How creativity and culture is changing young lives
Published Monday, June 1, 2009 - 18:46
The working world is changing at a rapid pace; technology is always advancing and the economic situation is in a state of flux â?? how do we know what skills will be required in 10 or even 20 years time?
No one has all the answers but at Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE), we believe that creativity is the key to giving young people the ability to question, make connections, innovate, problem solve, communicate, collaborate and reflect critically. These skills enrich the lives of young people while meeting the requirements of contemporary employers. Above all, creative learning empowers young people to imagine how the world could be different and gives them the confidence and motivation to make positive change happen.
In 2002, the government’s flagship creative learning programme, Creative Partnerships was launched. Managed nationally by CCE, the programme is designed to develop the creative skills of young people across England, raising their aspirations, achievements and life chances. It does so by fostering innovative, long-term partnerships between schools and a range of creative professionals.
We have now worked with nearly 5,000 schools from Key Stages 1 to 4 across England, witnessing raised attainment levels and improved school performance. All schools that Creative Partnerships work with belong to one of three distinct programmes with a common national application criteria and process. These programmes are:
· Schools of Creativity – schools with a responsibility to develop their creative learning practice while sharing their learning with a network of other schools
· Change Schools – schools whose development is supported by Creative Partnerships for three years to bring about significant changes in their ethos, ambition and achievement
· Enquiry Schools – schools that work with Creative Partnerships for a year on resolving an identified issue within the school.
“Creative Partnerships: Changing Young Lives”, a new report published by CCE, confirms that the programme is having an impact on the education and lives of young people. The Changing Young Lives report is a compilation of independent research reports and case studies investigating the impact of Creative Partnerships. Since its launch in 2002, Creative Partnerships has completed 8,520 projects working with over 940,000 young people, involving 6,483 creative organisations, over 54,000 parents and engaging over 90,000 teachers in local projects.
Research highlights from Changing Young Lives include:
· Young people who have attended Creative Partnerships activities made, on average the equivalent of 2.5 grades better progress in GCSE (NFER)
· Creative Partnerships was shown to be associated with an educationally significant reduction in total absence rates in primary schools (NFER)
· Around 70% of the programme’s funding goes directly to the practitioners and over half of those working with Creative Partnerships have developed other work and employed other professionals as a result. Thus having a positive impact on the economy (Burns Owen Partnership)
Ofsted reported evidence of significant improvements in basic learning skills in learners who participated in the programme. 70% of secondary headteachers surveyed in an independent study by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) also reported an improvement in pupil behaviour and 87% reported an improvement in pupil’s motivation. The impact on teachers was also considerable with 94% of headteachers reporting an improvement in the teaching skills of their teaching staff.
It has also been found that a key factor in a child’s academic achievement is the degree to which parents are involved in their education. The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education report into Creative Partnerships found that when creative projects in school are sustained, parents feel they understand more about what their children are learning at school. Creative learning engages children who then happily describe these experiences at home thus involving their parents in their education.
The Changing Young Lives report gives an insight into how Creative Partnerships works in individual schools through a series of case studies. East Herrington Primary School on the outskirts of Sunderland is a large mixed school for children aged 4-11 years. The school applied to the Creative Partnerships Enquiry School programme to improve its teaching environment and learning spaces. They also recognized the importance of the ‘pupil voice’ and linking this consultation with long-term school development. This particular project involved establishing a school council and developing a friendship garden. The school reported that pupils gained invaluable team building, planning, problem-solving and discussion skills as a result of the project with teachers also realizing the importance of the pupil role and its responsibility.
It is an exciting time for the Creative Partnerships programme – being part of CCE opens up new opportunities to inspire more teachers and young people. In July 2009, we will be announcing the new Schools of Creativity for 2009 and we are looking forward to increasing the reach of Creative Partnerships and helping more schools to improve attainment through creative learning. Our vision for the future is for children’s creativity to be encouraged and nurtured in and out of school and for all children to experience and access a diverse range of cultural activity because these opportunities can have an enormous impact on their life chances.
“Creative Partnerships: Changing Young Lives” is available to download at: www.creativitycultureeducation.org/research-impact/showcaseresearch/changing-young-lives-research,65,AR.html
For more information on Creative Partnerships visit: www.creative-partnerships.com and to find out more about the new national charity Creativity, Culture and Education visit: www.creativitycultureeducation.org
