Engaging Places ran three regional workshops for the network in January. The Yorkshire and Humber workshop took place at Leeds Town Hall, the South East workshop took place at the Lightbox Gallery in Woking and the London workshop took place at Hampton Court Palace.
The Engaging Places workshop for the South East region took place at The Lightbox in Woking © Alys Tomlinson
Inspiring activities
A key part of each of the workshops was a talk by a guest expert, followed by a QCA-led activity designed to inspire the participants to think about the education potential of the workshop venues. This activity highlighted the huge variety of educational projects that can be designed using the same space.
In Leeds, John Thorp, a civic architect at Leeds City Council, spoke passionately about the planning of Leeds Millennium Square. A member of Hampton Court Palace’s education team took the participants on a theatrical tour of two rooms in the Baroque Palace, while in Woking, Julia Barfield of Marks Barfield Architects spoke about the design process for the innovative and contemporary Lightbox Gallery.
The aim of the activity was to give teachers the confidence to tailor their learning experience to meet their teaching and learning objectives – rather than to necessarily take the lesson ideas offered by the venue.
The Engaging Places workshop for the London region took place at Hampton Court © Alys Tomlinson
Reviewing projects
The regional workshops provided an opportunity to review and flesh out projects, share progress and focus future plans. Participants were given the opportunity to act as ‘critical friends’ for one another in order to crystallise and clarify their ideas. The co-development aspect of the Engaging Places network is fundamental, with participants working towards creating ‘next practice’ examples of teaching and learning through buildings and places.
The teachers and learning providers were also taken through the QCA aims of the curriculum and shown how to apply these aims to their own project development. The participants are currently completing their projects in school and feeding their curriculum development plans through to the QCA. Read about the projects being developed in the Engaging Places network.
Each day concluded with a discussion of the final stage in the workshop process - the Time to Engage celebration event, which will take place at the Victoria & Albert Museum on 24 March 2009.
Participants at the South East workshop discussing ideas and projects © Alys Tomlinson
Future potential of an Engaging Places network
This collaborative group of teachers and learning providers has the potential to develop into a national network over the next three years. Members of the network are committed to using the built environment to develop and improve the curriculum for the benefit of every young person.
