On 14 July thirty-five representatives from the cultural and education sectors came together at Wolverhampton Art Gallery to debate the future of cultural education.
Engaging Places Network showcase at Wolverhampton Art Gallery © CABE
Celebrating the best
To inform the debate a panel of students from primary and secondary schools in the West Midlands described their most memorable cultural experiences.
Jessica and Raneka from St Bartholomew’s CE Primary School in Coventry spoke enthusiastically about a science fair they had attended, organised by a local secondary school, and described their delight at carrying out a range of experiments including melting coloured candles to create new colours.
Dominic from Madeley Academy talked eloquently about the special experience of making a film for Stories in Stone, an Engaging Places project. He said that going outside the classroom and learning in the real world “burnt things into their memories first-hand so they didn’t have to memorise things from books” .
Isabella from Wrekin View Primary School spoke about the creative freedom she felt working on the Schools for the Future project, and beautifully described her two favourite ideas: sugar paper lily pads that you write your worries on with the word ‘relax’ in the middle – when you put them in water the petals open pushing the worries away – and having a ‘safe room’ in schools where you can go if you’re distressed and need time by yourself.
Cultural education in practice
Deputy Headteacher Brian Close from St Bartholomew’s CE Primary School told the story of his exceptional Engaging Places project Divine Inspiration. Presenting with three of his pupils, he described the way that inexpensive learning outside the classroom (£8 for ten visits!) opened his pupils’ eyes to a side of Coventry they had never noticed before. The project positively impacted on pupils’ behaviour because they were so absorbed in their work, and academic achievement also improved with the pupils making above-average progress in English and maths.
Brian Close, Deputy Head at St Bartholomew’s CE Primary School in Binley © CABE
Debating the future of cultural education
The debate was led by an expert panel: Corinne Miller, Head of arts and museums at Wolverhampton City Council; Matt Bell, Director of education and external affairs at CABE; and Emma Hawthorne, Community learning and volunteering manager at National Trust West Midlands.
Together with the delegates they identified five actions they thought should now be taken to ensure that more young people have opportunities to engage in cultural activity, bearing in mind the current fiscal and policy climate:
- Map cultural education
Use the data we have to map where cultural education is happening, so we can identify who is still unengaged and use data on areas of deprivation to identify who needs it most. Call for a longitudinal study on young people who have received good cultural education so we can prove the long term benefits to society. - Embrace low tech media
Encourage use of inexpensive media, for example drawing materials rather than IT equipment. Activities such as water colouring are easy for beginners of all ages to pick up, and can be used anywhere. Using art materials to explore a subject gives people a renewed perspective. - Work with local people
Enable schools and their local community to work together so they can utilize local knowledge and expertise. Encourage peer-to-peer learning, particularly within the family unit, to reach new audiences. Work in partnership across the cultural and education sectors so that resources and knowledge are pooled. - Get the message to schools
Make it easy for schools to find out what local resources are available to them and enable them to work closely with these providers to re-design their curriculum so that cultural education becomes an integral part of what they do, rather than an extra. - Make funding changes
Change the grant funding system so that it isn’t so project specific, allowing more sustainable programmes of work rather than big one-hit wonders.
Like to take this further?
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