Memorandum submitted by Council for Higher Education in Art and Design (CHEAD)

 

The Council for Higher Education in Art & Design (CHEAD)[1] would like to express its full

support for the long-term future and roll out of Creative Partnerships and its approaches.

 

Creative Partnerships plays an important role in art and design education for individuals (i.e.

students, teachers and creative practitioners) as well as for institutions (i.e. schools, HE

institutions and creative industries) engaged with the programme.

 

As the various evaluations have shown, Creative Partnerships seemed to have a significant

effect on students involved in the programme. Crucially, not only did it raise students'

achievement but it also managed to contribute to an overall improvement in other areas, e.g.

confidence, communication skills, motivation. We feel that this highlights the important

contribution that development of creative skills within the general framework of art and design

education can make to school curricula. Creativity - the skill of innovative thinking, risk-taking,

and to apply knowledge in new and innovative ways - has been recognised as a key skill to

succeed not only in an individual's career but arguably also in various aspects of their social

life, which also seems to have been borne out by the evaluations.

 

For art and design higher education (A&D HE), creative skills further include the ability to

utilise tools and expertise from other disciplines. In addition, students are increasingly

required to operate in a multi-disciplinary environment. CHEAD believes that Creative

Partnerships successfully addresses these requirements. Moreover, Creative Partnerships is

important in helping to establish closer exchanges between schools, HE and creative

industries. As such, we consider the project a key partner to strength these links and to

support our current strategic priorities. In particular, Creative Partnerships complements art

and A&D HE:

 

• By providing a valuable opportunity for young creative practitioners to gain useful experience

and further to develop their creative skills by working in schools.

 

• By facilitating contact between students and practitioners, who may act as role models to

those students interested to progress to HE A&D. Together with Creative Partnerships

CHEAD is exploring how to widen such exchanges and to facilitate more opportunities for art

and design HE students to visit schools.

 

• By giving teachers greater exposure to the creative industries, thereby helping them to

develop greater understanding of the creative industries. CHEAD is planning to co-operate

with Creative Partnerships to promote the greater inclusion of placements into teacher

training curricula.

 

• By widening participation in art and design. A number of studies have shown that students

from non-traditional backgrounds often consider a career in art and design a pathway only

for the privileged. Few opportunities exist for these students to find out more about HE A&D

or possible career opportunities in the creative industries. Creative Partnerships is active in

the most challenged communities and by facilitating an exchange between students and

creative practitioners, it therefore provides crucial opportunities for these students to gain

access to art and design and to find out about progression to HE A&D.

 

It is useful to consider the importance of Creative Partnerships contribution to the

development of creative skills and to the establishment of closer exchanges between schools,

HE and creative industries in a wider economic context. As identified by various official

reviews (e.g. in Developing Entrepreneurship for the Creative Industries - the Role of Higher

and Further Education, DCMS Creative Industries Entrepreneurship Task Group, 2006)

 

"the Creative Industries is the fastest growing sector of the UK economy growing at an

average of 6% per annum and 10% globally. It contributes 7.9% towards UK GDP and

almost 2 million people are employed within its 13 sub-sectors. It is a dynamic and

innovative sector, characterised by a preponderance of small and micro-enterprises

that rely heavily upon a constant influx of entrepreneurial, creative and flexible

individuals. [...] Coupled with the cultural sector the Creative Industries also has a

wider social significance and impacts on individuals, communities and society in ways

that cannot be measured in simply economic terms. The sector is one of the most

highly educated with around 43% having degrees or higher level qualifications,

significantly more in sub-sectors, compared with 16% of the workforce as a whole. We

also know that graduates from creative arts, design and media courses are more

entrepreneurial than their peers with around one third of all self-employed first

degrees graduates coming from these disciplines."

 

To maintain and build on this success, however, the reviews also identify an important need

for closer connections between schools, higher education and industry to ensure that

teachers as well as students develop current, relevant skills, and with creative skills being at

the heart of them. In light of this, we would like to express our strong support for Creative

Partnerships and do hope that its long-term future can be secured.

 

July 2007

 



[1] CHEAD is a long standing Association which brings together senior figures in UK Art,

Design and Media education. It has a strong international reputation for its work in promoting

UK Art and Design and in activity which examines contemporary issues affecting the HE

curriculum and its implementation.