Culture has been found to impact upon creativity, which is valued as ‘a motor
of economic and social innovation’ in a world that is experiencing rapid cultural
changes and increasing cultural diversity. Recent research has given attention to
the problem of cultural mismatch in education, with studies showing that children’s
success at school depends on the extent to which the knowledge, background and
values of their families match the school’s values and priorities. The greater the
mismatch between the two cultures, the less likely the children would benefit from
schooling. When schools fail to effectively address the mismatch, social inequalities
and academic failure are perpetuated. But the problem is not confined to home
versus school cultures, and can be present in other kinds of mismatches such as
western−eastern cultures and traditional-popular cultures. This article discusses
this problem in the context of creative education and the advent of prosumerism.