Why Do Teachers Connect Better With Some Students Than Others? Exploring the Influence of Teachers’ Creative-Thinking Preferences

Teacher–student connection is influenced by several factors and one possible factor is teachers’ creative - thinking preferences (CTP). The present study investigated the extent to which teachers’ CTP predicts their view of favorable student characteristics. Teachers’ CTP was measured by FourSight that featured four preferences: clarifying, ideating, developing, and implementing. Two hundred seventy-five teachers in the United States completed the FourSight measure and the Torrance Ideal Child Checklist. This checklist of 66 adjectives asks the respondent to identify qualities that should be encouraged or discouraged in their students. Results showed that teachers have a tendency to support characteristics associated with their own preference. Specifically, teachers with a stronger Ideator preference showed a clear tendency to encourage ideating qualities among students over Developer and Implementer characteristics. In sharp contrast, teachers with higher Clarifier preferences did not favor ideating qualities. The results reveal an implicit bias on the part of teachers to promote qualities that align most with their own creative-thinking preferences. These findings underscore the importance of teacher training that promotes awareness of this creative thinking preference.