Craft = Skills For Life by Craftspace

action research pilot project 2009: report

“Craft=Skills for Life focused specifically on addressing weaknesses identified in the report Drawing together: art, craft and design in schools 2005/08 while building on effective practice. The project demonstrated the value of: •

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starting out with clear and well-informed aims strong partnerships based on a shared understanding about the unique contribution of each partner inspired, supportive but robust project management, showing sensitivity to partners existing priorities & initiatives involving all in evaluating the process and outcome for different individuals and organisations

Craft=Skills for Life is an excellent example of best practice showing how improvement and inclusion can be addressed efficiently but enjoyably. “ Ian Middleton Her Majesty’s Inspector National Adviser for art, craft and design education, Ofsted

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Index Pages 4—7

Introduction

Page 4 Page 6 Page 7

Context Aims and Objectives Educational partners

Pages 8-27

Evidence of findings from the project aims

Pages 8-13

Prove the importance and validity of strengthening the teaching of craft skills in our secondary schools and explore its potential to deliver learning across multiple subject platforms.

Pages 14-17

Introduce pupils to a range of making skills and allow them to engage with materials. The intention was to ignite an interest in teenage pupils to learn a skill, inspiring a desire to produce quality and obtain the skills to deliver it.

Pages 18-21

Develop a “product” or objects as a vehicle to explore enterprise and industry. By combining the creative process with the realities of the economy, the residencies offered pupils access to different kinds of mechanisms for learning, creating and sharing.

Pages 22-27

Discover if practical learning had any effects on how pupils learn and if it had an influence on their attitude and achievement.

Pages 28-29

Conclusion

Pages 30-31

Future Recommendations

Craft=Skills for Life was a year long pilot project of contemporary craft residencies with three different groups of pupils in partnership with the Ishango Science Club, Wheelers Lane Technology College and Braidwood School for the Deaf. Funded by Birmingham City Council through its annual programme - Creative Futures Awards, it was Craftspace’s major action research project for 2009. Context At a point in time when there is a perceived “feminization” of crafts, an aspiration of this project was to begin the process of redressing this issue, while tackling the growing problem of underachieving boys within our schools. While delivering previous projects in both formal and informal education, whenever Craftspace has placed male makers within an educational setting, there has been a noticeable positive impact for and engagement of male pupils.

“The 2009 Ofsted report Drawing together: art, craft and design in schools 2005/08 focused on the wide gap in achievement between boys and girls. At the start of the survey, of the pupils taking a GCSE in the subject 20% more girls achieved an A*-C than boys, the widest gap of any subject. Whilst the gap overall narrowed slowly to 17% in 2008, this is in a context of continuous improvement for girls.” Ian Middleton Her Majesty’s Inspector National Adviser for art, craft and design education, Ofsted

“It is particularly good that the underachievement of boys is being addressed through this project. It has been clear for some time that the changes to the education system in England, with a greater focus on digital technology, paper exercises and academic achievement has been more advantageous to girls. It is a huge generalisation, but boys need to be engaged with materials and to use their physicality to develop properly.” David Jones, CEO to the Council for Subject Associations

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Richard Sennett, a sociologist from the London School of Economics made observations in his book ‘The Craftsman’ that were very pertinent to this project and underpinned the rationale for its development. He stated,

“craftwork teaches us that making errors and overcoming resistance is not only the way to improve but also the way to secure deep inner satisfaction, to earn respect and self worth.” These residencies may lead to some of the participants aspiring to become makers, but in line with Sennett’s thinking, it is the same skill set which can be used in what could be seen as modern day craftwork. Lab technicians, computer programmers and engineers all share a common understanding with the traditional crafts, dedication to the time taken to gain their skills and the process of learning through their mistakes.

Ian Middleton opening the exhibition at The House of Commons, January 2010

Within his recent report Ian Middleton also observed that,

“When evaluating pupils’ ‘achievement and standards’ inspectors noted that where pupils engaged with contemporary practice their grasp of key concepts, including creativity, was evident (Para.24). The best results involved strong personal development, skills highly valued by employers (Para.21) including: working independently, sustaining interest, managing a range of tasks and meeting deadlines.”

The aims were to; 1. Prove the importance and validity of strengthening the teaching of craft skills in our secondary schools and explore its potential to deliver learning across multiple subject areas. 2. Introduce pupils to a range of making skills and allow them to engage with materials. The intention was to ignite an interest in teenage pupils to learn a skill, inspiring a desire to produce quality and obtain the skills to deliver it. 3. Develop a â&#x20AC;&#x153;productâ&#x20AC;? or objects as a vehicle to explore enterprise and industry. By combining the creative process with the realities of the economy, the residencies offered pupils access to different kinds of mechanisms for learning, creating and sharing. 4. Discover if practical learning had any effects on how pupils learn and if it had an influence on their attitude and achievement.

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Educational Partners Background •

The Ishango Science Club is a vibrant out of school organisation, committed to raising the educational achievements of young African Caribbean people. Jeweller Will Evans worked with this class of gifted and talented pupils to discover the value craft making can bring to science and maths lessons.

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Braidwood School for the Deaf and contemporary felt maker Jamie Lewis worked with a mixed ability class of year seven pupils. The school was interested in finding innovative ways to develop their pupils’ skills as independent thinkers, creative enquirers and team workers as part of the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills initiative. This year group would normally be split into two classes. The pupils in class B had a number of special needs, causing individuals to have lower literacy and academic skills.

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Wheelers Lane Technology College focused on craft to discover if learning practical making skills could help the behavior of boys who had become disenchanted with school. Already following a programme to develop their Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL), this small group of year seven and eight boys worked with ceramicist Andrew Tanner to explore if a ‘hands on’ approach to learning could help them re-engage with lessons and school life.

All three groups began by taking part in a business enterprise workshop to help them gain an understanding of products, pricing and market forces. Each class then visited different cultural institutions for inspiration; the jewellery displays at the V&A, The Design Museum and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Pupils then went on to experience a number of technique workshops in their chosen craft before embarking on designing and making their “products”. Pupils and staff from Braidwood School market tested their felt lighting range on members of the public as part of the Moseley Arts Market. Statistics 3 4 46 4 3

Educational partners Makers Participants Teachers Families

2 4 55 2 1

Learning leaders BSL interpreters Workshop sessions Sharing Celebrations Member of Parliament

Evidence of findings from the project aims. 1.

Prove the importance and validity of strengthening the teaching of craft skills in secondary schools and explore its potential to deliver learning across multiple subject platforms.

Jeweller Will Evans worked with this class of gifted and talented pupils from The Ishango Science Club to discover the value craft making can bring to science and maths lessons. The Ishango teaching team supported this aspect of the project and actively worked with Will to extract scientific and mathematical opportunities wherever possible.

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This support remained throughout the project, the Ishango team showed a positive and inquisitive approach to this experimental style.

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The first practical session involved heating silver in order to manipulate it into a band.

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This activity instigated conversations about the nature of metals and what effect heating and planishing had upon the molecules in the metal.

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A second topic of conversation was started through the observation of oxidisation when soldering the joint. This naturally developed into a discussion about the nature of sulphuric acid, the active ingredient in the “pickle”, used to clean off the oxide.

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This led to Will casually talking about how to remove fire stain from the surface of the silver, prompting yet further scientific conversation about alloys – what are they? – why add copper to silver? – and why does it raise to the surface of the metal when heated?

“I think the workshops had the right balance. The learning process was broken down into simple terms that the pupils could understand. I still keep hearing them using the terms several months after the project. We created a key word bank of all the words and tools they have used over the life of the project. We divided it into Maths, Science, Tools and Skills and we have found this has worked really well in helping them to retain the knowledge. The practical sessions were fundamental in helping the pupils retain the scientific learning. By remembering the activity, they associated the science and maths facts with the practical process. It contained the two methods of learning –seeing and doing- the repeated use of a process for a purpose proved very effective.” Jerome Watson, Teacher Ishango Science Club.

Will also observed that the retention of information seemed higher when the learning was linked to practical exploration. The pupils understanding of oxidisation, fire stain and acids was much better than their understanding of some of the maths areas which they covered in the theoretical design sessions. This should be viewed in the context that the processes where oxidisation and fire stain occurred were repeated throughout the project, allowing opportunities for the teaching staff to randomly ask pupils questions, reminding them of the chemical reactions they were witnessing.

“I was talking to a lad just now and he said, ‘I thought this was going to be all about making jewellery, but there is so much more because we have learned about maths and science, we are drawing and designing and we are also going to learn how to market it.” They love the fact it is not one dimensional, this project draws in many levels of learning.” Alison Gove-Humphries, School Improvement Adviser Birmingham City Council School Effectiveness Division

“Through Craft= Skills for Life the participants get to understand why they go to school, in terms of “Why do I need to go to maths lessons?” or “Why do I have to go to science? Why do I need these core subjects?” Will has demonstrated why you actually need them because he has involved them in his design process, it is a good aspect for them to see why they need their core subjects.” Nathan Shillingford, Lab Technician & co-ordinator Ishango Science Club

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Braidwood School for the Deaf was interested in finding innovative ways to develop their pupils’ skills as independent thinkers, creative enquirers and team workers as part of the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills Initiative. They discovered through the course of the project that many more opportunities for cross curricular learning arose.

“Pupils had maths targets to do with different types of triangles. We did one workshop where the pupils were making a large group piece based on different triangle shapes, so we could link their maths targets in to the project itself.” Rob Young, Teacher Braidwood School

“This is covering a lot of the curriculum, but not in a way which we would normally do. They are away from English, maths and science, but they are still doing English, maths and science through this project.” Keith Barlow, Deputy Head Teacher Braidwood School

“It was great to see pupils working together as teams and individually, learning new skills and being on task all the time.”

“We took the pupils work to the Moseley Art market and set up a stall. The pupils made a questionnaire in their ICT lessons, they were able to talk to the general public about their work, to ask them questions and get comments.” Rob Young, Teacher Braidwood School 11

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Using specialist equipment in an experimental manor has highlighted the creative links between Art and Design Technology. We are now exploring within the school how the two departments can work closer together.â&#x20AC;? Rob Young, Teacher Braidwood School

However, although there are many positive comments and observations from the teaching staff directly involved in the project, a barrier to maximising on opportunities for cross curricular learning was in persuading the wider teaching staff within the school that this was something worthwhile pursuing. Something which could help enhance their individual subject areas rather than being an inconvenient hindrance. Instructional communications developed with the year 7 and 8 boysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; literacy group was a prime example of how the project could give added value to another subject area but this success was due to the teacher being involved in both the project and the literacy class. The market research questionnaire was successfully developed by the ICT department but unfortunately there was a lack of interest in compiling and analysing the findings from the questionnaire with the pupils, despite the ICT teacher leading on the schools bid for Enterprise Status.

The participating pupils at Braidwood School also delivered peer mentor sessions to the entire year eight. This helped to demonstrate their understanding of the skills involved in felt making. It also developed their communication skills, strengthened their confidence and introduced them to leadership skills.

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“Peer mentorship is something that we have tried before with one or two pupils to moderate success. What I find interesting is that this is a younger group teaching the older group and it is fascinating that the year eights are accepting the situation, of what is being said and how they are being taught. It is very good.” Keith Barlow, Assistant Head Teacher Braidwood School

“For the pupils to maintain such a level of interest in this topic for this amount of time is a testimony to the project itself. The process they are going through I find fascinating. I’m really impressed with our pupils that they have worked on this for about ten weeks and they are still keen and enthusiastic and willing to show the year eight pupils what they have learned.” Keith Barlow, Assistant Head Teacher Braidwood School

Unlike the other two educational partners, the nine participating pupils from Wheelers Lane Technology College were not a regular year group . The class was made up of pupils from across years 7 & 8 who had become disenchanted with school and were following a programme to develop their Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL). Subsequently it was not so relevant for this group to explore learning opportunities across multiple subject platforms. However they significantly proved the importance for strengthening craft skills in our secondary schools. These findings are explored fully in aim 4, “Discovering if practical learning had any effect on how pupils learn and if it had an influence on their attitude and achievement.” Pages 22 & 23.

2. Introduce pupils to a range of making skills and allow them to engage with materials. The intention was to ignite an interest in teenage pupils to learn a skill, inspiring a desire to produce quality and obtain the skills to deliver it.

All three groups were successfully introduced to a range of making skills relating to the discipline of their chosen maker. Will Evans had the most success with the Ishango Science Club. Pupils in this group truly engaged with their materials and showed a real understanding of the skills needed to manipulate them in order to create their designs. This should be viewed in the context of the pupils being “Gifted and Talented” and the individual pupils choosing to attend.

“Ajani actually made his own tool. He wanted to achieve a certain result and we just didn’t have the right punch tool, so with a little guidance he set about fabricating his own. I think this is a pretty spectacular achievement and as a result he was really excited about using it, much more so than a tool out of the box, he felt real ownership of it, leading him to show real care during the making process. More importantly, through making his own tool he understood how it would work, through trial and error he learned that if he filed a bit off one side he could make it run straighter and more efficiently. This is a fundamental transferable skill which could lead to a career in engineering.” Will Evans, Ishango Science Club Resident Maker

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“The project had a major effect on Leroy, on his confidence levels and as an effective participant. Leroy picked up the making skills very quickly, he was the first to finish and it was good to see other pupils asking him for help. He is a very quiet person, in a normal lesson he would come in and he would be in his own little space. People wouldn’t normally ask him for assistance, he might ask them, but in these sessions everyone was asking him, can you help me to do this and how do you do that? He eventually assisted on everybody’s pieces and I think that is excellent.” Nathan Shillingford, Lab Technician, Ishango Science Club

“Leroy is really quite shy, so asking him to talk, to verbally express his understanding of a subject is not the right approach for him. The making process has really helped him, it has allowed him to get on with something physical, that he is actually good at and enjoys. It allows him a channel to express his understanding.” Jerome Watson, Teacher Ishango Science Club.

In comparison with the other two groups the pupils at Wheelers Lane Technology College initially did not appear to truly engage with the materials or show a strong desire to produce quality or obtain the skills to deliver it, but when viewed against the pupils’ track record within their school careers to date, their achievements’ and engagement proved far greater than first expected. A great part of the project was taken up building the pupils confidence in their own ability and allowing themselves to accept that they were capable of producing something of quality.

“It was initially very difficult for the boys to take pride in their work and accept praise as many of them were not used to compliments. As the weeks went by, the boys improved their concentration skills and learnt to take a little more pride in their work” Lyndsay Powers, SEAL teacher Wheelers Lane Technology College

In order to help these pupils to truly understand the skills needed to produce quality this group needs longer and sustained exposure to making.

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Pupils at Braidwood School showed a real excitement at using the sewing machine, they proved a desire to learn the skill of felt making through their persistence at making. Unlike ceramics and jewellery where many different techniques and more demanding processes are involved, the actual process of felt making is very basic. No matter how complicated the design is, the process varies very little. The pure fact that the pupils remained on task for the entire project, persevering to refine their techniques proved their desire to obtain the skills to deliver quality.

“They became more confident as the project went on. They understood a lot more and were more adventurous planning and designing their own ideas.” Bev Blisset, Teaching Support & BSL, Braidwood School.

“Year Seven worked in three groups, a felt making group, another printing on the press with colours and patterns and the third sewing. I liked sewing” Rasik, Braidwood School

3. Develop a “product” or objects as a vehicle to explore enterprise and industry. By combining the creative process with the realities of the economy, the residencies offered pupils access to different kinds of mechanisms for learning, creating and sharing. The aim to set the “making” challenge in a context of enterprise was to move away form the idea of craft being a “soft” subject, which only held therapeutic value. We wanted to challenge the impression of craft being an outmoded subject which belonged in the 1950’s. All three groups began by taking part in a business enterprise workshop to help them gain an understanding of products, pricing and market forces. Young Enterprise was engaged to run the one day session for all three groups together.

What worked well? •

Bringing the three schools together helped everyone to see the bigger picture of the project and started to build a sense of community between the pupils.

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The workshop did go some way to helping the pupils to understand that different groups of people have different needs, tastes and price ranges.

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What didn’t work well? •

Young Enterprise didn’t live up to expectations.

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Holding an enterprise day ran by an outside organisation led to it happening in isolation to the rest of the project.

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Due to the cost of the session the group was too big and subsequently could not afford to engage the makers for this session.

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The makers did not gain anything from the session and therefore were unable to refer back to any learning during the session.

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The teaching staff had not fully engaged with the session and so they unable to assist in helping the pupils to refer back to the session at relevant points in the project.

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The pupils did not really retain any of the knowledge as it was all theoretical and seemed to have no relevance to the project.

A visit to a local museum was incorporated due to an idea of Wheelers Lane Technology College resident maker, Andrew Tanner. Rather than making a prototype craft piece for a theoretical market, it would be far more interesting to place the residency in a local museum, to be inspired by their collection and create a piece of prototype craft to sell in the museum shop. This seemed the ideal way of marrying craft and enterprise. The visit helped both the Wheelers Lane Technology College and the Braidwood School teams to concentrate on a chosen theme but unfortunately there was very little time spent in the retail outlet and what time they did spend in there was unfocused.

Pupils and staff from Braidwood School market tested their felt lighting range on members of the public as part of the Moseley Arts Market. This allowed the pupils to view their work in a commercial setting along side professional makers while helping them to gain an understanding of market values.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The pupils work looked great and this was an ideal opportunity to link into the business enterprise element of the school.â&#x20AC;? Rob Young, Teacher Braidwood School

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How to improve the enterprise element.

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Involve the maker right from the beginning to ensure enterprise is involved at key strategic points throughout the project.

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Take the pupils to a cotemporary craft fair in order for the pupils to experience how commercial makers market their work and give the pupils the chance to talk to a number of different makers.

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Andrew Tanner reflected his preference to have taken the participants shopping to different retail outlets, to show them where his products are sold, what his contemporaries sell and discreetly observe the clientele.

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Engage the local museum as a major partner in the project at the development stage, to ensure their full commitment.

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Ensure every group has the chance to market test their product.

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Help the pupils create questionnaires to gain valuable information on the type of person who visits the museum, what gifts they would buy from the shop and how much their spend would be. This information would form the basis for their decisions on what to design and make for the rest of the project.

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Budget for an industry link to allow for each group to get piece or capsule range batch produced and the possibility of it being sold in the outlet.

4. Discover if practical learning had any effects on how pupils learn and if it had an influence on their attitude and achievement.

“Attendance within this group was below 90%, if this had continued across the whole of their school life they would actually have lost half a years education, which is really quite drastic.” Paul Fear, Learning Leader Wheelers Lane Technology College.

“Their behaviour initially didn’t improve. It was very much a case of them getting to know what was going on, getting confidence from the people they were working with. Once they had confidence in that, they just improved drastically. The fact that the boys can produce this artwork and show it off at an exhibition has just made them feel fantastic about themselves.” Richard Tattersfield, Head Teacher Wheelers Lane Technology College.

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“There was a great atmosphere in the room and the boys seemed to be both enthusiastic and engaged. I have noticed a change in a number of the boys which I can only put down to raised self esteem and confidence.” Rachel Tomline, Head of Art Wheelers Lane Technology College

“My Behaviour has changed because I’ve been learning how to work in big groups and tiny ones, before this project I could never work in groups at all.” Dean, pupil Wheelers Lane Technology College

“Since starting this project my behaviour has improved. I’m listening a lot more to people, so I can do the work a lot easier. Before I wouldn’t be listening, I would be just doodling or talking to someone else. I have to listen to find out how to do stuff.” Anthony, pupil Wheelers Lane Technology College

“During the life of this project the participants attendance rose by 66% while their behaviour improved by 67%. This is a phenomenal improvement which not only benefits the individual pupils, it has a positive impact upon the school as a whole.” Colin Appleton, Deputy Head Wheelers Lane Technology College

The participating year group at Braidwood School are normally split into two classes. The pupils in class B have a number of special needs, causing individuals having lower literacy and academic skills.

“The beauty of this project is that it allowed these pupils to shine. We have discovered that many of the pupils from class B are actually high achievers when it comes to art and craft. Working with the pupils together during this project the two defining classes are not so obvious as in the more academic areas, you just see capable pupils.” Rob Young, Art Teacher, Braidwood School

“During the Craftspace sessions certain pupils were able to relax a little which gave them space to focus a bit more. I think a lot of the pupils liked the element of fun, I don’t think they could believe we were giving them the freedom to play, to make a mess. This actually gave them the freedom to experiment and to discover for themselves. I thought this was very beneficial for them.” Bev Blissett, Teaching Support & BSL Interpreter Braidwood School

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The thirteen boys and three girls in the Ishango class allowed for some interesting observations on the different learning methods used by boys and girls. The following conversation between resident maker Will Evans, project co-ordinator Stuart Shotton, class teacher Jerome Watson and lab technician Nathan Shillingford during the project evaluation illustrates their different approaches’.

JW - The boys came into the workshop picked up the hammers and wanted to start straight away.

WE –Yes the boys appeared to rely upon their natural instincts rather than a conscious thought about what was the best way to approach the task.

NS – The girls though, sat down and worked out a process of how to use the hammers. So their thought processes were used initially more than the boys. I noticed that the girls didn’t need too much help. They sat back and thought the task through, where the boys rushed in, found themselves in a mess and needed help more often.

JW â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Yes the boys were

WE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The boys began with very ambitious ideas but tended not to think them through properly before starting. They didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think about the process and how they could achieve their goal.

too eager to start, their natural ease with the tools led to them not truly listening to instructions. They had a sense of thinking they already knew what to do. This bravado resulted in mistakes happening more often and a puzzlement of how they ended up in a mess.

Where the girls, although their ideas were not so ambitious thought through how they might get to the finishing point, they planned out their route, which techniques they would employ and which tools were appropriate.

SS - What became apparent through this project was the difference in learning techniques employed between boys and girls. Even in practical sessions the girls generally approached the task in an organised and meticulous manner, keen not to make mistakes. Although this did not mean that they did not make mistakes. Whereas the boys just needed to get their hands dirty, they appeared to feel that they already knew how to do something. That once having a process demonstrated to them, they knew how to do it and they thought it is easy. They needed to get involved and start doing. It was only once they had become involved and made their first mistake or in some circumstances their second or third mistake did they stop reflect and ask for help.

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JW – The boys had to reflect more than the girls because of the mistakes they made, stop look back and ask “Where did I go wrong? What did I want to do? What did I want to achieve? What’s my goal? Ok what do I need to do now?” Once they had been helped through their problems they were off again until they made another mistake and the reflection process started again.

SS - This is a very strong way to learn, through experimentation. Roel made an observation that he felt he had made a mistake. He was heating a piece of silver. He wasn’t paying enough attention and melted it. To his surprise it turned into a ball. When he took it to Will he was informed it wasn’t a mistake, he had in fact discovered a technique.

WE – Yes and he actually inspired a whole group of other boys to want to do the same thing, all keen to witness a technique discovered by one of their peers. 27

Conclusion We evidenced in a relatively short period of time through these three individual residencies that craft can play an important and relevant role in the education of today's children and boys in particular. We have shown craft to be a perfect vehicle for cross curricular learning for pupils of all abilities, particularly in science and maths. That repeating a process in the act of creativity has a positive impact upon how pupils learn, it helps concentrates the mind and embeds the learning. When linked with enterprise it can be a catalyst to create many more opportunities for multi platform learning, instilling in the pupils that skills learned in one subject area are transferable to others. We have shown practical workshops promote experimentation in boys approaches to learning, that making mistakes is a valid way to learn and can actually lead to unexpected and exciting results. It illustrates that learning is a process of discovery that can happen in a practical workshop equal to that of an ICT session. The most successful results were evident where partnerships were taken seriously from the beginning. Where teachers actively engaged in the process ensuring maximum learning could be extracted from every opportunity. Providing the right environment and tools for the job is essential. It is important to stress that the creativity in the craft activity must not be lost during this pursuit of cross curricular learning. That quality in the design development and making process must be kept as a priority in order to keep the repeated actions fresh and the learner engaged. Making a ring once in a science class is a novel and creative experiment in demonstrating scientific reactions but it does not necessarily embed the learning, the repeated action is all important.

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Participants with Rt Hon Clare Short MP at the House of Commons celebration event Jan 2010.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Craft = Skills for Life highlights the value of practical learning. Helping our young people to achieve their true potential is vital if we want a vibrant community and economy for future generations. To see these young people so enthusiastically engaged with their work testifies to the success of this project.â&#x20AC;? Rt Hon Clare Short MP (January 2010)

Future Recommendations It is important in the next stage of the project to build on the cross curricular learning in a much more joined up way and embed the enterprise element into the heart of the project in order to engage with industry. We have managed to show the potential for cross curricular learning through craft across three separate schools but we now need to prove this in the same institution with different academic levels in order to prove whole school change.

We propose; A three year project which will consolidate our findings from the three pilot residencies. A national initiative, placing professional makers in secondary schools, partnered with cultural institutions. The partnerships will develop educational enterprises in each school to create craft/design prototypes intended for batch production. Inspired by an aspect of their partner museum/gallery pupils will create limited edition products to sell in the venue’s retail outlet. The enterprise will be the focus for cross-curricular work across the subject areas, each department using the enterprise as a teaching tool to fit into their scheme of work as applicable. Pupils will be responsible for all aspects of the enterprise, from product research and development through to pricing, packaging and marketing. This initiative will allow pupils access to real life skills, decision making, team working and creative thinking. Statistics •

Number of artist days : 52 (including 10 days planning and prep)

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Optimum school size : 900 – 1200 pupils, year 7 intake 200, 8 classes

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No weeks in academic year: 39

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Initiation •

Start by the team (co-ordinator and school liaison) meeting all the teachers to brief them and discuss implications/opportunities.

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All year seven pupils then to be briefed by the team about what is going to happen.

Maker Selection •

Makers to be interviewed by a panel of teachers and co-ordinator.

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The interview process would also involve the makers running a short ½ hour workshop with a cross section of year 7 pupils. Pupils to report back to interview panel to influence the selection process.

Project Logistics •

All year 7 classes to visit the Museum/Gallery. If the maker does not accompany the pupils to the museum it is important that the pupils are briefed by the maker before the visit.

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All year 7 classes to have 1 day taster workshop with the maker. Either 1 school day or 2 .5 days etc. to be negotiated.

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Pupils to choose /nominated to join after school clubs to work on enterprise board and product development workshops.

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Maker to run after school sessions once a week and be available the same day to liaise with subject teachers, plan sessions and deliver sessions with different subject classes.

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More visits to museum/gallery when necessary.

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Business volunteer /adviser to sit on enterprise board.

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Special series of sessions could be planned for SEAL groups, Gifted & Talented etc. all tailored to their individual needs.