CARA – Building Creative Futures

Building creative futures
The story of the Creativity Action Research Awards 2005
a programme designed and led by
Advisory Group Joe Hallgarten, Learning Director, Creative Partnerships; Margaret
Talboys, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority; Angela Ruggles, DfES; Anna Craft,
Director of the Open Creativity Centre, Open University; Mike Cockett, CapeUK
Associate; Rob Elkington, Creative Director, Creative Partnerships Birmingham;
Philippa Cordingley, Chief Executive, CUREE.
CARA Project Team at CapeUK Pete McGuigan, Pat Cochrane, Alex Bradshaw.
Thanks to: Laura Harmes, Grainne Slavin, Ginny Scholey, Sharron Scott,
Jess Zadik and Maggie Goddard.
58 LEAs 145 schools
350 adults 104 projects
3000 children
Building creative futures
The story of the Creativity Action Research Awards 2005
initiated and commissioned by Creative Partnerships
led and managed by CapeUK
Contents
Foreword, Introduction
02
Key points, The findings
05
Focus
Focus
Focus
Focus
Focus
11
17
21
25
28
on
on
on
on
on
pupil learning
adult learning
partnership
project management
action research
A wider view an external evaluation
Case studies
32
36
What next?
46
Links and references, Acknowledgements
47
Foreword
Introduction
As the pace of change in the world
continues to quicken, so does the need for
our young people to be flexible, resilient
and creative in their thinking. The Creativity
Action Research Awards programme
funded by the DfES has enabled a
significant number of them to develop
these skills through an impressive range
of projects, from using drama to
understand chemistry to using meditation
and philosophy to improve creative
thinking. But this programme was not only
about young people. Perhaps even more
importantly, the programme provided time,
space and support for the adults involved
– teachers, creative partners and
mentors – to better understand how to help
their pupils be more creative. This is the
key ingredient if creativity is to be fully
embedded in our education system – it is
through these first-hand, lived experiences
that we truly begin to develop the depth of
understanding needed to underpin our
thinking about learning and teaching. Just
knowing the lines is not enough – we need
to feel them as well.
Creativity requires the courage
to let go of certainties. Erich Fromm
For more information visit
www.creative-partnerships.com/cara
Creativity is at the heart of learning for all
of us and increasingly, is at the centre of
the learning and teaching discourse. But,
as an idea, it has proved difficult to pin
down in school settings – just what do we
mean by creative teaching, teaching for
creativity, creative learning and creative
subjects? Creativity has not fitted
comfortably into the increasingly targetdriven culture that produces the
‘certainties’ in education with the numbers
and the evidence. It often requires risk and
a leap of faith before even the possibility of
success.
Recently, with the educational compass
moving in a more creative direction,
practitioners and policy makers have been
thinking though the implications. What
seems clear is that it is not straight-forward
– creativity in teaching and learning cannot
simply be packaged, added on to an
existing curriculum and delivered. It needs
to be integrated at a more fundamental
level – a level that structures and
underpins both the approach and the
thinking for learners and their teachers.
And not just in the arts – all subjects and
aspects of school life, from learning to
leadership, are being looked at through the
creativity lens to identify many of the key
skills and attitudes.
In 2004, building on the learning from the
first two years of the programme, Creative
Partnerships initiated the Creativity Action
Research Awards scheme (CARA) and
CapeUK designed and ran the project
during the school year 2004-05. The brief
was simple – to establish a partnership
between a teacher and a creative
practitioner and come up with an action
research based project that investigated an
aspect of creativity. A mentor advised each
partnership on the research element of the
project and CapeUK worked with everyone
to help keep the momentum and focus.
02
CARA was a bold move – a national
project, involving 104 individual projects
running in 145 schools across the country.
They ran in nursery, primary, secondary
and special schools, with some networks
of schools working jointly. In each of the
nine Arts Council regions there were
between six and 16 projects, with around
300 teachers and creative partners,
supported by a team of 52 mentors drawn
mainly from Higher Education. From 280
applications, 120 awards were given to
support the projects and some 3000 young
people took part and benefited enormously
– by any measure, a large project!
From early on it was clear that both
schools and artists were hungry for this
kind of work – not just an exciting project
for the pupils, but a chance to work
together and find out more about the
relationship between learning, teaching
and creativity – located in their own
practice and in their own situations. All the
adults who took part in the project had a
very strong belief in the centrality of
creativity in their pupils’ education – in the
development of the ‘lively inquiring minds
and an appetite for further knowledge that
will last a lifetime’, that James Callaghan
clearly described in his Ruskin College
speech way back in 1976. However, this is
not a step back to ideas of 30 years ago.
These ideas feel timeless in their appeal
and increasingly urgent in their relevance:
the current generations of young people
will work with technology and in a society
at which we can only guess. QCA’s ‘11-19
reform’ work to devise a single framework
for ‘personal, employability, learning and
thinking skills’, emphasises investigation,
collaboration, reflection, practical selfmanagement and creative contribution at
the heart of success for young people.
All the projects in the CARA programme
strongly encouraged these aspects of
learning, regardless of subject or focus.
For many of the partnerships and for
everyone on the project, it was a time of
rapid learning – how to work together,
where to focus, when to intervene or let the
work develop, what the evidence was and
what it told us – very much in the
landscape of action research or at least,
reflective practice. It highlighted a need to
repeat much of the process, to try out the
learning and embed it in new practice.
03
An overview of the CARA programme
2004-2005
Projects focused on the impact a creative
approach could have on aspects of
learning. Over 80% of the projects were
firmly rooted in learning through the arts,
using a wide range of artists and art forms.
Many projects took traditional school arts
subjects a step further, in art, music, dance
and drama, whilst a number of projects
combined art forms and linked them with
other curriculum areas. Some projects
used new media, photography, video and
computers, to explore aspects of creativity.
Partnerships worked in areas not normally
associated with the school curriculum
– philosophy, meditation, architecture,
circus skills, performance poetry,
storytelling, puppetry and felt making were
used to help teachers and young people
develop their creativity.
As well as gaining greater insight into
creativity and creative learning, most
projects explored how these different
approaches could improve other aspects of
learning. From language and literacy to
science and geology, the projects looked at
the impact on other subjects of using a
creative approach.
Other projects were more interested in
studying how creativity affected young
people’s attitudes and approaches to
learning, including their independence, how
they worked in teams, their behaviour and
their thinking skills.
The choice by most partnerships to use the
arts to explore creativity highlights the
strong relationship between the two areas,
even their conflation, and raised the
question of how well arts-based processes
in learning can stimulate and develop
creative thinking. The often exploratory and
open ended nature of much arts practice
was certainly an exciting model for
creativity and it raised some key issues for
individual projects. All project details and
reports can be found on the Creative
Partnerships website www.creativepartnerships.com/cara with a selection of
projects on the CapeUK website
www.capeuk.org
Research focuses
Art, Aspiration, Attitude, Behaviour, Citizenship, Communication, Community,
Competence based curriculum, Coordination, Creative thinking and learning, Creative
writing, Decision making, Empathy, Enquiry based learning, Environment, Geology,
Humanities, Inclusion and communication skills, Independence, Interaction, Language,
Listening, Literacy, Maths, Media studies, Motivation, Music, Oracy, Ownership, Parental
contact and involvement, Performance, Personal and social education, Positive learning
behaviour, Pre school learning, Problem solving, Pupil engagement, Questioning skills,
Reading, Science, Self Assessment, Speaking and listening, Special Educational Needs,
Storytelling, Team work, Thinking, Transition, Understanding of a community issue,
Understanding of the environment, Verbal expression, Writing.
Project activities
Adult modelling of learning, Architecture, Art, Artefacts, Authentic learning, Choice,
Circus skills, Combined arts, Creative activity, Dance, Design Technology, Dinosaurs,
Discussion, Drama, Environment, Exploratory approach, Feltmaking, ICT and media,
Interactive workshops, Mediation, Movement, Music, Ownership, Performance poetry,
Philosophy, Photography, Physical Education, Play, Puppets, Questioning techniques,
Researching, Role play, Sharing ideas, Story, Storytelling, Theatre.
04
Key points
I don’t know, but let’s see if we can find out.
Parent, Saxlingham Primary School, Norwich
For many of the partnerships and indeed
for the organisation of the programme as a
whole, the freedom to try things out within
a genuine spirit of enquiry and exploration
was a key feature in its success. This
needed a shared sympathetic ethos
between the learners and the teachers,
a view that allowed for wrong turnings,
dead ends – mistakes – and relishing them
as key learning points rather than failure.
The relationships underpinning this were
built on permission to be human and
flawed, with highs and lows, untidiness,
unresolved problems, joys, obsessions and
humour. Adults and children shared the
excitement of genuine learning in the
projects, sometimes going into uncharted
waters and sometimes plumbing previously
unsuspected depths in familiar waters.
Many of these projects were special in the
lives of the participants, both pupils and
adults – memorable learning experiences
that will live well beyond the project.
For many of the teachers, working with
their creative partners and mentors
reawakened their deep interest in
children’s learning. They enjoyed the
unpicking of the learning and the impact of
the teaching – analysing, speculating,
discussing, planning, reflecting – evolving
their professional role on a democratic and
equal footing. Equally, many of the creative
partners found a new depth in their
practice. Their previous school experience
often involved a much greater emphasis on
delivery – workshops to supplement a
school’s curriculum or provide respite for
teachers. CARA provided them with time
and space to think through their work,
learn from the teachers and pupils and in
the project workshops, from each other.
It encouraged many partnerships to find
ways of working together in the future.
This democratic and discursive model of
partnership clearly encouraged a thoughtful
and reflective approach to helping pupils
both to learn creatively and learn to be
creative, very much in line with DfES and
QCA guidance. The QCA ‘Creativity: find it,
promote it’ materials provide an excellent
source of case studies and examples, as
do many Creative Partnerships
publications, including ‘First findings’,
a review of creative learning 2002-2004.
05
The DfES document, ‘Excellence and
Enjoyment’ published in 2003 encouraged
primary schools to ‘take ownership of the
curriculum … and be creative and innovative
in how they teach’. It emphasised ‘children
experiencing the joy of discovery, solving
problems, being creative in writing, art,
music, developing their self-confidence as
learners and maturing socially and
emotionally.’ The ‘14 -19 learning’
document from QCA describes the
importance of collaboration and curriculum
planning as a key means to meeting pupils’
individual needs at secondary level.
The DfES ‘National Conversation about
Personalised Learning’ emphasises ‘high
quality teaching that is responsive to the
different ways students achieve their best’.
The CARA projects demonstrated how well
a thoughtful, creative and partnership
approach to education can achieve these
goals. Not perfectly of course and not on
its own but well on the way! For example,
young people in Yorkshire were able to use
media and drama to voice opinions and
ideas for change about school life; others
in London used philosophy to ‘listen to
reason’, and sort out lunchtime conflicts
and in Birmingham they developed
geological knowledge through joint working
with a film maker.
06
And this work does not lie outside the
school inspection framework or school self
evaluation – it is central to it. As schools
engage with and incorporate the new
Ofsted framework in their practice, the
emphasis on the experience of the learner
is becoming evident: teachers can only be
‘outstanding’ if the learners show
‘exceptional enjoyment and progress’.
Time and again Ofsted reports ‘particularly
effective’ schools that develop pupils’
independence and enjoyment in learning.
These schools promote problem finding
and solving, having and shaping ideas,
pushing for excellence, strong team
working, asking and answering real
questions, presenting and sharing findings
… and they have high attainment.
An almost identical list can be found in the
CARA project reports.
At the beginning of the project, some
partnerships felt they were stepping
outside of the school’s accepted pedagogy,
often expressing concern that this kind of
work could only be a temporary, short term
activity that should not interfere with their
core teaching. A number of partnerships
felt that creativity was firmly located in the
arts and was needed to help lighten the
curriculum mix or would be a good route
into cross curricular working. Others had a
passionate belief in creative thinking at the
centre of the curriculum, that subjects were
rich landscapes to explore rather than
simply learn.
In all cases, as the individual projects and
the CARA programme developed, a richer,
deeper understanding emerged. Issues
such as defining quality, the relationship
between process and product, managing
chaos and order, living with frustration and
breakthrough, the impact of self-belief and
self questioning, and the balance between
originality and building on the ideas of
others were highlighted by the work. They
provoked serious debate and thinking
within the programme and at school level,
with an impact on learning and teaching
well beyond the project.
If we knew what it was we were doing,
it would not be called research, would it?
Albert Einstein
The action research element of the
programme was taken very seriously by
nearly every partnership and was very well
supported by an excellent team of mentors.
They planned their work, gathered data
and considered carefully what they had
found out from the project. In their reports,
they celebrated their projects, highlighted
the learning and described their research
methodology: these reports can be found
on the Creative Partnerships website.
This was not easy work. Coupled with
establishing and maintaining a partnership,
the demands of action research were high
– collecting, interrogating and analysing
‘hard evidence’ was a challenge.
The programme highlighted how important
it is for teachers and creative partners to
have the space and time for shared
reflection, both within the project and in
their ordinary day to day work. It also
highlighted the balance between reflection
and research and raised some serious
questions. How far can practising teachers
and artists realistically meet the demands
of a rigorous research methodology?
How can we get the most learning from the
least time consuming methods of research
and, crucially, who is the learning for?
These have always been central issues for
the action research community and the
programme has provided some rich data,
which will inform phase two of CARA.
07
The findings
I felt privileged. I think that my scientific
boundaries have been extended.
Everything you find has a story behind it.
I enjoyed working independently and
having fewer boundaries.
Pupil, Settlebeck High School, Cumbria
Distilling the thinking and learning in a
relatively short space of time, from such
a large number of diverse projects, with so
many people actively engaging with such
a complex range of issues, was always
going to be a challenge. We were delighted
by the response of everyone involved in
contributing to the thinking in the
programme – creative partners, teachers,
mentors, our evaluator and our advisory
group, both through the project reports and
at the various workshop days and
meetings. Each individual partnership
could have provided enough information
and thinking to fill this booklet and we
accept that there will be some interesting
and valid points that we will have missed.
All project reports are on the Creative
Partnerships website and most
partnerships would be delighted to discuss
their work further. We have structured this
part of the report by looking at CARA from
different perspectives.
In the ‘Findings’ section, we use different
lenses to view the perceptions and reports
from the partnerships. We focus on:
•
•
•
•
•
Pupil learning
Adult learning
Partnership
Project management
Action research
A group of five ‘readers’ with very strong
and diverse backgrounds in education,
(both at school and academic level),
creativity and the arts, worked together to
read, analyse and synthesise the learning
from the CARA reports. Each person led
on one of the five focuses and everyone
contributed to the discussion and thinking
for each section. From early on, it was
clear that there was a great deal of
08
information to work with – projects tended
to be very specific and clearly targeted, but
common themes began to emerge and
there was genuine excitement as the group
unearthed the ‘story’.
Rather than have a single voice for this
story, we decided that the group’s
individual perspectives would provide
different accents to describe the project,
and their reports stand as individual
pieces. Not surprisingly, there is some
overlap – issues and themes such as
personal responsibility or ownership of
learning have an impact across all aspects
of the work.
Choosing only one for each section was
difficult – we had a very rich field from
which to select so we tried to balance up
age groups and geographical location to
give a flavour of the range and diversity of
the programme. Again, we have to accept
that we will have missed some excellent
projects to showcase.
For more information visit
www.creative-partnerships.com/cara
The University of Bradford evaluated the
CARA project with extensive interviews and
observations. They have written their report
in two sections – an executive summary
that is included here and a full report that
is available on the Creative Partnerships
and CapeUK websites.
In the ‘Case Studies’ section, we follow the
main sets of projects, grouped under six
headings and we have chosen one project
as an example of each. Since so many of
the projects used the arts as their vehicle,
often in complex combinations, it made
sense to focus on what they were trying to
achieve through promoting creative
learning. The projects naturally fell into five
main groups – although not entirely neatly
– and each focused on developing a
different aspect of learning:
• Language, often with an aspect of writing
as a focus (31%)
• Thinking skills (22%)
• Behaviour (18%)
• Personal, social or citizenship skills
(10%)
• Subject knowledge (19%)
We have also included a case study from
one of the special schools that took part in
the programme: these projects tended to
focus on very detailed and sharply focused
areas of work that were of particular interest.
09
10
Robert Fisher
Focus on pupil learning
What issues and features had the greatest impact on children’s creativity?
Robert Fisher is a teacher,
writer and researcher on
teaching thinking, learning and
creativity. He was awarded a
PhD for research on philosophy
with children and is a Professor
of Education at Brunel
University. He has published
more than 20 books on
education, including the widelyacclaimed Stories for Thinking
series and new editions of
Teaching Children to Think
and Teaching Children to Learn.
It’s our creations.
Pupil, Effra Early Years Centre, London
Closed projects which anticipate a child’s potential
can limit their scope for learning.
Teacher, Effra Early Years Centre, London
Key findings
The greatest impact on pupil learning was seen where
learning was ‘personalised’, that is where pupils were
given some responsibility for the creative processes
and outcomes of their work. Three key features that
seemed crucial to impact on learning were:
• challenge
• creative engagement
• connecting and reflecting
This section focuses on these features, with special
reference to the impact on creative learning in music
and for SEN pupils.
Challenge
A core aim typical of many projects was to ‘inspire and
aspire’. Creative activity was often seen as a vehicle
for learning through problem-solving challenges such
as improvisation in drama, or performance of a pupilcomposed piece of music. As at one primary school in
London, pupils were often involved in the challenges of
‘planning projects, talk as presentation and public
speaking in performance.’
11
Children’s learning was enhanced through
creative challenge using both new and
traditional media. As one school reported:
‘The use of multimedia encouraged
children to express their learning in new
ways’. Examples of challenging use of new
media included:
• nursery children using digital photography
as a tool of research on educational visits
• pupils extending creative learning through
their own website design
• pupils planning and designing their own
learning environments
• students using music technology to
create their own musical compositions
• students with special needs becoming
engaged in film-making processes
As one project reported, the use of new
media means that teachers and children
are on a ‘parallel learning journey.’ Another
project reported that through music
technology ‘students were able to work
independently to create musical pieces
using the software’. Traditional media, such
as close-observational drawing, also offered
visual challenge in a range of projects.
One special school focused on developing
junk percussion skills which culminated in
a public performance with partner schools.
There was evidence that this creative
challenge ‘had a positive impact on the
language and communication skills of
targeted children.’
12
Common to projects was the development
in pupils of creative expertise, for example
in art, music, dance and multimedia design
applications. In one project ‘the children
truly became opera singers, gesturing and
expressing their emotions’ as well as
learning to sing arias in public.
Sometimes the arts were combined in one
project. In one project for example, a
dancer, an opera singer and an artist
worked with pupils on a cross-curricular
theme. In one cross-curricular project
students with special needs engaged in
film-making and responded to the
challenge with evidence of a range of
positive learning behaviours, for example
a student with speech problems ‘once in
front of the camera his voice was very
clear. He became animated about his role
in the film.’ From creative challenge came
creative engagement.
Creative engagement
Creative engagement was enhanced
where learning was student-led, that is
where pupils had a sense of ownership of
outcomes and were given a choice in the
content and a voice in the expression of
their work. As CARA researchers put it,
they aimed to develop:
• ‘students as equal partners in the
process of the project’
• ‘the student voice as a vehicle for
change’
• ‘children’s confidence to take risks
through improvisation’
Students from years seven and nine in one
secondary school worked with architects
and an art teacher to design changes to
the reception area of their school. Students
‘designed their own questionnaires;
conducted interviews; collected information
using digital cameras, video, tape
recording, sketching and note taking’ in
researching personal ways of using the
space and in creating scaled models and
Power Point presentations of their designs.
The ‘piggy backing’ of ideas created a
momentum and an ‘inspirational spiral.’
Pupils responded better in activities where
there was room for them to experiment and
extend activity independently and where
they were encouraged to articulate
individual aims for their work. Research in
CARA projects shows that pupils, whether
in nursery or studying for A-levels, had a
wide variety of aims and purposes for their
creative work, for example it was observed
in one early years class that ‘Jane would
always approach the work with a narrative,
a story in her head ... another would always
think 3D, sourcing materials from
elsewhere in the nursery.’
There was evidence that using tools for
independent enquiry, such as cameras and
personal sketchbooks, enhanced pupil
motivation. Creative engagement seemed
more sustained where pupils were given
the chance to lead the learning. They were
most engaged in learning where they felt
‘ownership’ of the outcomes. Engagement
in the learning of young children was
higher when they were given time to
experiment and play. Increased levels of
concentration were reported when pupils
felt fully involved in creative activity, as in
a drama project in an infant school
focusing on under-achieving boys.
Pupil learning was also motivated by the
presence of ‘expert’ adults as coresearchers, for example on a museum
visit through ‘the adults’ active
documentation’ using camera and
sketchbook. One secondary school found
using whole day sessions enhanced
creative engagement of pupils. Work in
professional environments such as
architects’ offices ‘inspired the students to
imitate this professionalism.’ In another
project ‘making it real ... motivated the
children to be experimental and apply their
new knowledge and ideas.’ Encouraging
expression of ‘a range of learning styles
for example experiments, problem solving
and role play’ contributed to the
personalisation and the open-endedness
of projects.
A nursery child on a visit to Tate Modern
chose to draw a detailed picture of a light
sculpture by Michael Landy. Back at school
the children were keen to create their own
sculpture by attaching objects of their
choice to a wall using Velcro.
One project reported that ‘pupils can
become far more highly motivated,
confident and well-behaved while engaging
in musical creativity.’ Evidence from
parents provided feedback on children’s
growing confidence and creative activity at
home, such as ‘making up songs in
different languages ... encouraging you to
join in singing in rounds.’ There was
evidence that creative engagement
improved learning behaviour, for example
the use of multi-sensory creative activity
‘increased attention span and improved
general alertness and behaviour’ of project
children with profound special needs.
Engagement was also sustained through
re-visiting and reflecting on creative
processes and products.
13
Connecting and reflecting
Learning was enhanced when creative
connections extended beyond the
classroom. One creative partner helped
a school create ‘go home’ kits so that
creative work could be extended into the
home. Project schools made new
connections to a range of educational
sites, including museums and galleries
which enhanced creative experience and
opportunities for learning.
Positive effects on engagement in learning
were noted where pupils were given
opportunities ‘to deepen their relationship
with their creative work’ over time. In one
nursery school pupils sustained their
creative engagement by putting on a
website and revisiting and discussing it
‘weeks after their work was produced.’
One school found ‘this had more impact on
children valuing their work than just
reworking the actual pieces.’ This finding
‘highlighted the importance of listening to
children to understand what their work
meant to them and the direction the project
should take.’
Building in time for ‘reflective thinking’ had
positive benefits. Some projects
encouraged pupils to keep Creative
Journals or Learning Journals to extend
opportunities for reflection. One pupil
reported in his journal: ‘I learned you can
make music by using your feet, hands and
mouth. I also learned what imagination
was.’ Other projects reported that ‘journals
also created dialogue between children,
14
teacher and creative practitioner.’ One
project reported a child spending ‘45
minutes reporting in his Creative Journal,
discussing his memories of a music
session’.
Year three children engaged in a creative
science project on the life cycle of plants,
after scientific input, experiments,
discussion, plant designs and model
making had a ‘reflective session’ for
groups to reflect on their learning and for
others to question them. The children did
not enjoy the first week’s feedback
session, so they re-designed the next
feedback session to include ballot box
voting and chat show style feedback.
‘This was more popular and gave a real
sense of empowerment.’
In many projects pupils were encouraged
to reflect and engage in dialogue on
personal aims and purposes. These were
explored through questions such as:
• What are your aims for the work?
• Did they change during the process?
• What do you think of your aims now the
work is finished?
Several projects pointed to the cooperative
skills and dispositions developed through
shared creative endeavour. One project
used the involvement of artists to develop
concepts of citizenship with young children,
and reported that the vocabulary of
citizenship was much enriched by the end
of the project evidenced in children’s pre
and post-project reflections on ‘people they
see in their community’.
Conclusions
Project findings show that creative
practices engaged and motivated learners
by ‘incorporating preferred learning styles,
motivating them and giving them a voice’.
The impact on learning beyond the creative
activity was generally less clear. As one
project reported: ‘We could not
demonstrate in such a short time-scale that
these benefits consistently spilled over into
other subject areas ... nevertheless the
project did boost the confidence of many
students.’
Children in both mainstream and SEN
schools benefit from clearly focused
creative projects. In the domain of music
several projects reported that many low
achieving pupils could ‘produce highly
imaginative and creative musical
compositions.’ Another illustrated how ‘with
specific creative input children with severe
special needs can achieve above
expectations.’ A number of projects
reported that engagement in creative
activity such as drama, role-play and music
benefited children with low self-esteem and
had positive effects on their ‘well being and
confidence’.
Overall the greatest impact on pupil
learning was seen where learning was
personalised, where pupils were given
responsibility over creative processes and
outcomes, as one nursery child put it: ‘It’s
our creations’. Learning is enhanced where
students are given real creative challenge,
are creatively engaged in projects of which
they have some ownership, and are given
opportunities to make connections and
engage in reflective dialogue on purposes,
processes and outcomes. When these
opportunities are present there is good
evidence of growth in creative skills,
creative confidence and engagement in
learning.
There are however no quick fixes, the
habits of creative behaviour are only
embedded over time. As one researcher
put it: ‘a longer period of research is clearly
needed if pupil learning outcomes are to
achieve their potential.’
15
16
Jane Storr
Focus on adult learning
Reflections on adult learning and school development
Jane Storr has worked for over
thirty years in schools, Further
Education and Community
Education. She was Chief
Executive of West and North
Yorkshire Open College
Network for twelve years during
which time she gained national
recognition for the strength of
its peer-led Continuing
Professional Development
Programme and its commitment
to widening participation
creatively. She is now a freelance educational consultant.
I have learnt an enormous amount about the
children who took part on a much deeper level,
noticing and having time to appreciate and work with
(rather than against) certain individual’s character
traits and behaviours.
Teacher, Foxwood Foundation School, Nottingham
Introduction
Perhaps we should not be surprised when creative
teaching produces fresh ideas and new ways of
understanding the world of education. The adults who
were involved described not only the acquisition of
personal, professional and practical skills, but also
attitudinal change – sometimes based on profound
insights. Most of the writers explained that they were
new to research and struggled at times with their
research question and the relationship between aims,
evidence and findings. However this served to
highlight an interesting issue. The processes, skills and
attitudes required to undertake a coherent piece of
personalised action research in the classroom appear
broadly similar to those required by pupils when they
undertake a creative project. The skills of asking good
questions, planning, setting realistic goals, reflecting,
evaluating, adapting and developing ideas
underpinned both processes. The apparent
overlapping of processes and emotional responses
had the effect in many reports of emphasising an
organic relationship between what the adults were
learning and what the pupils were learning. A theme
explicitly repeated throughout almost all the reports,
regardless of age or context, was the revelatory nature
of ‘learning together’. Teachers, creative practitioners,
pupils, classroom assistants, parents and managers
were at various times and in various combinations
17
partners in learning. Many described how
this experience of personalised learning in
a context of close and supportive
collaboration had profoundly changed their
perception of teaching.
Learning is a journey best
undertaken in company
We don’t usually share our practice
enough with other people. Working
creatively gave us the opportunities to talk
about and express the work we were
doing, observe its originality and learn from
one another. Teacher, Heathfield Primary
and Nursery, Nottingham
The research projects provided time and
space for the adults to stand back, watch
and listen carefully to individual pupils and
then analyse what they were observing
with their peers. Working with a creative
partner, and often in small teams, provided
what for many participants was a unique
opportunity to test out and moderate
opinions and perceptions. Most reports
emphasised that the adult learning had
been a shared process of observation and
reflection rather than a simple skills
exchange between the partners. There
were, however, several examples cited of
teachers learning specific skills from the
creative practitioners such as using drama
games, movement, film making and
various new technologies. Some creative
practitioners in turn gained group
management skills and how to pitch an
activity at the right level as well as
developing the potential of their own art
form. Some reports also recorded what
adults had learnt from pupils. One project
summarised this in terms of a practical
appreciation of when to intervene and
when to enable pupils to learn from their
mistakes. Another described how through
close analysis they had learnt that peer
support itself helped independent thinking
in the children and that, if present, the
adult voice predominates.
Teachers described how they had gained
confidence and flexibility through working
with others and had also been in the
position to model good communication,
respect and team work for their pupils.
18
Democratic means
towards democratic ends
The adult does not have privileged
information and needs to establish
a culture of freedom and partnership.
Teacher, Merrivale Nursery School,
Nottingham
The language of the research projects
often reflected a deep engagement with
both the social purpose of education in
a democracy and the appropriate
pedagogical response. Adults found that
creative teaching and learning flourished
where democratic processes were
consciously being developed. Having
a voice in several projects meant regular
structured feedback sessions where pupils
could really influence the direction of the
project. Listening to others was a
fundamental theme underpinning pupils’
and teachers’ behaviour.
This led to much more conscious striving
towards egalitarian relationships. Teachers
felt empowered by being participants in
activities, learning alongside pupils. Pupils
were empowered by seeing their teachers
as co-learners. In one project the teacher
deliberately chose to work with dance
because it was an area in which he felt
particularly vulnerable. Teachers seem to
have discovered that by adopting a much
wider range of roles (apprentice, co-worker,
facilitator, learner) they could create more
democratic conditions in the classroom in
which the pupils’ confidence flourished and
they in turn developed more empathy and
sensitivity towards the pupils’ learning. Self
esteem and confidence appeared to grow
with team work for the pupils and the
adults alike. Another recurrent lesson
learnt was the need to establish clear
boundaries and simple structures in which
both adults and pupils could feel
emotionally secure to take risks and
experiment freely. The balance between
rights and responsibilities was echoed in
the language of freedom and constraint.
Self awareness and self
assessment
Pupils brought issues and ideas to light
not necessarily thought of by the adults.
The process (reflective practice) also
teaches you a great deal about yourself,
something which INSET days don’t
necessarily cater for.
Teacher, Mattishall Primary School, Norfolk
The research reports revealed how adult
emotional experience in the creative
classroom often mirrors and reflects pupils’
emotional experience. The exploration of
an emotional language around learning
appeared to increase the adults’ empathy
and sensitivity to the pupils’ experience
and their learning processes. One teacher
wanted to rename the creative practitioner
‘creative friend’; pupil evaluations
described how projects had enabled pupils
‘to see teachers as our friends’. Is the link
between creativity, friendship and learning
incidental or profound? The recurrent
range of features that adults identified as
supporting creativity skills also characterise
vibrant friendships; risk taking, freedom to
fail, overcoming fear of the unknown,
challenge, participation, pleasure, fun, play
and immersion. What also emerged for
many teachers was the need to spend
more time planning to help learning and to
resist the temptation of dominating the
classroom by teaching to pre determined
outcomes.
Adults discovered how self reflection and
self assessment are fundamental to both
personalised and creative learning. These
are identified and analysed within some of
the reports as complex processes for both
pupils and adults and it seems we have a
lot more to learn about the skills we need to
ensure they are effective and meaningful.
Reports repeatedly emphasised the
importance of concentrating on process to
focus on the experience of what is being
learnt (both negatively and positively)
rather than simply assessing the levels of
outcomes. One teacher described how
pupils found reflecting on their own
learning difficult and artificial unless it was
linked to an emotional response such as
when they were finding a process hard or
when they had experienced a
breakthrough.
Many teachers found it productive to
develop their own approach to assessment
for learning, which was based on
recognising different learning styles and
appropriate key moments in individual
progress. The transition from the
enthusiasm of ‘doing’ to aural reporting and
reflection was problematic for adults and
pupils and therefore issues of timing and
method had to be considered carefully.
There was an interesting example of how
personalised learning was used as a tool
to overcome difficulties where pupils were
given a series of ‘mission possible’
scenarios that directly related to the
challenges they were facing with their
individual animation projects.
Self assessment and becoming a
conscious learner also depended on the
quality of the dialogue and the subtlety of
the adult intervention to encourage the
growth of thinking skills. One to one
conversations (rather than one to one
attention) provided real insight into the
level and detail of pupils’ engagement and
learning, and several teachers commented
on how their conventional classroom
practice rarely allowed for purposeful
conversation. Others discovered that self
assessment needs time to be introduced
and fully explained and only then can it be
woven seamlessly into activities. Teachers
also recognised the limitation of ‘pupil
voice’ in formal evaluations. If the timing
was poor and the methods inappropriate,
pupil voice could be grossly misleading.
In many circumstances the adults came to
an understanding that recognising and
recording informal off-the-cuff remarks
provided more useful feedback of learning.
19
School developments
You can learn more from talking to one
old lady than from 100 worksheets.
Pupil, Manor CE School, York
It was the potential impact the projects
could have on their schools that was so
striking in the reports, rather than the
evidence of current impact. Many schools
described the effect that the wider school
environment and policy framework had on
the creative classroom, but could only hint
at how the CARA project in turn was
beginning to influence cross curricular
developments, school improvement plans
and CPD generally. Occasionally a school
responded dramatically to the research
evidence. For example one school revised
its literacy strategy and appointed the
creative teacher partner as the literacy
coordinator.
There were many interesting examples of
the way the creative projects opened the
curriculum up to the wider school and its
surrounding community. Parents were
being involved in supporting their pupils’
creativity through attending events and
performances; being encouraged to
observe progress through the use of
questionnaires and actually taking part in
creative workshops themselves.
The projects often appeared to have put
classroom assistants in new roles and this
allowed hidden skills and talents to emerge
as well as engendering more mutual
respect through learning together.
The dinner ladies in one school showed
particular interest in the project, indicating
perhaps that the creative school is an
inclusive rather than an exclusive
organisation. Half of the reports described
some kind of impact on the schools
Continuing Professional Development
programme. In some cases this simply
meant delivering a report to a staff
meeting, but in many cases the project
staff had run INSET days, and other staff
had come into observe sessions and been
involved in the evaluation and evidence
gathering. The support of the senior
staff was regularly mentioned as a key
success factor and one project discovered
the ‘danger’ of encouraging ‘the pupil
voice’ if this was not part of a coherent
school policy.
20
In almost all the primary schools, teachers
referred to SATs as a direct or indirect
constraint on their project. The need for
flexibility was considered paramount.
There was a general plea that freedom of
time, place and pace was required if
teachers were to be able to work in more
creative ways. This had organisational
implications for cross curricular
developments, timetabling, layout of the
classroom, and the independent use of
space outside the classroom.
Summary
The reports provided significant evidence
of adult learning and for teachers a real
sense of rejuvenated enthusiasm for their
profession. This chapter of the CARA story
suggests that adults flourish when they feel
the classroom is also a creative
environment for their own learning: pupils
of all ages also need friendly role models
and to experience their teachers as
creative learners.
Mike Cockett
Focus on partnership
How did the partnership aspect of the projects work?
Mike Cockett is a freelance
educational consultant currently
working on a variety of creative
projects with teachers and
children. He has been working
with CapeUK since 1997.
What is meant by partnership?
Many of the CARA project partnerships were newly
formed and were small scale, short term
arrangements. Others built on previous joint work or
CARA was part of a larger project with other sources
of funding. Although most projects involved a single
school and one creative partner, there were more
complex arrangements, including ‘consortium’ projects
where a number of schools and creative partners
worked together.
A partnership in the south west was based on an
existing cluster of eight first schools with an
established coordinator. The CARA project arose out of
a collaborative performance involving 356 pupils four
artists and 30 teachers and teaching assistants.
The performance took place in the theatre of a local
secondary school. The CARA part of the project
focused on a sample of children to see what they had
learnt from this process and how they could apply
what they had learnt by taking on the role of ‘director’
in working with younger children.
A partnership in East Anglia involved a dance
professional working with a key stage one class to
examine the effects of teaching Laban’s theory of effort
in dance on the language development of the pupils.
The reports on both these projects claim great benefits
from working in partnership. This is true of almost
every report – as was commented by a nursery school
in Birmingham, there were ‘real opportunities for in
depth dialogue between teacher and creative
practitioner’, and a school in Devon, ‘It was a hugely
successful partnership. Without too much setting up,
21
we found our allocated places in the
process and worked from there’.
However, partnerships do not arrive
preformed – they require work to develop:
• Trust and shared values
• Effective communications
• Mutual decision making through
discussion and negotiation
• A recognition and appreciation of the
experience and expertise of all partners
• An openness to change and a willingness
to learn from the other partners
Partnerships form between people.
Most project partnerships were between
teachers and individual creative
practitioners, although there were a few
larger organisations that took part.
For organisations to be effective in
partnerships they need designated people
who are committed to joint or team
working. Although the resources that large
organisations can provide are important,
individual personal relationships are crucial
for true partnership to work.
Although many good new partnerships
were described there were clear benefits
claimed in reports of working in established
partnerships, as noted at a school in
Wiltshire, ‘Having two different teaching
styles kept the topic fresh and interesting
for the children and the partners’.
The large consortium projects were
different in kind from the single school
projects. Some were based on established
links between schools with lines of
communication and a history of
cooperative work already in place. It is
unlikely that the CARA programme could
have worked successfully in these
22
consortia without local resources being
invested in management and
communications. They had the advantage
of commanding larger resources and could
bring together teams of people with a wide
range of skills and experience. One
consortium, for example, was able to
mount an exhibition in a local art gallery
rather than the more usual exhibition in
school. The downside was the extra time
and commitment required to manage the
programme and the potential for conflicts
of interest.
Who are the partners?
The CARA programme advised that a
partnership should include at least one
teacher and one creative partner who was
not a teacher. While most of the
partnerships in the CARA programme stuck
to that minimum many of them involved
other partners. Many internal partnerships
involved senior management, teaching
assistants and other adults associated with
the school. Significantly this was often
where the project was being used to
develop school policy and experience.
Some partnerships were with organisations
either wholly or partly dedicated to working
with schools. In some cases these
organisations were used as brokers,
bringing in other creative partners as the
need arose. Other partnerships included
parents and the local community though
there is some doubt about whether they
were full partners or simply used as a
resource. Finally there were projects
where the mentor was specifically named
as a partner, particularly when this
involved forming the action research
programme. This was highly valued by
the partnerships.
Can the pupils be partners?
In one partnership a major purpose of the
programme was to see if pupils could be
involved in key decision making. They
were told that they would interview and
choose the artist who would work with
them. The decision to do this was a mutual
one between the teacher and the lead
creative organisation involved. The pupils
were prepared for the interview process
and, somewhat to their surprise, actually
did interview a short list of three artists
identified by the lead creative partner.
They made their choice and it was
accepted. When reflecting on the process
both the lead partner and the teacher felt
that the pupils had made a ‘safe’ decision:
they chose an artist whose work they could
most easily understand. This raised the
question of whether this would always be
the case or whether it would be possible to
reach a point at which the pupils would
choose the unknown and the risky.
The message from this and a number of
other key projects is that pupils can learn
to become partners and perhaps more
importantly even the disengaged and
disaffected become fired up and motivated
by the process.
One previously disaffected pupil was asked
why he had become so involved. He said,
‘Because it makes a difference’.
Does action research aid
partnership formation?
Many of the projects, either directly or
indirectly, indicated that the action research
agenda actually helped in partnership
formation. This was for a number of reasons:
• they had the common experience of the
briefing seminars
• action research was new to all sides and
therefore provoked detailed discussion
• it demanded that both teachers and
creative partners had to focus on learning
outcomes, evidence gathering and
analysis
Although action research was central to all
projects, at least one felt that this was a
heavy load on top of forming a new
partnership.
What are the benefits of
partnership to the partners
themselves?
The most frequently quoted benefit was the
mutual learning which took place. There
are examples of:
• young people developing their skills,
changing their attitudes and increasing
their knowledge
• teachers developing their thinking and
their teaching skills
• creative partners deepening their thinking
about teaching and also their perception
of outreach work as a valid form of
artistic practice
• mentors sharpening their thinking on
research and working with teachers
This learning took place through:
• the process of negotiation and the
clarification of purposes and roles
• the observation and engagement in the
work of the other partners
• pupils, teachers and other partners
learning together as the project evolves
• being able to step back and observe
because there are extra pairs of eyes in
the classroom.
23
24
Sheila McGregor
Focus on project management
How did partnerships manage their projects?
Sheila McGregor has spent
much of her career in museums
and galleries, most recently as
Deputy Director of The New Art
Gallery, Walsall. As a freelance
curator, writer and project
manager, she now works
regularly in education. Between
2003 and 2004, she helped
coordinate a NESTA-funded
creative science project for
CapeUK, Creative Space.
Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares
about doing it right, or doing it better. John Updike
Expecting the unexpected
Anyone who has ever organised a project in a school
knows that it is never easy. According to classic project
management guidelines, you set clear aims and
objectives, establish a timetable, organise resources
and allocate roles and responsibilities. Project
management is presented as a linear process, with a
clear chain of actions leading logically to predicted
outcomes. But the reality of running a project is rarely
so straightforward, as many of those who took part in
CARA can testify.
Schools are highly organised places, but they are also
places where time and space are at a premium.
Many CARA participants felt they were up against the
clock. Primary schools, in particular, remarked on
the pressure of SATs, while secondary schools
frequently referred to timetabling difficulties and the
compartmentalisation of the curriculum. Several
reports noted the limitations imposed by lack of space:
it could be difficult to display ‘work in progress’, for
example. There were sometimes practical problems of
a more surprising nature too: pupils at a high school
in Norfolk created a mobile sculpture based on
Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences,
only to find that its moving parts kept triggering the
school burglar alarm!
25
Just as challenging were the unexpected
outcomes of the creative process itself.
A primary school in Barnstaple embarked
on a project called ‘The Outdoor
Classroom’ with the possibility of creating
a ‘land art’ installation in mind, but it soon
became clear that the children wanted to
tell stories instead. ‘Creating montages and
landscape art was not a motivational force
equivalent to making narrative films’, their
teacher explains. ‘We wanted to harness
the enthusiasm of the group so reorientated the project accordingly. From
now on the material we were collecting was
raw material from which to make a story.’
In some ways, the reflective ethos of the
CARA programme made it easier for those
running projects to accommodate change.
Time for regular review is normally
sidelined in the understandable rush to
‘deliver’. But the requirement placed on
CARA participants to analyse the impact
of activities on pupils meant that regular
reviews did take place, thereby ensuring
that the lessons of success and (just as
importantly) failure could be learned.
It became clear that effective project
management is less about rigidly carrying
out a plan than reacting constructively to
experience, whether good or bad.
26
Permission to experiment
The schools that took part in CARA all had
their own reasons for doing so. In some
cases, the impetus came from an individual
teacher, often fired with evangelical zeal.
Elsewhere, the decision to become
involved with CARA sprang from a genuine
whole-school commitment to creative
learning and teaching. Not suprisingly,
these background factors had a significant
impact on how projects were managed.
CARA reports often cite the support of the
Headteacher and senior management as a
crucial consideration. One secondary
school with a cross-curricular creative
learning policy allocated no fewer than 56
contact hours, most of them in curriculum
time, to a project involving 44 Year 8
Expressive Arts students in an exploration
of Shakespeare. With this generous
allocation of time, teachers and their
creative partners knew that they had a
license to experiment.
Where senior management support is not
securely in place, however, the decision to
experiment becomes a more risky
enterprise. One secondary school ran a
programme of drama and media activities
designed to give pupils a voice about
aspects of school life. Although on many
levels this worked well, it is by no means
clear that pupils’ views will have any
impact beyond the project itself. Learning
with ‘real life’ consequences may be a
desirable goal, but it depends vitally on the
‘permission’ of those in charge.
Sustainable change
Making space
In a culture of one-off projects, it can be
hard for schools to internalise what they
learn and put the lessons to good use.
The schools that appeared to have most
success in bringing about sustainable
change were those which took a broad view
of how their CARA programme should be
organised and resourced. Often, these were
the schools that made links with people and
places beyond the classroom, recognising in
the wider community an invaluable source
of information, stimulus and support.
The CARA programme as a whole
overwhelmingly demonstrates that if we
invest in teachers, then we invest in pupils
too. However, this kind of work can only
happen if we give it the space it really
needs. For obvious reasons perhaps,
primary schools found it easier than
secondaries to make time for action
research and relate it to a wider school
philosophy. It is heartening to note that the
‘skills framework’ for all learners aged 11 to
19 currently under development at the
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
identifies effective learners as ‘active
investigators’, ‘confident collaborators’,
‘practical self-managers’, ‘creative
contributors’ and ‘reflective learners’ –
characteristics which echo and corroborate
the findings of CARA. But will the review
also acknowledge the practical conditions
which enable these kind of learners to
flourish? We can only hope so.
For example, a primary school in Cannock
used CARA to strengthen its relationship
with the local library through a programme
of professional story-telling for every class
in the school, generating a 48% increase in
library membership by the end of the
project. In Sunderland, a community
primary school ran an after-school art class
for children and other family members,
including mothers, aunties and grannies,
and used trips to the local art gallery and
the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to expand the
participants’ experience of making art into
appreciation of other artists’ work.
Both projects culminated in celebratory
events involving the wider school
community. Although easily overlooked as
an optional extra, these moments of
celebration matter just as much as the
more mechanistic aspects of project
management. “If Mrs A had smiled any
wider her face would have split…”, said the
teacher at the Sunderland project, of one
of the adults taking part in the end-ofproject exhibition.
27
Anna Craft
Focus on action research
How effective was action research as professional development?
Anna Craft is Director of the
Open Creativity Centre which
she established in 2002 at The
Open University and holds a
visiting appointment at Harvard
University. She jointly coordinates the British Educational
Research Association Special
Interest Group, Creativity in
Education, and is Founding
Co-Editor of Thinking Skills and
Creativity. She is the author of
five books on creativity in
education and numerous
articles and courses for a variety
of audiences from classroom
assistants and teachers /
advisory staff, partners in
agencies working with schools,
parents and the general public,
as well as other researchers.
Working part-time at the Open
University she is a freelance
creativity consultant in the
remainder of her time.
Action research nurtures unity between practice and
research, through participatory research and enquiry
rooted in action. Action research has become an
increasingly common form of enquiry across the
professions, in many parts of the world.
In busy classrooms … reflection is often lost. Creating
time for this was important, as well as having the
research tool to record the findings.
Teacher, Wells next to the Sea Primary School, Norfolk
CARA offered partnerships a unique chance to
research their practice. Partnerships approached this
in varied ways, highlighting the multiple roles involved
for many participants. At times teachers, creative
partners and mentors found themselves learners,
facilitators, teachers, evaluators, even friends to one
another and to pupils. At times participants could be
wearing one or several ‘hats’. The role of researcher
was one of these – taking reflection a bit further.
The opportunity to watch other adults teach was
invaluable and reminded us how little we get to do
that … Team teaching and peer observation are simple
and powerful ways to improve practice. Doing it as an
action research project also forced us to reflect and
take notes.
Teacher, Pool Hayes Community School, West Midlands
Each project began from the assumption that whatever
the partnership team learned from their enquiry would
help them in developing practice. The idea of a ‘cycle’
was at the heart of their work: planning, carrying out,
analysing and reviewing practice. For most, this led
naturally to new plans, and the edge of a new cycle.
In keeping with the spirit of action research more
28
generally, partnerships experienced the
chance to promote reflective practice,
to foster professional development in new
ways, and many experienced a sense
of professional empowerment in supporting
curriculum development through
research.
As the action research dimension evolved
project teams faced challenges and
dilemmas as they reflected on evidence
from learner engagements. These are
summarised by these five questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What do we want to know?
Who’s involved and who does what?
What evidence do we need?
How do we analyse our evidence?
What next?
1. What do we want to know?
Getting the question right
Working out the question to ask and
staying with it turned out to be more
slippery than some partnerships expected!
Working together with a partner from
outside one’s own profession helped with
thinking about questions in new ways. This
included working with mentors. Sometimes
it was necessary to move from a really
broad question to something much smaller
to be able to investigate it effectively.
The role of the mentor was integral …
a lot of time was spent discussing and
narrowing down the enquiry to a single
question … to make sure that their enquiry
is at the forefront of [the partnership’s]
plans and that they are constantly thinking
of how they will collect and use the data.
Teacher, Sittingbourne Community
College, Kent
Changing the question
Sometimes, the emphasis of a question
shifted during the course of the enquiry.
Partnerships worked on remaining flexible
enough to recognise what might be the
most fruitful questions to prioritise.
2. Who’s involved, and who
does what?
Partners took on contrasting roles in some
projects, similar ones in others, in terms of
the action research, as well as in the
development of the learning opportunities.
Working out which pupils would be
involved was important. Most projects
involved small numbers of pupils (from
groups as small as four), enabling in-depth
exploration of the research questions.
Partnerships had to balance manageability
and feasibility of investigation with a wish
to offer opportunities to all. As one
partnership (focusing on developing
empathy in a minority culture through use
of creative processes) put it,
The forty children were selected by their
teachers using the criterion “which of your
pupils would most benefit from this fairly
challenging four day cross-curricular
project?” It was also essential to endorse
equal opportunity.
Teacher, Ferndown Upper School, Dorset
Those that tried to involve more found it to
be a challenge. An ambitious partnership
exploring the relationship in a secondary
school between creativity and a competence
based curriculum, focused on fourteen
subject areas and 200 year eight pupils.
The team undertook a large-scale project
and found it so useful they are hoping to run
it again next year, but did concede:
29
The research process would be much
easier if we had been able to focus on
a small group of learners.
Teacher, The Grove School, Shropshire
3. What evidence do we need?
Baselining
Most partnerships posed a question which
would involve them in looking at impact.
This meant trying to find a way of providing
baseline information about pupils’ learning.
Depending on the research question
baseline data varied widely. Sometimes
partnerships were drawn to quantitative
data (such as SATs results or standardized
test scores) for this, but often partnerships
documented the baseline through
questionnaires, observations, interviews
and other qualitative methods. Others still
documented rich and complex learning
without any formal baseline material,
perhaps enabling a broader view of pupils’
experiences, but with possible
consequences for addressing the research
question with any precision.
Documenting, reflecting and analysing
Lots of partnerships wanted to document
learning in varied ways, and so collected
a mix of evidence. Examples include
artefacts made by children, photos, video
and audio recordings, reflective diaries
kept by pupils and adults, questionnaires,
interviews, observational notes, schedules
capturing the incidence of certain learning
characteristics, parental response sheets,
focus groups and debriefing discussions,
as well as many innovative means of
capturing learner and other responses.
Learning to distinguish between
documenting the learning, reflecting on
it and analysing it, was something each
partnership grappled with. The time
needed increased as partnerships
moved towards analysis.
30
In many cases, some evidence was set
aside as a record of learning. This might
be simply kept as documentation, although
often partners reflected on it. Other
evidence, by contrast, was targeted for
analysis. Such decisions were made for
lots of reasons. For example, records of
learning sometimes offered a wider picture
than the original target question and so
provided background information. In other
cases, the complexity of evidence collected
demanded more time for analysis than was
available within the resources. To cope
with these and other issues, partnerships
often refined the data collection tools as
the project unfolded. As one partnership
(using blob sheets, spot checks, video
diaries and questionnaires with 250
students) put it:
If we were to do it again we would simplify
the research / enquiry methods.
Creative Practitioner, Garth Hill College,
Berkshire
Collecting evidence in the flow
Finding ways of collecting the evidence so
that it did not interrupt the flow of the
learning provided opportunities for
partnerships to think creatively about their
investigation. One response was to
achieve overlap between the actual project
and the investigation. For example, in one
project focusing on transition to secondary
school and exploration of individual and
group identity, pupils generated, through a
series of arts-based processes, their own
perspectives on this. Their views became
the major part of the data set.
4. How do we analyse our evidence?
CARA as possibility thinking
Time
Making time for analysis and reflection was
a condition of the grant for all partnerships.
But as talented practitioners with a passion
for stimulating creative learning, many
found it hard to find enough time to look at
all of the evidence they had collected.
Prioritising types of data and sharing
responsibilities helped some partnerships.
CARA gave teachers, creative partners,
mentors and pupils opportunities to work
and learn together. It achieved this in
innovative and reflective ways that
deepened their ownership and control in
creative learning. There was a tangible
sense of relevance for children and adults.
Innovation, relevance, control and
ownership are described in studies by
researchers Peter Woods and Bob Jeffrey
as important dimensions of creative
learning (Jeffrey, 2003, 2005, Woods,
1990, 2002)1.
Learning to analyse data
Learning how to interpret the evidence was
for many an apprenticeship. Mentors often
worked alongside partnerships in looking at
raw data, working out what sorts of themes
were evident within it, and to what degree.
Sometimes, unexpected outcomes in the
classroom fed in to the evidence and
therefore the analysis. In one project, a
circus skills intervention did not seem to
raise pupil engagement as hoped.
However, the organisation of pupils in very
small groups offered the partners good
opportunities for making sense of this
outcome.
Linking analysis to questions
Sometimes it was tempting to move away
from the original question to a new one.
Partnerships that did this used their
evidence to reflect on the evolved
question.
The reports show how CARA offered
opportunities for ‘possibility thinking’ in
learning opportunities and also in the
research which explored these. Possibility
thinking involves asking ‘what if?’ and
implies at its heart, engagement with
enquiry (Craft, 2001, 2005)2. CARA was an
opportunity for partnerships to both
problem find and problem solve. It provides
tangible examples of varied and often
inspirational collaborations in possibility
thinking, leading to new cycles of
innovation in creative learning.
5. What next?
Learning from action research involves
having an open mind to unexpected
outcomes. This includes being open to
innovation in ongoing teaching and
learning.
Teachers feel that Action Research
has helped them to focus on the nature
of creative thinking / learning and
encouraged them to take a different
approach in their teaching.
Teacher, Baxter College, Worcestershire
1 Jeffrey, Bob, ‘Creative learning and student
perspectives’, http://opencreativity.open.ac.uk
Last accessed 20th October 2005
Jeffrey, Bob, ‘Final Report of the Creative
Learning and Student Perspectives Research
Project (CLASP)’, A European Commission
Funded project through the Socrates
Programme, http://clasp.open.ac.uk
Last accessed 20th October 2005
Woods, Peter, ‘Teacher Skills and Strategies’.
Falmer Press, 1990
Woods, Peter, ‘Teaching and Learning in the New
Millennium’. In Sugrue, C., Day, D. (Eds),
‘Developing Teachers and Teaching Practice:
International Research Perspectives’.
RoutledgeFalmer, 2002
2 Craft, Anna, ‘Little c: creativity’ in Craft, Anna,
Jeffrey, Bob and Liebling, Mike (eds), Creativity
in Education, Continuum, 2001
Craft, Anna, ‘Creativity in schools: tensions and
dilemmas’, Routledge, 2005
31
Louise Comerford Boyes
A wider view: an external evaluation
What did the adults in the programme think of it?
Louise Comerford Boyes is a
Research Fellow at the Unit for
Educational Research and
Evaluation, University of
Bradford. Her own background
is one of fine art, psychology
and education. Academically,
her interests include exploring
the personal and social
development that is achievable
via artistic and creative
engagement, as well as the
use of in-depth qualitative
methodologies.
The Unit for Educational Research and Evaluation was
contracted by CapeUK to conduct an evaluation of
CARA from June 2005 to November 2005. This
involved collecting primary data via extensive in-depth
interviewing with a third of the partnerships, and using
tailor-made questionnaires with the remainder.
Throughout the project, the lead researcher was able
to enhance her understanding of the processes
partnerships were experiencing, and the themes and
issues arising, by being close to the data that CapeUK
itself collected. In addition, she also mentored three
partnerships, which was, again, invaluable in terms of
raising awareness and getting close to the scheme.
Creative practitioners and teachers palpably glowed
with how successful and enjoyable they felt their
projects had been! When choosing words to sum up
their project, all but of the one of the teachers used
either solely or mainly positive terms. Likewise, nearly
all creative practitioners were wholeheartedly upbeat.
Mentors, who necessarily came at projects from a
different perspective, were slightly more cautious in the
way they described the projects they mentored –
nonetheless, many of them were full of praise and
admiration.
One of the ways in which partnerships judged the
success of their projects was to look at how pupils
had benefited from engagement. Outcomes for and
impacts on pupils were described as ‘massive’, ‘really
positive’, ‘pupils loved the project’. In one instance,
the project was seen as ‘life-changing for some pupils’,
in another ‘there’s been a fundamental change in
individual pupils on a really deep level.’ Projects
helped pupils to grow in a wide variety of ways, not
only in terms of their development as creative
32
operators, but in helping them to
experience success in other areas such as
personal growth, social learning, enhanced
skills and academic achievement.
There was a very strong sense that
individual projects had a significant impact
on school communities and on personal
and professional development for the
adults who were involved. In particular,
teachers reflected that they regained a
sense of professional awareness and
commitment and that the project allowed
them to be surprised, enlightened and
inspired. Projects provided a refreshing
opportunity for teachers to re-engage (or in
some cases engage for the first time!) with
open ended work and see the advantages
of process rather than product. Very often
projects became a space where adults
could take their lead from pupils.
Creative practitioners thought the time and
space to be reflective about practice, and
the possible impacts of new ways of
working was very important – many of
them relished the chance to test out new
ideas and investigate their intuitions.
Mentors felt that they had gained further
insight into schools and young learners, an
appreciation of the role that creativity can
play and a deeper understanding of how to
provide research mentoring and
communicate clearly about research.
The benefits of partnership were very openly
celebrated; teachers and creative
practitioners reflected that they had enjoyed
positive, supportive and exciting professional
relationships. In particular, creative
practitioners enjoyed the chance to work
with teachers in terms of joint planning, cofacilitation, investigating and reflecting, rather
than merely ‘delivering’ to pupils. Many of
the professionals, including mentors, thought
the value of earmarking time to reflect
deeply and purposefully was extremely
important, as was the transfer of skills, the
value of different perspectives and learning
from genuinely shared experiences. Even
though three quarters of the partnerships in
the sample had been formed before the
CARA project, one of the outcomes was a
heightened interest in sustaining and
strengthening both these partnerships and
developing partnership work in general.
The majority of mentors joined the
programme after it had started. Mentors
were appointed mainly because their skills
and interests matched the needs of the
partnerships. This meant that for some,
they had to travel long distances to visit the
partnership but being in tune with the
philosophy of the project was seen as
more important than being local.
Mentors described their projects in very
positive terms. They were most effective
when they worked with their partnership
team as early as possible in the process
and were able to visit their schools
regularly. Although nearly all mentors were
happy with the role(s) they had played, as
the programme progressed it became
apparent that individuals interpreted the
role of the mentor differently. It was clear
that many mentors reflected long and hard
on the research that partnerships had
engaged with, and this raises some very
interesting questions as to how different
‘disciplines’ within education might open up
to each other. Some mentors felt that they
had learnt how to ‘communicate about
research more clearly’; others that they
had been successful in encouraging proper
reflective practice which, in turn, impacted
positively on school practices.
33
In terms of project leadership and
management there was some unreserved
praise for CapeUK as well as many
thoughtful ideas as to what would help
projects to be as successful as possible.
There was an important role to be played in
encouraging partnerships to be deeply
reflective about their projects and in this
way, CapeUK led the thinking which
shaped the scheme overall. Communication
around the project was generally seen as
good, and workshops were very much
appreciated for the opportunities they
allowed for networking, discussion and
sharing of project learning, as well as for
the practical support given. Some felt that
they would have liked their mentors on
board sooner and to have had more time
with them to establish a greater equality
and engagement in the project. Similarly,
partnerships wanted information and advice
as early as possible in the process,
particularly on the action research element.
Support from other professionals in the
school and a high degree of flexibility were
also key ingredients to project success.
Partnerships were clear that the project
had a dual focus: creative engagement and
action research. Overall, partnerships gave
greater emphasis to project delivery but all
were involved in data capture to a greater
or lesser extent. No-one felt their attempts
at action research were entirely
unsuccessful, many reflected that ‘given
the time again, there are aspects that we
would do differently’; this especially in
relation to trying to capture too much and
being unclear as to the difference between
data and description. Again, many
appreciated and benefited from the time
built into the project for reflection and
analysis, seeing this as something sadly
missing in the typical school year. One of
the ways in which mentors have been
successful has been in helping
partnerships keep a focus on the research
element, in the small number of cases
where this became secondary.
Partnerships also felt that an authentic
‘pupil voice’ came through clearly as they
collected their data.
The action research element of the CARA
programme was ambitious and demanding,
but most of the partnerships felt that being
stretched and challenged by the project
had been a valuable experience. There
was a definite sense that they had
experienced valuable learning curves and
reaped the benefits.
34
Conclusion
The research process
The rigorous, open-ended and in-depth
nature of the evaluation allowed
unanticipated outcomes, impacts and
reflections to come to light, as well as the
‘measurement’ of expected outcomes.
The different ways in which CARA projects
have yielded benefits for pupils,
professionals and schools are too
numerous and varied to list here, and this
perhaps says something about the value of
projects at the local and individual level.
There are general conclusions that can be
drawn out, and these are:
There were many variables that
contributed to differences between the
projects, and these variables (delivery
approaches; areas of impact; pupil age;
school type; whether rural, urban or inner
city; single or consortia partnerships and
geographical location in terms of Arts
Council England region) were used to
construct a complex typology from which to
draw the sample for in-depth interviews.
• that the CARA programme has been
extremely successful
• that there have been multiple positive
outcomes for, and impacts on, pupils and
adults
• that the scheme has been a good way of
providing CPD and that partnership
working has been both effective and
highly valued
• that steep learning curves and challenges
in terms of action research processes
have been successfully faced by a
collective group of practitioners, many of
whom were new to such processes.
Almost all of those involved have
enthusiastically celebrated what they have
been able to achieve for pupils, school
communities and themselves as
professionals. They are very keen to
develop and extend what they have
started, and some are already actively
pursuing the means to do this.
It says something about the enthusiasm
that people had for their project that so
many busy professionals (teachers,
creative practitioners and mentors) happily
make themselves available for interview in
the evaluation process. In total, seventy
eight in-depth interviews were completed,
meaning that detailed qualitative data was
collected from three quarters of the sample
approached. Without exception, all
individuals were very generous with their
time and in every case interviewees
volunteered extended personal reflections
in response to open-ended stimuli
questions.
Many thanked the researcher for the
opportunity to reflect deeply, and said they
had found it a very useful exercise: for
example, in terms of helping to pull
thoughts together for the final report and
as a means of re-visiting and sharing
project successes. Similarly, many
interviewees felt that, by reflecting at such
depth they were able to make connections
and appreciate aspects of their project that
had not occurred to them before.
The response rate to the tailor-made
questionnaires was exactly 50%, this is
a good response rate for a postal
questionnaire and yielded further
invaluable qualitative data. The findings
summarised above refer to interview and
questionnaire data together.
The full evaluation report
The full report is available on the Creative
Partnerships and CapeUK websites or as a
paper copy from CapeUK.
www.creative-partnerships.com/cara
35
For all CARA case studies visit
www.creative-partnerships.com/cara
Case studies
Case study 1
Developing language
Aubergines with rhythm
How does handling and talking about
artefacts support the development of
young children’s narrative skills?
School and project details
This project took place at Heartsease First
School in Norwich, an LEA school for 155
children aged 4-8 years old. The project
ran for ten separate days: roughly one day
each week over two terms. The structure of
each day of the project followed a set
pattern and at the end of each day the staff
met to reflect on the overall creative
process and how the children were
responding and then planned for the next
project day. The project was led by Etta
Geras (teacher) and Karl Foster (creative
partner), and supported by Mathilda
Joubert (mentor).
What happened?
To Abigail writing in work books is a chore,
but this has made writing fun and
something she wants to do. Parent
The teachers established a base line for
the children’s narrative skills and their
general developmental level using QCA
criteria. Additional qualitative and
quantitative evidence of learning was
gathered from parents and staff via
questionnaires. During the lifetime of the
project the use of a Target Board not only
36
supported the process of reflection,
negotiation, planning and dialogue with the
children about their learning, but it was
also was a valuable source of evidence.
The day started with a talking session led
by the creative practitioner using stimuli
from the Object Dialogue Box. This was a
stripped wooden cello case which held a
collection of modified ‘everyday’ items such
as an aubergine connected to stereo
headphones or a bicycle seat covered and
decorated with icing sugar. These objects
were both familiar and unfamiliar thereby
thwarting conventional understanding and
forcing everyone involved to look and think
again. Using the objects the creative
partner encouraged a question-led
narrative process rather than trying to elicit
specific answers. A writing session followed
when the children chose an artefact from
the Object Dialogue Box to create their
own aural or written narrative. Staff
assisted children who had difficulty writing
by recording their narratives or helping with
the scribing. In the afternoon there was a
making session when children created
artworks connected to an aspect of the
morning’s narrative. Examples of artwork
included houses made from bread and lit
with electrical circuits, panoramic
landscapes and puppets made from
wooden spoons. The children were
encouraged to connect and use their
experiences from all three activities.
What was achieved?
During the discussions the children
became more creative with their ideas and
use of vocabulary. At the end of the project
each child chose a story to redraft and
illustrate for a bound book. The class
elected an editorial panel and a bookbinder
came into school to show the children how
books were made. Children of all abilities
made significant progress in their narrative
skills and most made progress with story
writing skills. All of the children’s attitudes
to writing became more positive and their
enjoyment of their learning increased.
Children of all abilities benefited from the
project. The novelty of the stimulus
explored through dialogic learning had a
significant impact upon the motivation to
learn. However, the shift from an ‘answerled’ approach to teaching and learning, to
a more creative ‘question-led’ approach did
not happen instantly and both teachers and
pupils developed their skills over time.
The headteacher was so impressed with
the outcomes that the project will be
repeated with Year two pupils to help them
with their Key Stage one writing tasks and
the project teacher has been asked to take
over as Coordinator of Literacy for the
school.
I am sad it’s over because now we’ll have
to do proper work. Pupil
37
Case study 2
Developing thinking skills
Getting the beak to stick
Does creating 3D sculpture improve
independent thinking at Year two?
School and project details
Holbeach School is an LEA primary school
in Catford, South London where the project
was undertaken with one Year two class,
for one whole day each week for six
weeks. Underlying a whole school policy it
was the perception of the staff that for the
pupils’ learning to move forward they
needed to withdraw themselves from the
constant support of adults and become
independent thinkers. The project was led
by Chris Skelton (teacher) and Ross
Palmer (creative partner), and supported
by Mike Cockett (mentor).
What happened?
I done it, I done it! Pupil
The Creative Practitioner would introduce
a particular type of sculpture, for example
a large polar bear and the class would
discuss and question the design and
making process. He would then run
through the first few possible stages of the
manufacturing process. Pupils were free to
follow the artist’s design or invent their own
and get on with the manufacturing process.
The teacher used the digital and video
camera to record the two focus children on
whom most of the evidence was based.
At regular intervals the class was brought
together and interesting manufacturing
ideas were highlighted. This was to make
explicit to the children what “independent
thinking” was all about. The children filled
in blob sheets once or twice a day to
record their feelings at various times of the
manufacturing process. At the end of each
day there would be a whole-class review of
that day. The teacher and artist would
emphasise what being an independent
thinker entailed and highlight examples of
good practice that they had witnessed that
particular day.
The topics for the sculptures included masks,
body costume, moveable puppets and
towers and the children used cardboard of
various sizes and thickness, scissors, glue,
38
sellotape and a range of materials for
decorating the sculptures. The key was trying
to ensure the activities would enable the
pupils to display independent thinking without
making them too easy or too difficult. When
challenges were too great and there was no
tangible chance of success, the pupils
appeared far less tempted to think
independently and reverted to their learned
response of getting adult help very early on.
The markers that were chosen to highlight
independent learning included evidence
that the pupils were using peer support;
evidence of pupils overcoming problems
within their work without an adult solving
them for them and evidence of pupils being
reflective about how their thinking and
decision making had taken place. Through
studying two pupils in detail some useful
insights emerged, particularly about the
range and complexity of peer support.
The research findings were evidenced
mainly by qualitative data based on the two
focus children. By using short video clips,
audio recording and digital photographs
interactions were closely analysed and the
pupils were also encouraged to reflect on
what was happening. Baseline data was
compiled by experienced adults, who knew
the children well, suggesting the problem
– solving strategies that they thought
individual pupils would use before the
project and this was compared with what
they observed during the project.
What was achieved?
The amount of observed problem solving
that occurred increased during the project
and there was some evidence that pupils
were reflecting on their own learning,
particularly when they had an emotional
response to their work. However, there
appeared to be a considerable increase in
the amount of peer, rather than adult,
support pupils used.
We just need some more masking tape.
Just put a little bit there, we have to make
sure that it will stick properly.
One pupil helping another attach his beak
onto the mask
Case study 3
Developing personal
and social skills
Creativity conquers conflict
How does using drama, conflict
resolution and video workshops
promote self confidence, assertiveness
and listening skills?
School and project details
This project at Lea Valley Education
Support Centre in Hertfordshire involved a
ten week programme of half-day sessions
with excluded pupils aged 11-13.
The project was led by Emma Ghafur
(Director, Tiger Monkey), and Janet Bourne
(Deputy Head), with Jenny Leo (Teaching
Assistant) and Non Worrall (Mentor).
What happened?
I learned how to get on with people more,
and not be so aggressive. Pupil
The project was led by the creative
practitioner and supported by the deputy
head and a teaching assistant who were
working with small groups of up to six
pupils at any one time. This support
proved vital as it was often necessary to
take time out with individual pupils and
talk away from the group. Behaviour
management was crucial in this setting so
before the project the artist spent time
observing and understanding the school’s
policy and practice so that staff could all
agree how they were going to manage
the roles and responsibilities involved in
collaborative work.
The activities included a range of
awareness games, observing and
participating in a live performance, filming,
warm ups and wind downs. Role play was
used extensively to explore imaginary
situations. For example a ‘conflict carousel’
helped the pupils to understand the
complexities of a range of individual
attitudes and emotions within a given
conflict situation and there was also plenty
of opportunity to practise assertiveness
skills and saying ‘no’. This project
demanded a great deal from the adults as
well as the young people – the honesty,
openness and the willingness of everyone
to participate was vital.
A baseline for the research was
established through a ‘getting to know you
activity’ at the first meeting. A real life
conflict between two members of the group
provided concrete evidence of individual
starting points. The group used a giant
scrap book to record key moments in the
learning process through illustrations,
photos, notes and sound bites. This
freedom to create their own ways of
evidencing learning avoided disrupting the
momentum of the activities to reflect in
ways that pupils can perceive as boring
and artificial. Individuals fed back on their
own response to individual sessions using
smiley face charts and a final evaluation
form asked pupils to reflect on what they
had learnt and also what they thought their
teachers had learnt.
What was achieved?
All the young people who participated
gained confidence and communication
skills. Some felt that they could deal better
with conflict issues, including arguments
and how to set the scene to talk to
someone. All the young people improved
their listening skills. Staff enjoyed working
with students in practical sessions and
their own input helped to make the
programme successful, particularly through
the role plays where they took the part of
pupils, parents and police. This programme
was very structured. However – the team
learned that in essence the young people
flourished creatively when they took control
themselves, whether in a game or being
the video camera person or directing who
should be around when filming took place!
This helped me to explore and research
something that was “taking a risk” and do
it in a safe and supported environment.
Rather than be commissioned by a school
or authority we were embarking on an
educational journey together.
Creative practitioner
39
Case study 4
Developing creative behaviour
in young children
Silence and presence
How can adults’ attitudes encourage
children's creativity?
What happened?
There is no wrong weather, just wrong
clothing. Teacher
School and project details
This outdoor project was initiated by two
members of staff who worked in close
cooperation with the creative practitioner
and involved building dens with 3-4 year
olds from Merrivale Nursery, a small LEA
maintained nursery in Nottingham.
This project was incorporated within the
context of an already existing Forest
Schools project. The project was led by Liz
Magraw (Headteacher), Iain Dimmock
(creative partner), Lisa Hayes (teacher)
and supported by Catherine Burke
(mentor).
The creative practitioner was very familiar
to the children and had established
relationships with them over a period of
time. Having noticed that the children were
becoming very interested in building dens,
the staff planned a series of sessions to
integrate and develop the children’s ideas.
After each session there was a verbal
review, and field notes, photographs, video
recorded sessions and questionnaires were
used as evidence to support any findings.
At the beginning a small but diverse group
of children were selected to be the focus of
observation for the research.
Den building was used as a vehicle to
explore elements of creativity such as
problem solving and other aspects of
personal, social and emotional learning
including sharing, cooperation and
communication. But as the project
progressed, the focus of the analysis
extended to concentrate mainly on the
dynamics of the adult/child relationship.
Certain patterns began to emerge and
when adults established ‘age appropriate
equal status’ in relation to the children it
appeared to have a marked effect on the
children’s capacity to solve problems.
40
The substantial nature and scale of the
project enabled children’s learning to be
highly personalised based on their specific
interests and preferences. So whether it
was complex string knotting, using
secateurs safely, recognising and using
dock leaves for relieving nettle stings, or
organising the transportation of logs and
weaving ‘walls’, children discovered their
own motivation and sense of achievement.
The support of the adults was based on
only intervening when they perceived,
through close observation, that the child
had reached a moment in their task where
information or assistance was needed.
By working in this way, the staff discovered
that up to one third of each session was
spent in comfortable, purposeful silence
and this also reflected a growing
confidence in the freedom to fail. Adults
relinquished the urge to dominate and
recognised that the focus for most of the
learning takes place in the process rather
than the product.
The opportunity to be ‘outdoors’ is now
fully integrated throughout the day, rather
than being a timetabled activity. The staff
concluded that learning can take place
anywhere. This reinforced the staff’s
understanding that creativity is part of all
learning and of life, not just an element of
subjects such as music and art.
What was achieved?
The research produced evidence that
the attitude of the adults is key to how
successful and positive the child feels.
When adult intervention was based on
careful and skilful observation of the
individual child’s needs, it supported
children in realising their creativity. Equal
partnerships between adults and children
were seen to develop mutual respect and
create the space for everyone to learn.
Teachers discovered that the appropriate
use of silence and presence is a
fundamental teaching skill.
At the beginning we were still treading in
our comfort zone and were only gathering
evidence for what we knew already. Teacher
41
Case study 5
Developing subject knowledge
and understanding
Moody metals
Does film-making using role play and
personification enhance pupils’
understanding of abstract scientific
concepts?
School and project details
A science technician and filmmaker worked
together on this project at Didcot Girls’
School, an 11-18 Comprehensive in
Oxfordshire. The project was undertaken
by the school’s science club, and involved
2 members of staff and 20 pupils
predominantly from Year nine. Each
student spent about fifty hours on this
project, mostly after school and at
weekends. The project was led by Lynn
Nickerson (science club coordinator), Liz
Uglow (teacher), Joanna Woodward
(filmmaker), Alessandro Tricoli (scientist
and film maker) and supported by Non
Worrall (mentor).
What happened?
Shall we walk on in the reactivity series
order? Pupil
In consultation with the pupils, the topics
chosen were displacement reactions and
making salts. Teachers also considered the
42
underlying principles in these areas were
causing students the most difficulty in
grasping. All the girls were involved in the
brainstorming and decision making
processes to plan the direction of the film
and then two pupils volunteered to write
a script.
The group decided to personify the
different metals in the reactivity series.
Each pupil researched her metal and its
reactions which produced a large number
of facts about all the metals from which a
distinct ‘human’ personality had to be
created. In order for everyone to achieve
this each ‘metal’ was interviewed (by a
pupil) and asked questions like “Where
have you been recently?” “Who do you like
to bond with?” Using the information they
had, every metal was able to come up with
appropriate answers and, by doing this
together, everyone had an appreciation of
the chemistry of all the other metals.
Teachers intervened in this process as little
as possible, just listening in to make sure
that the science was all correct. Gold and
potassium, at the bottom and top of the
reactivity series, quickly grasped that they
would be the archetypal introvert and
extrovert. The other metals found their
Case study 6
Developing communication for
young people with complex needs
personalities through improvisation and
this encouraged genuine interest and
excitement in questioning complex
concepts which are normally just accepted.
Pupils were motivated to understand the
chemical behaviour of their metal in order
to make an effective film scene. The
students also saw the adults as learning,
making mistakes, and struggling to find
words to express an idea, rather than
knowing it all or having all the answers.
This fostered a climate of acceptance for
everyone in which to try new things and
learn together.
What was achieved?
Data for the research was established
through questionnaires to pupils and
teachers and analysing SATs, reflective
diaries and log books. At the end of the
project the overall scores and marks of
participating pupils, on the specific
questions relating to the chemistry of
metals, were analysed and compared to
those for the rest of their set.
Using improvisation and role play proved to
be a highly enjoyable and effective way for
pupils to communicate their knowledge and
understanding of chemistry. The idea of
portraying abstract concepts through
characters led to a deeper level of
questioning, particularly evident with high
ability pupils of all ages. Pupils from Set 2
did significantly better than their peers in
the SATs questions relating to the topics in
the film. The completed film also challenged
the perception of chemistry as boring and
for ‘boffs’ and the pupils involved in making
the film maintained an interest in science
beyond the life of the project. For example,
one year 9 pupil submitted a piece of
homework about rocks in the form of a
script for a TV show and one Year 11 pupil,
asked to produce a presentation to her
physics group, made a short video
documentary about the solar system.
As research partners, both of us were
learners, with different learning styles
and personalities. Our skills and interests
were complementary.
Teacher and creative practitioner
Moving moments
What is the impact of dance and
creative movement on communication
skills? In particular, the levels of
interaction, eye contact, physical
contact and negotiation of resources
and space?
School and project details
Foxwood Foundation School is an LEA
5-19 Special School in Nottingham.
Six pupils, all with a variety of complex
needs, took part in the project during the
Summer Term, every Wednesday morning
for 15 weeks. The project was led by Claire
Summers (teacher), Liz Clark (creative
partner) and supported by Sara Giddens
(mentor).
What happened?
By being absorbed in our own creative
movement, children have been more likely
to initiate interactions with us and this has
been the biggest surprise.
Teacher and creative practitioner
The sessions were planned and delivered
by the teacher and a dance artist working
collaboratively and at the end of every
session all the staff involved reviewed what
had happened and planned accordingly.
The creative artist developed the capacity
of the teaching staff to become absorbed in
their own creative movement and through
that to create an exciting environment for
the children to move within. For example
manipulating long strips of cloth created
unique spaces in which the children could
explore shapes and interact with each
other. The children’s capacity to learn was
inextricably linked to the adults capacity
(and willingness) to let go of the role of
director / teacher / leader and to discover the
joy of being a participant and to experience
their own creative expression. Throughout
the work the adults were encouraged not to
rely on speaking to the children but to use
their observational skills and their bodies as
tools to create a movement dialogue
through touch, sensation, sharing space,
making eye contact from a distance and
mirroring children’s movement in a
43
44
non-intrusive way sometimes using body
contact. The adults were encouraged to
model innovative and creative movement,
responding to the music and the props
themselves and becoming immersed in
the activity.
Each session followed the same structure.
The dance session took place after a
period of fresh air when the children were
starting anew. They were welcomed and
then sang a ‘hello song’ which was
followed by ‘shoes off’ music. Then the
same themed music was used each week
to activate a range of different movement
styles such as stretching, jumping, rolling
and shaking. Multi sensory props were
then brought in to help stimulate the
children’s imagination and desire to
communicate. The sessions always ended
with a period of relaxation followed by the
school’s ‘we have finished’ song.
What was achieved?
The team documented their research
findings using qualitative enquiry methods
such as staff diaries and the children were
also encouraged to draw in their books.
The team took notes from all staff meetings
and planning sessions. Staff also used a
video camera and a digital camera during
sessions which they could use to capture
moments that surprised or interested them.
An edited DVD of these interactions could
then be used both to aid reflection and
analysis, and as an additional source of
evidence. The staff used the detailed
statements of the individual children’s
educational needs as their base line data
for the research. At the beginning the
children who were involved in the project
very rarely actively engaged in creative
play with their peers and other children in
school and the majority had difficulty
making eye contact with children or adults.
The children found it very hard to share,
interact and build relationships and tended
towards repetitive verbal and behavioural
patterns. By the end of the project the
children displayed less repetitive,
obsessive and challenging behaviours.
They played spontaneously and
imaginatively, contradicting information on
their official statements of special needs.
The children also interacted with other
children and adults for reasons other than
to satisfy their basic needs. The staff, in
turn, grew in confidence and developed a
much deeper level of understanding of the
individual children. This has profoundly
challenged some of their previous
assumptions about teaching.
I copied Simon’s movements, mostly
waving and smiling, he made lots of eye
contact, smiling, shaking his legs in the air,
he always kept checking I was watching
and copying. Teacher
For all CARA case studies visit
www.creative-partnerships.com/cara
45
What next?
The programme has highlighted the
enthusiasm and excitement for reflective
partnership working with a creative focus
and has provided some rich material that
exemplifies it. Young people have enjoyed
the learning and the sense of ‘specialness’
that the projects have brought. Teachers
and creative practitioners have relished the
opportunity to discuss and reflect on their
own learning and that of their pupils and
have felt that it has helped them develop
their practice. Working on the programme
and with mentors, has given many
teachers a taste for further action research
or study. A number of schools have been
actively seeking funding to develop more
partnership working.
We envisage, or at least hope, that this
work will be taken forward in a number
of ways.
For those involved with the project, we
hope that:
• pupils have enjoyed their project and will
use the skills they have developed to
extend their learning;
• teachers will find more ways of building
creative teaching, learning and thinking
into their ongoing work, will promote it
with colleagues and will find ways of
enabling more creative partners to work
with them in schools;
• schools will actively and seriously
consider having creativity (including, but
not only, the arts) as a central plank to
their ethos and provision;
• creative partners will see the
development and facilitation of others’
creativity as a core part of their practice
and will actively seek to work with, rather
than for, schools.
For more information visit
www.creative-partnerships.com/cara
46
‘Building Creative Futures’ is one part of
the dissemination of CARA. We also intend
to present the findings to conferences in
different formats, send out summaries
electronically, support some partnerships to
promote their projects or gain professional
recognition for their work, and help people
access the individual project reports that
are available on the Creative Partnerships
website. Both Creative Partnerships and
CapeUK will build on the learning of CARA
in their wider work, advocating for creativity
at the heart of education.
CARA: The next chapter
We are delighted that this report only
describes the first phase of CARA – not the
end of it. During 2006, CapeUK will again
manage the programme for Creative
Partnerships using many of the lessons
learned during phase one. There will be a
framework to help structure the focuses of
the partnerships and these will have a
strong emphasis on understanding and
developing the key skills, attitudes and
approaches to creativity itself, rather than
its impact on other areas. Each ‘CARA 2’
partnership will start with an area of focus
and a few genuine questions to be
explored – the project ideas will flow from
this and will be designed as part of the
process, with support from their mentor.
We intend that some of the phase one
CARA partnerships will receive further
funding and a new cohort of partnerships
will also be developed. The application and
selection process will be announced in
January 2006.
To express interest or for further information
please contact [email protected] or call
0113 200 7079.
Links and references
CARA acknowlegements
Links
CapeUK would like to thank everyone who
took part in the CARA programme:
Arts Council England:
www.artscouncil.org.uk
CapeUK: www.capeuk.org
Creative Partnerships:
www.creative-partnerships.com
Learning and Teaching Scotland
www.ltscotland.org.uk/creativity/
Department for Education and Skills
www.dfes.gov.uk
Innovation Unit
www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/innovation-unit
Resources
Creative Partnerships:
www.creative-partnerships.com/resources/
National Advisory Committee on Creative
and Cultural Education: ‘All our Futures’
www.dfes.gov.uk/naccce
National College of School Leadership:
Developing Creativity for Learning in the
Primary Curriculum www.ncsl.org.uk
Ofsted: Expecting the Unexpected:
developing creativity in primary and
secondary schools www.ofsted.gov.uk
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority:
‘Creativity: Find it Promote it’
www.ncaction.org.uk/creativity
For more information, all case studies
and all project reports visit:
www.creative-partnerships.com/cara
Saxlingham Primary; Dereham St Nicholas
Junior; Mattishall Primary; City of Norwich;
Hevingham Primary; Wells next to the Sea
Primary; Framingham Earl High; Wells Park;
Beal High; Aylesham High; Colchester
Consortium of Schools; Heartsease First; Tim
Brook, Magic Lantern; Joy Haynes, Banyan
Theatre Company; Gordon Phillips, Norfolk
Multicultural Services; Laura Davison, Firstsite;
Ken Farquhar; Mark Hickson and Helen
Williams, PriorITas; Neil Smith; Jane Wells;
Jonathan Humphrey; Nic Percy; Jessica Perry;
Karl Foster; Hope Valley College; Belper;
Merrivale Nursery; Haywood EAZ; Djanogly
City Academy; Croft Infants; St Elizabeth’s
Catholic Primary; Preston Hedges Primary;
Clowne Infant and Nursery; Clowne Junior;
Elliott Durham; Heathfield Primary and
Nursery; Foxwood Foundation; Melbury
Primary; Cowbit St Mary’s Primary; David Bell,
High Peak Community Arts; Pippa Mansel and
George Mansel, Mansel Architects; Iain
Dimmock; Jay Pollitt; Sally Bowman, BBC;
Sally Lemsford; Richard Leigh; Katy
Doncaster; Erroll Mundle; Mark Curwood;
Elizabeth Clarke; Ali McDonald; Sian
Stammers; Nadya Monfinoli; Service Children’s
Education, Germany; Woodlane High;
Rotherhithe Primary; Willowfield; Heathbrook
Primary; Holbeach Primary; Lea Valley ESC;
Churchfield Primary; St William of York
Primary; Ethelred Nursery; John Ruskin
Primary; Sandy Lane Primary; Garth Hill
College; Christchurch Primary; High View
Primary; Sir James Barrie Primary; Gospel Oak
Primary; Effra Early Years Centre; Volker
Swanke; Cally Trench; Lizzy Lewis, SAPERE;
Joseph Ankrah, Dv8 Training Ltd; Marian
Carroll, Arts Catalyst; Emma Ghafur, Tiger
Monkey; Ross Palmer; Joe Robinson, Bright
Ideas; Zannie Fraser, Ripstop Productions;
Polly Sands, Once upon a Theatre Company;
Suzanna Prizeman and Judy Ovens, Our Hut;
Yasmeen Brett and Jamie Harden, Realeyes;
Egidio Newton, Young Music Explorers; Helen
Turner, The October Gallery; Martha Hardy;
Ryton Comprehensive; Cleveland Assessment
Unit; Valley Road Primary, Redcar and
Cleveland CLC; Wheatly Hill Primary; Stranton
Primary; Hebburn Comprehensive; St John’s
47
RC Comprehensive; West End First;
Wensleydale Middle; King Edwards VI;
Collingwood; Teesdale; Bewley Infants; Martin
Wilson, Tin Productions; Amanda Drago,
Dance City; Robert Soden; Anne Bromley;
Steve Tomlinson; Chris Madge; Alison Cooper;
Alina Trewitt, Tyneside Cinema; Imogen
Bostock, Tin Productions; Julie Ward and
Paddy Burton, Jack Drum Arts; Gemma
Cumming, Busy Ape Arts; John Quinn, ISIS
Arts; Cavendish Primary; Chorlton High;
Holland Moor Primary; Settlebeck High;
Summerhill Primary; Shawclough Primary;
Terry Caffrey; Ian McCormack; Olivia Heiser;
Ann Lackie, Plumbland Consulting Ltd;
Elizabeth Kearney; Dot Woods, M6 Theatre;
Didcot Girls; Farnham Royal CEC; Latchmere
Junior; Oakley Special; St Anselm’s RC;
Sittingbourne Community College; Joanna
Woodward; Theresa Jones, Wycombe Swan
Theatre; Amanda Russell; Karen Barnes; Tina
Carter, Expressive Feat Productions Ltd; The
Clarendon College; Downlands First; Ferndown
Upper; Orchard Vale; East Bridgewater; East
the Water Primary; Damers First; Mayfield
Special; Luckwell Primary; St Mary’s Catholic
Primary; St Vigor and St John Primary; St
Mary’s Primary; Woodborough Primary; Mark
Bishop, Big State Theatre; Norman Schamroth;
Razwan Ul-Haq; Tim Burton; Sue Squires, Blue
Moon Theatre Company; Jane Jobling; Tim
Laycock; Nina Simpson, Weapons of Sound;
Jhaya Esser; Sandy Wilderspin, The Study
Gallery; David Heys, Imerys Minerals; Bob
Ellis, Artworks; Tony Benge and Sue Ashby,
Early Interventions; Julieann Worrall-Hood;
Barrs Court Special; Springvale Primary;
Brearley Nursery; Holy Trinity Catholic
Secondary; Baxter College; Langley St
Leonards Primary; The High Arcal; St John
and St Monica RC; Rookery; Pool Hayes
Community; The Grove; Highters Heath;
Rachel Lambert; Lisa Westmorland, Cannock
Library; Claire Whitcombe; Alison Scott,
Moving Hands Theatre Company; John
Cocker, Telford County Council; Mandy Nicol;
Peter Cann; Nicky Thorpe; Katy Connor; Jo
Loki; Shirley Barre; Karen Osbourne; High
Storrs; Priory; Paddock Junior and Infant;
Hillcrest Primary; Fairfield; Hemsworth Arts and
Community College; Cathedral High; Holme
J & I; Highfield; Shirecliffe Junior; Manor CE;
Victoria Primary; Meadowfield Primary; Mount
48
Pleasant Primary; Pudsey Primrose Hill
Primary; Russell Skidmore; Charlie Barnes,
Dead Ernest Theatre; Jon Palmer; Kim Reuter,
Shabang! Theatre Adventures; Bob Davis, iCi
Arts; Eddie Copp, Momentum Dance; Jill
Hayfield; Rachel Dodd, Persistence Works;
Paul Birch, Riding Lights Theatre Company;
John Mee and Julie Robinson, Alive and
Kicking; Andy Burton, Satellite Arts; Pete Tidy,
Primary Colours; John Beresford, Penny Best,
Clare Biggs, Catherine Burke, Marian Carroll,
Tim Caulton, Jim Clark, Mike Cockett, Louise
Comerford-Boyes, Anna Craft, Zannah Doan,
Sally-Ann Donaldson, Sue Ellis, Dorothy
Faulkner, Martin Fautley, Howard Fisher,
Robert Fisher, Marilyn Fryer, Sara Giddens,
Sarah Hennessy, Vicki Jackson, Michael
Jarvis, Jill Jesson, Mathilda Joubert, Iris
Keating, Elaine King, Anna Ledgard, Karen
Littleton, Sally Manser, Robert Meadows,
Dorothy Miell, David Morgan, Chris Mortimer,
Gill Nicol, Jane Parker, Becky Parry, David
Price, Caroline Redmond, Kimberley Safford,
Parmjit Sagoo, Jonathan Savage, John
Schostak, Helen Taylor, Pauline Taylor,
Josephine Thorogood, Iona Towler-Evans,
Katie Venner, Non Worrall, Sue Young.
Text Pete McGuigan
Editing Alex Bradshaw, Pat Cochrane
Design Rob Bowden Design
www.robbowden.com. Printed on recycled paper.
Photography Hillcrest, Hemsworth, Paddock
and Mount Pleasant Schools photography by
Lizzie Coombes.
Additional photography by courtesy of the
projects at Belper School, Brearley Nursery,
Cavendish Community Primary, Ethelred
Nursery, Valley Road Community Primary,
Mount Pleasant, Settlebeck High, Melbury
Primary, Woodlane High School.
CapeUK
Creative Partnerships
Host Media Centre
21 Savile Mount
Leeds LS7 3HZ
Phone: 0113 200 7035
Fax: 0113 200 7038
Email: [email protected]
www.capeuk.org
14 Great Peter Street
London
SW1P 3NQ
Phone: 0845 300 6200
Fax: 020 7973 5139
www.creative-partnerships.com
Cover photography: Mount Pleasant School, Lizzie Coombes
Creative Partnerships
Creative Partnerships is a change
programme designed to build sustainable
relationships between schools, creative
individuals and organisations. It aims to
transform:
• the aspirations and achievements of
young people
• the approaches and attitudes of teachers
and schools
• the practices of creative individuals and
organisations
It encourages a focus on the development
of creativity in young people and
developing creative approaches to
teaching all aspects of the curriculum.
Creative Partnerships is currently working
intensively with over one thousand schools
in thirty six areas of significant economic
deprivation, and developing strategic
relationships with thousands more schools.
It is not an arts education programme,
rather creative practitioners work across
and beyond the curriculum, animating the
classroom, injecting new life into lessons
and finding new ways for teachers to teach
and young people to learn. Through the
development of projects of varying scales,
creative practitioners, teachers and young
people work together as equal partners to
place creativity at the heart of learning.
www.creative-partnerships.com
ISBN 0-9549324-4-7
CapeUK
CapeUK specialises in understanding and
promoting creativity through researchbased project work, consultancy and
professional development. They work with
policy makers, local authorities, higher
education, arts and community
organisations, school leaders, teachers,
creative practitioners and young people.
In the Creativity Action Research Awards
project, CapeUK worked closely with
Creative Partnerships, school partnerships,
mentors and advisers to develop and
manage a programme that supported a
wide range of innovative school-based
projects with a strong reflective ethos.
These were not only great learning
experiences for the young people who took
part: they were also significant professional
development opportunities for the teachers
and creative partners involved. For more
information contact [email protected]
Copies of this publication are available
from CapeUK. An electronic copy is
also available on the Creative
Partnerships website.
© Arts Council England and CapeUK,
December 2005