La portée formatrice de l'expérience d'un processus créateur vécue par des éducateurs en formation professionnelle continue

This research aims at identifying and exploring significant and complex learning resulting from the experiencing of a creative process by educators attending a formal course on the creative process within a university continuing professional education program.

A conceptual framework was elaborated in order to study the five main dimensions of the formative impact of such an experience on the whole person. This framework was inspired by the self-learning approach put forward by Valery as introduced by Gingras 1999, 1997, 1993, 1987; Gingras-Audet, 1983, 1979) and completed by the perspectives of complementary authors such as Pineau (1995, 1991, 1985); Maslow (1979, 1970, 1968); Rogers (1979, 1978, 1972, 1969); Vargiu (1973); Noy (1978).

Given the lack of knowledge available on the formative impact of such an experience on the whole person, an exploratory method was used to analyze the qualitative data based on the subjects' perceptions provided by a sample of five volunteers. The main data were collected by means of a non-directive interview complemented by an analytical grid of a written text produced by the subjects, as an academic requirement. The data collection took place three weeks after the end of the course, thus fostering the subjects' formalization of their learning. Krippendorff (1980) and Miles and Huberman (1984) mainly inspired the treatment of data, as well as, the validation of the findings.

The findings were analyzed with regarding all five dimensions as a whole, as well as with regard to each one of theses, namely, plasticity of the self (D.1); potentiality (D.2); harmonization of the self (D.3); expression of the self (D.4); aspiration (D.5). Finally, some contributions and limits, and major theoretical implications of such findings regarding the fields of continuing professional education and creativity, as well as, practical implications for the training the educators were pointed out.