CREDMUS Project: Focus Group Data on Creativity from Six Catalan Universities

This dataset contains the transcripts and anonymized records of six institutional focus groups conducted in the Catalan language within the CREDMUS project (Creativity in Music Teacher Education). The project investigated how creativity is conceptualized, fostered, and challenged in the preparation of future primary school teachers through music education at Catalan universities.

The underlying research hypothesis was that, although creativity is widely recognized as an essential competence in teacher education, its implementation in higher education music programmes is shaped by diverse pedagogical beliefs, institutional conditions, and contextual constraints. To explore this, focus groups were organized with university lecturers in music education from six Catalan universities, representing public, private, and semi-private institutions. Each focus group discussed experiences, practices, and challenges related to creativity in teacher education. Discussions were guided by two project-developed glossaries addressing the complementary concepts of creative teaching and teaching for creativity.

The data consist of verbatim transcripts and session records that can be used for qualitative thematic analysis, discourse analysis, or comparative institutional studies. The transcripts reveal recurring themes and pedagogical tensions concerning: (1) structure versus openness in teaching approaches; (2) prior musical knowledge versus exploratory learning; (3) safety versus risk-taking in creative processes; (4) disciplinarity versus interdisciplinarity; and (5) process-oriented versus outcome-oriented assessment.

Notable findings include widespread recognition of the importance of supportive classroom climates, uncertainty management, and flexible pedagogical design, alongside structural barriers such as limited time, assessment pressures, and inconsistent curricular expectations. The data suggest that creativity in teacher education is less a fixed method than a negotiated and context-dependent pedagogical process.

All personal identifiers have been removed to ensure confidentiality. The dataset may be used by researchers interested in creativity studies, music education, teacher education, higher education pedagogy, or qualitative comparative research. Knowledge of Catalan is required for direct analysis of the original transcripts, although automated translation tools may facilitate secondary use.