Objectives
- To facilitate creative learning opportunities for children (5 to 16 years) in schools by transferring the knowledge of Artist Educators (writers, actors, dancers, musicians, visual artists) to a school context;
- To ensure the positive mental health of young people and reduce Early School Leaving by providing spaces for engagement with the creative arts in schools;
- To facilitate Artistic Educators to work productively in a range of school settings to provide creative learning opportunities for young people and to disseminate these practices to the full range of adults working with young people (teachers, leaders, teacher trainers, parents and carers);
- To help schools and teacher trainers embed the practice of Artist Educators throughout their curriculum;
- To make a contribution to wider policy and research discourses about creativity and education.
Activities
- Consultations with key target groups (Artist Educators, teachers, school leaders, teacher trainers, policy makers) to ensure their expertise, experiences and perspectives inform the development of the IOs in order to think about Artist Educator practice in schools and preservice teacher education;
- Workshops with Artist Educators in each partner county;
- Elaboration of two different Toolkits: one for Primary School Teachers and Leaders and one for Secondary School Teachers and Leaders.
- An iterative co-design and production process to create content for the Transnational Audio Guide, involving young people in a school context and other target groups and key stakeholders. The Guide will be translated from English into all partner languages;
- Co-design of the Educational Game for Teacher Trainers in school contexts with young people;
- Events in each country, including an International Conference in Leeds (UK), will take place to disseminate the IOs.
Resources
- Toolkit for Primary School Teachers and Leaders: it will provide contextual professional guidance on how to make meaningful links between curriculum areas in order to make learning real for young people.
- Toolkit for Secondary School Teachers and Leaders: it will provide contextual professional guidance on how to plan for progression in specific curriculum areas as well as how to make meaningful to other curriculum areas in order to make learning real for young people.
- Audio-visual Guide for Parents and Carers: Audio-visual guide to developing the creativity of young people for parents and carers. The main aim is to support parents and carers in developing the creative and imagination potentials of their children and, in doing so, supporting the work undertaken by Teacher-Artist Educators in school.
- Educational Game for Teacher Trainers and their Preservice Teachers: it will give teachers an immersive experience of Artistic Educators’ practices in order to promote opportunities for young people’s learning in a creative way and in doing so improve their emotional literacy and positive mental health.
Impact
- Increased positive mental health of young people in both primary and secondary school settings as a result of their creative engagement in learning;
- Number of young people leaving school early decreased;
- Awareness raised on how to re-engage young people in education and improve their wellbeing.
Partners
- LEEDS BECKETT UNIVERSITY (United Kingdom, coordinator)
- CESIE (Italy)
- HASKOLI ISLANDS (Iceland)
- WORLD UNIVERSITY SERVICE-OSTERREICHISCHES KOMITEE VEREIN (Austria)
- STIMMULI FOR SOCIAL CHANGE (Greece)
- Interplay Theatre Trust (United Kingdom)
- Young Arts Neukölln e.V. (Germany)
