|
Memorandum submitted by CapeUK Background Pat Cochrane is CEO of CapeUK,a development and research organisation, set up over ten years ago, specifically to explore the role of creativity and learning and in particular to pilot the impact of long term partnerships between creative and cultural organisations and schools. The organisation has supported partnerships between schools and external partners in a variety of contexts over the last ten years. Each of these has been evaluated and has contributed to Cape's research findings. These include · 5 years working with 24 high schools and their related primary schools in Leeds and Manchester. All of this work focused on creativity across the curriculum. Building a Creative School - a dynamic approach to school development Cochrane and Cockett. Trentham 2007
· Exploring the impact of creativity in relation to social inclusion, 14-19 curriculum, out of school hours learning, community cohesion and citizenship. www.outofschoolhours.org.uk www.radiowaves.co.uk
· Leading national programme on creativity for Advanced Skills teachers across England (commissioned by Creative Partnerships). The Journey McGuigan et al (2003)
· Leading the national Creativity Action Research Awards programme, (commissioned by Creative Partnerships) working with over 250 schools including all phases - primary, secondary, special. Building Creative Futures. The Story of the Creativity Action Research Awards (McGuigan,P.et al 2005) In addition CapeUK has published a series of brief publications to stimulate debate an discussion about creativity - Creativity Matters. The first in the series, Are we really serious about creativity? (Cochrane 2006), explores a number of the questions raised by the Select Committee and has been attached as a PDF to this submission. Pat Cochrane and Pete McGuigan from CapeUK contributed to the Roberts Review.Nurturing Creativity and young People 2007 preparing the papers on Partnership and Leading creative learning developing creativity in leadership, initial teacher education and continuing professional development. Particular area of expertise Setting up and developing long term partnerships between schools and partners from the creative and cultural sector and analysing the impact on pedagogy, leadership and pupils' learning. Continuing Professional Development of both teachers and partners working with schools. Creativity across the curriculum - we have supported over 5 years exploration of creativity in relation to science and technology in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University's Centre for Science Education (Leeds and Greater Manchester). Creativity and marginalised young people - we have led over 7 years' work in this field through the European Social Fund Youthstart programme, LSC funding and the Learning Gateway Programme - precursor to E2E. (Leeds and Greater Manchester) Creativity and community cohesion- we have led a number of programmes supported by the Home Office Connecting Communities Programme in both Yorkshire and the North West. Responses to specific questions:
1. How should we define creativity in the context of education and child care? 1.1. The definition used in the All Our Futures Report (DfES1999) provides a good starting point that is accepted and used (sometimes with adaptations) by most practitioners in the field. Imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both original and of value. 1.2. The further work carried out by QCA to suggest what creative behaviours might look like is also helpful and categorises these behaviours broadly as: · Questioning and challenging · Making connections and seeing relationships · Envisaging what might be · Exploring ideas, keeping options open · Reflecting critically on ideas, actions and outcomes
2. What effect have existing creative initiatives had on teachers' skills and ability to work with creative practitioners in the classroom? 2.1. There is a wide range of practice in this field and so the impact on skills and abilities will differ according to how a process, programme or initiative is established. 2.2. Where teachers are enabled to work in a genuinely collaborative and exploratory partnership with external partners which recognises and values the skills and expertise of both partners; sees both teachers and external partners as creative and is focused on the learning of children and young people and communities, there is considerable evidence of impact on teachers' skills, ability and confidence to work with creative practitioners in the classroom. Feedback from a participant on the Teacher Artist Partnership Programme is typical of teachers involved in such programmes:
"The programme has had a great effect on my practice as a teacher. It has been a transformative experience developing a project with an artist in school and has provided me with a lot of flexibility and resilience in countering red tape and conservatism"
2.3. The best practice impacts on the skills and abilities of both partners in the collaboration. 2.4. However, where the focus is on projects which deliver short term outcomes to schools by supplying a programme or service, the impact on teachers' practice or ability to work in collaboration with creative partners is minimal. 2.5. Our research suggests that: · Current practice is patchy and the experience and principles of previous effective practice is not always integral to programmes. · A focus on teaching for creativity (i.e. focusing on the impact of the process on children's active engagement) rather than on creative teaching (ie which is sometimes interpreted as teaching as performance) is key. · Reflective practice or enquiry is a critical ingredient in this process. Delivering of formulaic programmes is unlikely to lead to genuine creative learning. 2.6. There is evidence, too, that Initial Teacher Education does not adequately prepare teachers for working in creative partnerships Newly qualified teachers sometimes have a limited understanding of the educational benefits such partnerships can bring. Programmes such as the HEARTS programme supported by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation are exploring how best to support this work in ITE.
3. What are the implications of a curriculum shift in favour of creativity for the training of heads, teachers and cultural animateurs? 3.1. A shift towards creativity in the curriculum necessitates a shift in approaches to training. Genuine creative learning requires the ability to move away from the constraints of a knowledge based approach to the curriculum and a focus on known predetermined learning outcomes to one which appears at first sight to be more risky. Heads and teachers need space and time to work creatively in a process and to understand how a partnership with a creative practitioner can support them in learning to do so. The practitioner may need support in learning how to work in a collaborative way with the teacher and head so that all parties in the triangle can benefit from each other's knowledge and expertise. The capacity of the cultural sector in general to support extensive creative partnerships with schools is currently limited. Only further investment from government will enable it to expand. 3.2. CPD programmes which assist in the development of these critical partnership skills are invaluable, but in order to have impact they need to be based on sustained collaboration, be rooted in practice and shared exploration in education contexts rather than one off workshops. Shared planning and reflection are key. The Teacher Artist Partnership programme in London and the national CARA programme are models of effective CPD which is being demonstrated to have powerful impact on heads, teachers and external partners. 4. How might parents and education and care providers be persuaded to encourage creativity in the home? 4.1. Schools with a particularly strong understanding of creative learning value this in their communication and relationships with parents. There are growing examples of innovative practice in early years settings and infant schools which support parents to develop exploratory approaches to learning by involving them in projects and activities within the school and on activities such as school 'trips'. A number of schools involved in the CARA programme and in Cape's core schools have demonstrated this powerfully. 4.2. Creative programmes enable parents who may have had a negative experience of school themselves to create a new engagement with school and their children's learning. For example a CARA programme, which worked with excluded young people in a primary setting supporting the children to make radio programmes, was reported to engage parents with limited literacy skills in their children's learning. 4.3. Many arts based projects in secondary settings involve parents through preparing for and attending performances and there is evidence that they value the impact these experiences have on their children in relation to motivation and attitude to school. This can provide a starting point for dialogue with parents. Some schools within Cape and Creative Partnerships have begun to engage parent governors in this discussion. However, we are less aware of initiatives which have sought to encourage creativity in the home particularly in relation to young people 11-18. Parents' energies are generally focused on supporting narrowly defined curriculum outcomes. Extended Schools may provide an opportunity to involve parents more actively in creative education, although there is danger here that creative activity is relegated to out of hours provision rather than fully integrated into the main part of the school day. 4.4. This is an area which we feel requires investment of time and energy.
5. To what degree should creative education be structured to accommodate the needs of creative industries? 5.1. Creative education should support the development of young people to handle risk and uncertainty, to seek creative solutions and approaches to complex challenges to develop their ability to imagine possibilities beyond the constraints of what is currently known to empathise with the experience of others. Access to a creative education should be the right of all young people not just those who are seeking a career in the creative industries. We would therefore not agree that creative education should be structured to accommodate the needs of the creative industries as this is just one of the purposes or creative education. 5.2. However, entry routes into the creative industries are 'opaque' and often dependent on personal contact and financial support in the early stages of the career. Therefore there is a need to consider how schools prepare young people to access and join the creative industries. This is rightly the domain of, for example, the new Creative and Media Diploma. However, access to employment in the creative industries is not just an issue for the education and training system, but also for the recruitment policies and practices in the creative and cultural sector itself.
6. What evidence is there that a creative curriculum assists achievement in other areas? 6.1. We would argue that the success of a creative curriculum should be based on whether children are developing increased creative capacities rather than whether they attain increased success in other curriculum area. 6.2. However, there is evidence that a creative approach to teaching and learning can assist achievement in other areas, particularly if approaches are targeted. For example our work in relation to science and creativity suggests that observational drawing, creative modelling and imaginative exploration can enable children to both engage with and understand complex scientific concepts. (Creative Space, Dr Lynne Bianchi Sheffield Hallam University 2004) 6.3. Some of the reported outcomes of the CARA programme suggest that there has been impact on pupil learning in other curriculum areas However, much creative partnership work is currently not sufficiently consistent, sustained or targeted on a specific group of learners in order to enable this potential impact to be assessed.
7. What's the impact of a creative curriculum on pupil confidence, motivation, behaviour and team work? 7.1. A creative curriculum which offers young people increased autonomy, self determination, the opportunity to work on activities and projects which have significance in the real world and which carry status within their peer group has a clear impact on pupil motivation, behaviour and team work. Where this integrates use of ICT and multi media this can have an additional motivational benefit. As with all teaching and learning the impact is dependent on skilled practitioners making judgements which create an appropriate balance between structure and autonomy, challenge and support. 7.2. Research, which we have commissioned, has identified considerable impact on pupil confidence, motivation, behaviour and team work. There is strong evidence that a creative curriculum is one of the approaches which can re-engage young people who have been switched off by other forms of learning. · Partnerships for creativity: an evaluation of implementation ( NFER 2001) · Evaluation of the Radiowaves Project (Comerford Boyes,L. Bradford University 2003); CARA reports 2005 www.creative-partnerships.com
8. What's the impact of a creative curriculum on literacy, numeracy and ICT? 8.1. Many of the small scale action research processes conducted by teachers and creative partners as part of the CARA programme demonstrate that a creative curriculum engages children and young people imaginatively and has a subsequent impact on children's motivation to write and to communicate their ideas. There is vast evidence of this from projects around the country both within and beyond the CARA programme. One compelling example from the North West is the evidence of progress in writing attainment brought about by sustained used of museum and gallery collections in Manchester. The 201 Key Stage 2 pupils for whom returns were received made an average progress of 2.7 points (a 35% rise in average attainment over and above the norm). www.mewan.net/museums 8.2. Where ICT is used as a vehicle for autonomous learning it has also been demonstrated to have a strong effect. ICT enables young people to refine their work by editing and subediting their work. Broadcasting on the web creates a real context for the work which is a strong motivator. ICT skills are developed within a context which has meaning and purpose for the young people 8.3. We have limited evidence in relation to numeracy. 9. How can creative achievement among young people be acknowledged and assessed? 9.1. This is a key question and one which requires further investigation. There is an understandable resistance to creating a competency list of creative behaviours against which the achievement of children and young people is measured through a tick box approach. However, there is a growing consensus about what the range of creative capacities are which could form the basis for a dialogic process involving self, teachers and peers in a collaborative assessment process. Changes to the curriculum are creating the conditions for a change to current assessment processes. 9.2. Creativity is domain or context specific and can only be assessed in relation to a particular project, task or activity. Development of creativity is dependent on a combination of the range of skills and behaviours in the context of specific challenges tasks or explorations. So, for example, any list of criteria is likely to suggest that 'imagination' and 'coming up with new ideas' is a critical ingredient of creativity. Unless this capacity is combined with the determination to select and reject some of these ideas, the resilience to apply these ideas in practice and to adapt them as they are implemented, then it is doubtful that the participant has been genuinely creative. 9.3. Assessment of creativity also needs to consider the issue of progression and what creativity might look like at different ages and stages of development. This mix of creative behaviours or ingredients would look different at different ages and stages of development. Assessment of progression in creativity is likely to depend on factors such as · The depth and complexity of the task or project undertaken · The degree of autonomy of the learner or team of learners - ie the extent of adult support and guidance required · Evidence of applying skilled knowledge and execution 9.4. CapeUK has trialled a number of approaches which suggest that where children and young people are aware of the range of processes and behaviours which characterise creativity and which contribute to a creative outcome, this gives them a framework against which to consider their own achievement. However, care needs to be taken not to atomise the ingredients of creativity. Evidence can be visual, and in a variety of media, but needs to include a process of reflection to place any product or outcome into context. The sketchbook or reflective portfolio which many arts based practitioners use is a model of what might be possible. 10. How can creativity be embedded across the curriculum and within the philosophy of schools? 10.1. The main barrier to embedding creativity across the curriculum and within the philosophy of schools is fear that a focus on creativity will not contribute to the outcomes against which the success of a school is measured - i.e. SATS scores and GCSE grades. Although changes to the curriculum, the Every Child Matters agenda and the revised Ofsted inspection process do pay regard to creativity and schools have increasing independence, autonomy and permission to develop creative learning, it will take time and repeatedly strong and consistent messages from policy makers for the climate across the sector to change. 10.2. Key ingredients include: · Changing the way in which the success of schools is analysed and reported away from one which appears to emphasise solely standards and performance against a narrow range of criteria. · Encouraging styles of leadership which are inclusive and learning focused, enabling staff to work in multi disciplinary teams and with a range of partners and in contexts external to the school. · Supporting leaders to understand change processes which are vision and value led rather than formulaic (Many NCSL programmes already seek to do this).Developing structures( e.g. flexible management of space, time and resources ) which allow for extended project work and collaboration across traditional boundaries. · Investing in the creativity of staff. July 2007 |