foster creativity
To encourage and support the development of creative thinking and original ideas.
writing-task-2speakingformal-phrasesEducationWork and economy
IELTS use
Useful for discussing how education systems, workplaces, or learning environments can nurture innovation and self-expression in IELTS Writing Task 2 and Speaking.
Examples
- Schools should foster creativity by allowing students to explore open-ended projects.
- Some educators believe that an exam-oriented system does little to foster creativity.
- Workplaces that foster creativity tend to attract employees who enjoy solving complex problems.
- A good curriculum should foster creativity as well as knowledge of core subjects.
Collocations
- foster creativity
- Project-based learning can foster creativity in young learners.
- foster innovation
- Governments should support research that fosters innovation in renewable energy.
- foster a love of learning
- Effective teachers foster a love of learning that continues beyond the classroom.
- foster critical thinking
- Discussion-based classes foster critical thinking more effectively than passive lectures.
- foster independence
- Allowing students to manage their own schedules fosters independence and responsibility.
Word family
- Noun
- fostering
- Verb
- foster
Paraphrases
- encourage creativity: Simpler and more common in everyday speaking.
- nurture creativity: Slightly more personal, often used about children or natural development.
- promote creativity: Common in formal policy documents and education reports.
- stimulate creativity: Useful when describing particular activities or methods.
Common mistakes
- foster up creativity to foster creativity. Foster is a transitive verb, not a phrasal verb, so no preposition such as 'up' is needed.
- foster about creativity to foster creativity. The verb foster takes a direct object without a preposition.
- foster students to be creative to foster students' creativity. Foster cannot be followed by a person plus an infinitive; the object should be the creativity itself.
- creativity should be fostered by schools to schools should foster creativity. The active voice is usually clearer and stronger in IELTS Task 2 essays.