Add to CAPE UK’s ongoing research into the nature and application of creativity

Although the NOF funding has not enabled us to carry out detailed research, the team of staff working on the programme have supported each other in a reflective network. The experiences in the out of school learning project confirm some of our research findings and gave some useful insights into what makes this work effective.

There are key conditions, which enable young people to be creative and which are effective in re-engaging young people who have not experienced success within the system. These have consistently emerged through our research and development activities.

• Working towards a real life outcome which has consequence
• High standards are driven by the context and by the involvement of industry level professionals or ‘infectious outsiders’
• The involvement of an external practitioner enables the teacher to shift role and develop a different relationship with the learner which allows them to observe different skills and aptitudes.
• Dialogue, debate and critique are encouraged
• A climate of experimentation, exploration and risk taking are developed as part of the learning process
• Resources outside the school are used.
• Young people become actively involved leading the learning of others

Through this NOF funded project we now have a greater awareness of who benefits from out of school hours activity.

There is evidence that children and young people who do not respond well to the formal structure of learning within the school take an active part in learning in informal settings. We also have growing evidence that some children and young people who may not achieve academically relate well to the open ended nature of creative work.

One school, which worked with a mixed group of gifted and talented and disengaged young people found that it was the latter group that took the lead in the creative project and responded best to the complex challenges.

“We put the two groups together because we thought that the disengaged pupils would learn from the gifted and talented group, but it was completely the other way round. Actually the gifted and talented group were a bit unsettled by the experience. It seemed that because they weren’t able to initially succeed they were disheartened, whereas the other group just got completely absorbed in what they were doing. "

Similarly a web designer working with a group of children on a half term project was ‘blown away’ by the work of the young people who were producing better and more imaginative work than the undergraduates he teaches at the local university!

Longer term inclusion of an ‘infectious outsider’ – the creative practitioner – with their ideas and experiences has provided a catalyst for creative teaching and learning in many of the out of school hours projects. Teachers, as well as young people have worked alongside the creative practitioners and learned new skills and new approaches to learning. One teacher asked a photographer to “teach him everything he knew about photography”! This has led to much more sustainable activity going forward as some activity will continue with a teacher or learning mentor now having the skills to run the out of school hours sessions themselves.

The creative practitioners bring industry level standards, which the young people recognise. This, combined with working towards a realistic and shared goal that had a perceived value, enhanced the experience for many young people. These included the completion of a rock garden, staging a show, broadcasting a radio programme and producing an animated film.

‘It makes sense. After all it’s far more motivating to be producing something for the outside world which your relatives and friends might see than just for assessment by a teacher ‘

The introduction of regular networking meetings has led to collaboration and exchanges of ideas between schools.

NOF funding did not allow for much planning and development time and so the project relied on the schools to allow the teachers the time to liaise with CAPE and to plan and organise the out of school hours activities. There’s overwhelming evidence to suggest that it’s important in creative partnerships to resist the urge to rush into project activity. Time spent planning and reviewing the programmes is a good investment leading to programmes with depth and potential. We found that the activities in schools where teachers were allocated time to spend on the planning and networking were more likely to be sustained.

It is a sign of the success of the NOF programme that many of the partner schools are planning to carry on this work into future years using their own funding.