Passion and creativity are increasingly recognized as key elements in contemporary teacher education. Research emphasizes that teachers who are both passionate and creative are more engaged in their profession, which positively influences student outcomes and the overall educational environment (Moè, 2016). Passion supports well-being and professional development, while creativity fosters flexibility, innovation, and the ability to adapt to the complex realities of education (Anderson et al., 2022).
The main goal of the study was to determine the relationship between types of passion and the level of creativity among teacher education students. The specific objectives included:
- Identifying which type of passion is most common;
- Assessing the level of creativity using standardized tools;
- Determining whether there is a statistically significant relationship between passion (harmonious or obsessive) and creativity.

The study involved 169 students enrolled in teacher education programs at the University of Białystok (Poland), participating in various teacher training programs. Participants were selected using a sampling method, and participation was voluntary and anonymous.
The following instruments were used the Passion Scale (Marsh et al., 2013), Polish adaptation by Mudło-Głagolska et al. (2019), which separately measures harmonious and obsessive passion and the Test for Creative Thinking – Drawing Production (TCT-DP) (Urban & Jellen, 1996), Polish adaptation by Matczak et al. (2000), which includes two drawing sheets (A and B).

The study showed that the average creativity score was 24.6 points (with a standard deviation within the expected range). These results are consistent with previous Polish studies on student populations (e.g., Matczak et al., 2000; Uszyńska-Jarmoc et al., 2019). The distribution of scores suggests that most teacher education students fall within the moderate creativity range. It was found that 79.3% of participants reported harmonious passion, 1.2% showed obsessive passion, and 13% did not report a clear passion for learning or their future profession. This indicates that the dominant type of passion among teacher education students is harmonious passion, which aligns with expectations for self-directed and intrinsically motivated learners. No statistically significant correlation was found between harmonious passion and creativity scores. Nor was there a significant relationship observed between obsessive passion and creativity.
Creativity scores did not significantly differ between groups based on the type of passion. These results suggest that passion – both harmonious and obsessive – does not appear to be a direct predictor of creativity as measured by the TCT-DP questionnaire in this sample.
Although theoretical models often suggest a link between intrinsic motivation (such as passion) and creative behaviors, our results do not show a statistically significant relationship between the type of passion and level of creativity. This may indicate that creativity is a multifactorial construct influenced by more than just passion (e.g., cognitive styles, environmental factors, emotional intelligence). It can also be inferred that passion and creativity may function independently in the development of future teachers, but their relationship may only become apparent under specific conditions (e.g., practical teaching experience, autonomy-supportive environments).

Keywords: teacher education, student teachers, passion, obsessive passion, harmonious passion, creativity.