional processes of development and shapes positions in the field of practice, both educational and the student's acquired professional knowledge. Creative potencies may be inserted by many events, both through coincidences and conscious actions. They can take the form of as well individual and collective expressions. In this way, this inquiry contributes to unique insights and understandings of creativity as a developmental phenomenon and as a core means in both individual, socio-cultural, and organizational human environments. This may imply an ongoing widening of the project management scope to include reconsiderations regarding more than hard rationalistic structures but also value deductive and interpretative soft meanings approaches to practice. However, it is important to notice that creativity shapes communication and experience in many different ways, forced by interaction embedded between political, societal, methodological, and personal considerations.
