1 Preface
1. The Committee announced its inquiry into Creative
Partnerships and the Curriculum on 4th June 2007, with the following
terms of reference:
- How should we define creativity
in the context of education and child care?
- What effect have existing creative initiatives
had on teachers' skills and ability to work with creative professionals
in the classroom?
- What are the implications of a curriculum shift
in favour of creativity for the training of heads, teachers and
cultural animators?
- How might parents and education and care providers
be persuaded to encourage creativity in the home?
- What special contribution do the arts have to
make to creative education?
- To what degree should creative education be structured
to accommodate the needs of creative industries?
- What evidence is there that a creative curriculum
assists achievement in other areas?
- What is the impact of a creative curriculum on
pupil confidence, motivation, behaviour and team work, and Literacy,
numeracy, ICT and communication skills?
- How can creative achievement among young people
be acknowledged and assessed?
- How can creativity be embedded across the curriculum
and within the philosophy of schools?
- How can creativity in schools best be linked
to the real work of work and leisure?
2. A main, but not sole, focus for the inquiry was
the work of the Creative Partnerships scheme, which aims
to link creative practitioners with schools and which was launched
in 2002. It is funded largely by the Department for Culture, Media
and Sport, with a smaller contribution from the Department for
Children, Schools and Families. Throughout this report, references
to this DCSF and DCMS-funded scheme take the form of Creative
Partnerships, while lower case, standard print is used to
distinguish programmes or activities with similar aims which draw
funding from elsewhere.
3. On 28 June 2007, the Secretary of State announced
that the then Department for Education and Skills would be dissolved
and replaced by two new departments, the Department for Children,
Schools and Families, and the Department for Innovation, Universities,
and Skills. As a consequence, this Committee, which scrutinised
the work of the DfES, will be replaced and will have to conclude
its current business by early November 2007. We therefore decided
to take a limited amount of oral evidence on Creative Partnerships
and the Curriculum in the time remaining.
4. We took oral evidence from: Paul Collard, National
Director, Creative Partnerships; Althea Efunshile, Executive
Director, Arts Planning and Investment, Arts Council England;
Rt. Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Minister for Culture, Creative Industries
and Tourism, Department for Culture, Media and Sport; Jim Knight
MP, Minister of State for Children and Learners, Department for
Children, Schools and Families.
5. We also received around 150 written memoranda,
a very large proportion of which were from schools and practitioners
directly involved in the Creative Partnerships initiative,
although we also received a number of memoranda from those involved
in other schemes or initiatives. The memoranda have helped us
greatly with our inquiry and we extend our thanks to those who
took the time to write to us.
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