The benefits of creative writing in performance-oriented educational systems

Background In contemporary school cultures, writing is often organised around measurable outcomes, genre compliance and comparison. Such conditions are associated with reduced student well-being, motivation, and willingness to take risks. Creative writing has been suggested as one way of creating alternative conditions for participation, yet its use is not common in upper secondary education, where instrumental approaches to writing dominate.Purpose This article examines how creative writing practices in upper secondary education can challenge performance-oriented processes of becoming. The central research question is: How does creative writing challenge performance-oriented processes of becoming and enable alternative processes of academic becoming in upper secondary education?Method The research explored a 12-lesson creative writing intervention conducted over five months with 118 students (aged 17–18) and three teachers at one Danish upper secondary school. It was based on semi-structured interviews with 17 of the students. Data were analysed thematically, informed by Davies’ relational understanding of becoming and the concept of emergent listening.Findings The analysis identified four interrelated themes: (1) the creative space; (2) openings of language; (3) personal voice; and (4) relations. The creative writing space shifted attention from performance to experimentation by slowing tempo and reducing comparison. Openings of language enabled exploratory and indirect engagement with experience, while the development of personal voice supported ownership without collapsing writing into confession. Relational practices, particularly shared writing and reading aloud, allowed students to encounter one another through texts rather than pre-existing academic identities. There were, however, tensions related to openness, therapeutic aspects of writing and resistance among performance-oriented students.Conclusion Rather than offering a linear path to academic development, creative writing created temporary and latent pedagogical spaces in which alternative processes of academic development emerged, both within and, at times, in contrast to the prevailing culture of performance. The findings suggest that fostering creativity in contemporary education depends not only on curricular ambitions, but also on creating material, relational and temporal frameworks that allow room for experimentation and uncertainty.