Thinking Differently: new ways of developing creative practice in educational settings

SUMMARY

Thinking Differently was initially conceived by Meadow Arts as a small scale project to explore how artists think, new ways of developing creative practice in educational settings and new ways of gathering evidence of the wider benefits of creativity. This report written by Simon Taylor MA, University of Worcester with Liz Elders MA and Dr Penny Hay, House of Imagination details the project and the tangible evidence of its impact.

In 2019 Meadow Arts were awarded funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Arts-Based Learning, Explore and Test Fund to undertake a partnership-based research project. The project asked the question - can high quality visual arts teaching in the classroom of SEND pupils at KS3 help to improve their self-confidence, educational attainment and communication skills?

We started in Autumn Term 2019 /Spring Term 2020 planning to deliver 20 weekly sessions (i.e. two-terms-worth) continuously in 3 partner schools. The Covid pandemic hit and our timeline ambitions were scuppered, but we never gave up and in the end the project wrapped in Summer Term 2021.

Covid made for a bumpy ride, having a particular disruptive affect on the atmosphere in the classroom when pupils did return to school, not least because many of their conditions (eg autism) made socialising, sharing, listening and expressing themselves all the more challenging after a long-time isolating at home.

We worked with some fabulous partners who helped us through. Not least artists Sally Harper (Sharper Arts) and Mark Riley (Creative States) and arts charity House of Imagination, who are amazing! Our evaluation partner University of Worcester, School of Education helped me to stay focused on the wider picture and authored the final report, supported by an evaluation mentor from Paul Hamlyn Foundation (Hannah Wilmot) and Dr Penny Hay and Liz Elders from House of Imagination.