Memorandum submitted by Virginia Haworth-Galt, Chief Executive, Artswork

 

Introduction to Submitter

Virginia Haworth-Galt is the Chief Executive of Artswork (national youth arts development agency working with young people aged 12-25). Virginia is a youth arts specialist with expert knowledge of work with 'young people at risk'.

 

Submission - Creative Partnerships and the Curriculum

1 Creative Partnerships has begun to make a significant impact on the education of young people in England. As a result of this long-term programme we are already beginning to see the emergence of: Teachers with an increased range of teaching skills; young people who have clearly benefited from a deeper engagement with the curriculum. These are the very outcomes plainly recommended in January 2007 within the report entitled 2020 Vision: Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 Review Group presented by Christine Gilbert to the Secretary of State.

 

2 "Most new school leaders in 2020 are now in their early years of

teaching or still studying. Many of the parents of the children

who will start primary education in 2020 are just coming to the

end of their own schooling.

.....The education system will need to act now if it is to transform

the experience of children starting school today. We do not

underestimate the challenges involved. However, we believe that

the process of achieving our vision will be an exciting one in which

many schools are already leading the way.

We believe that personalising learning and teaching must play

a central role in transforming England's education service to

achieve these aims between now and 2020.

Personalisation is a matter of moral purpose and social justice:

pupils from the most disadvantaged groups are the least likely

to achieve well and participate in higher levels of education or

training. Personalisation also reflects wider changes in society,

which are likely to continue at an increasing rate. Together,

these present the education system with its most acute

challenges. They mean that expectations of what all children

and young people could and should achieve must be raised,

along with schools' capacity to ensure that outcomes for pupils

match those expectations.'

2020 Vision: Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 Review Group

 

3 Schools involved with Creative Partnerships have been able to pioneer 'personalisation' of learning. Successful work has taken part in mainstream schools and within Pupil Support/ Learning Support Units across England. The value of employing creative methods to engage pupils who have not previously engaged and achieved is now widely recognised. The use of creativity within schools does offer a way to underpin the development of basic skills (often through hidden learning) in addition it motivates and affirms self-belief in 'achievers' and 'non-achievers'. What Creative Partnerships has clearly begun to do in some areas of England is to embed creativity into the curriculum. If Creative Partnerships is made permanent and rolled out in all schools in England the logical outcome is that significantly fewer children will 'fail' at school and become NEET (not in education, employment or training). The social and economic benefits of this are self-evident.

 

4 One of the key-areas where the long-term benefit of Creative Partnerships could have a dramatic impact is on reducing the number of potential juvenile and young offenders. Pilots of the PLUS Enrichment programme (created by the Arts Council and the Youth Justice Board) demonstrated that creative learning materials/ techniques could be used successfully to meet the educational needs of juvenile and young offenders. Research illustrates that many young people from this group have difficulties with basic-skills (an average reading age of seven is common). Formal education techniques have not addressed these problems. The PLUS Enrichment materials use creative projects and topics to increase these skills. Creative Partnerships offers a chance to pre-empt some of these problems by providing effective personalised and creative learning for these young people whilst they are still at school.

 

5 The longitudinal research of American Professor Shirley Bryce-Heath has proved that prolonged involvement in arts and creative projects improves the cognitive and linguistic skills of young people at risk. This suggests that the permanent roll-out of Creative Partnerships in English schools would have a similar impact on English young people.

 

6 The ongoing opportunities Creative Partnerships offers for teachers to work with professional artists across a range of art forms and new technologies provides a unique framework for their continuing professional development. This development is of equal value for newly qualified teachers and experienced teachers. An increasing number of teachers are becoming members of ENYAN (the English National Youth Arts Network) in order to widen their knowledge and links with the creative sector. This addition to their personal teaching tool-kit helps them find new ways to address a range of classroom situations.

 

7 Once teachers have become more confident in using creativity within their lesson plans they are likely to feel more able to: work with pupils to develop individual personalised learning plans; address the full range of learning styles; see natural connections and ways to work with colleagues across the curriculum. Teachers will also feel more confident about supporting pupils who wish to participate in the Arts Awards (QCA approved Trinity College accreditation for young people) thus extending individual opportunities for young people.

 

8 Finally Creative Partnerships is helping to produce new creators, new audiences, new participants and new consumers for the cultural sector. The benefits of the skills developed through Creative Partnerships will not be confined to the this sector. They are highly transferable and will help ensure that English schools produce problem-solvers, risk-takers, innovators and visionaries.

 

 

July 2007