Does More Schooling Boost Creativity? Cross-National Causal Evidence from PISA 2022

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:45 am - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent Roundtable: Creativity and Achievement

Abstract

Creativity is a 21st-century skill, yet its relationship with formal schooling remains empirically unresolved. Using data fifteen-year-olds in sixteen countries participating in PISA 2022, this study exploits exogenous institutional variation in school-entry cutoff to estimate the impact of an additional year of schooling on creative thinking. Employing a regression discontinuity–based instrumental variables approach, we find little evidence that extended schooling systematically enhances creativity as assessed by PISA’s Creative Thinking module. Results remain robust to extensive sensitivity checks and are consistent with the literature documenting developmental “slumps” in creativity during educational transitions. Cross-system variation further highlights the moderating roles of institutional context, curricular orientation, and school-level practices, suggesting that education quality and environment, rather than duration, are key for fostering creative capacities.

Author

• Deepak Sharma, Indian Institute of Management