The creative classroom: Tate Exchange x Lead Creative Schools Scheme

From now until 29 April, Tate Modern is showcasing the results of the Lead Creative Schools Scheme, a pioneering programme set up by the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Government through Tate Exchange – an experimental scheme giving organisations and individuals access to Tate spaces and resources in order to showcase the positive influence of arts and creativity in wider society. 

Linda Jane James: With the rapidly changing and fast-paced challenges facing young people in the future it will be important for them to have a voice in shaping the world, and to become more adaptable and able to work in a global or even universal context. Creativity offers a range of very important skills in a world where knowledge is no longer fixed nor futures secure.

Sophie Hadaway: The Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Government recognise that creativity develops a young person’s ability to question and make connections, and to grow the capacity for independent, critical thought. It can inspire young people with new ambition and confidence, challenging poverty of aspiration and breaking the cycle of deprivation caused by low educational achievement. Creativity can be the key that unlocks the door to further and higher education, and in time, for some, to employment. 

LJJ: The scheme has given teachers the opportunity to make time in their very busy schedules to see how even small 15-minute activities can make a difference; to test and try out ideas and see what works for them. Seeing them develop the confidence to take ownership of their own creativity and share with others within and outside of the school has been a highlight. Teachers are embedding fresh approaches into the existing curriculum.

Beth Walker: The scheme has given schools a window to develop creative practice which would not have been possible otherwise. Funding, otherwise unavailable, has enabled schools to put creativity at the forefront, with the hope that the practice learnt will continue into the future on the solid foundations that have been set up. 

BW: We are a successful-rated green rural secondary school and the Lead Creative Schools scheme has been an opportunity to develop creative teaching and learning, adding to our current pedagogy. Creative habits have been the focus of our work, and have formed the heart of our developing pupils’ creativity. The message we have been trying to embed is that creativity is in us all, and the habits can and should be used across all subjects.

LJJ: The school was keen to find ways of enriching the school experience; to be more than exams; a place for nurturing and challenging in inspiring ways. Pupils were able to take the lead and created a real buzz throughout the school when they became the facilitators of creative learning habits to younger students. The school has been great at developing a creative learning team, which includes pupil voice. Their strength has been in wanting to have the conversations, being prepared to take a risk and making all aspects of the project highly visible so that as many people as possible can share the learning. Taking small steps, constantly reflecting and refining has been at the heart of the approach we have taken.

LJJ: The corridor conversations in the school are something I have never experienced before on any other project. Teachers, pupils and the head teacher are keen to share how pupils are more enthusiastic in class and ask more questions. Teachers are enjoying learning more about their pupils and being able to be creative again.

BW: We have a strong core team of teachers who have been directly involved in the three years and are considered to be creative champions. At a whole-staff training session in Year 2 we were delighted with the positive response from all staff to what we are doing to promote creative teaching and learning and the positive benefit it can have on young people.

SH: Now more than ever young people need to be adaptable to change, capable of learning new skills throughout life and equipped to cope with new life scenarios. Advances in technology and globalisation have transformed the way we live and work. These changes have profound implications for what, and how, children and young people need to learn. Schools and teachers need more flexibility to respond to this environment, using a new curriculum which will promote high achievement and engage the interest of all children and young people to help them reach their potential. The new curriculum will bring this about by making learning more experience-based, the assessment of progress more developmental, and by giving teachers the flexibility to deliver in more creative ways that suit the learners they teach.

LJJ: We are modelling our carousel approach to creative teaching and teaching for creative learning. Teachers and practitioners will showcase an aspect of the project they use in class. This model came from year-one work, where lessons comprised a number of different workstations, with pupils taking the lead and then cascading to other students as part of their learning celebrations.

LJJ: We are looking forward to sharing our learning, trying it out in a new context and seeing how different points of view can help to further develop and shape our ideas and thinking to take the development of creative learning to the next stage.