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Free new resources for schools and parents to boost children’s wellbeing through creative arts
The aim of the ArtED project was to address the lack of focus on the importance of creativity in the classroom – and the professional development of teachers essential to tackling this.
A team of Leeds Beckett researchers collaborated with partner organisations across six countries in Europe, working with artist educators and teachers in schools in each country, to bring new skills and opportunities into the classroom.
The artist educators teach a range of creative disciplines, from writing to acting, dancing, music and visual arts. The ArtED project brought them into classrooms across Europe to give children of all backgrounds the opportunity to engage in creative learning, whilst developing the skills and confidence of teachers and trainee teachers to incorporate creative arts into their school activities.
Working in collaboration with young people, artists, teachers and parents, over the course of three years, the team have produced a range of high-quality professional learning materials, in five languages - including English and German, for use by primary and secondary school teachers, parents and carers, and trainee teachers. The resources are all freely available for all on the ArtED website.
Dr Lisa Stephenson, Senior Lecturer in the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University and co-leader of ArtED, said: “Based on our previous research, we know that the creative arts are marginalised in European education policy – and that engaging in the creative arts can have a very positive effect on young people’s wellbeing.
“Young people from higher socioeconomic groups can make up for this with extra-curricular activities, but those from areas of disadvantage can miss out. Added to this, we know that there is a rise in mental health issues experienced by young people across Europe – and that this situation is even worse post-Covid.
“In this project, we wanted to bring the expertise of artist educators into schools to promote positive wellbeing and prevent early school leaving. We know that the professional development of teachers is one of the best ways of improving the outcomes of young people.
“We have designed an innovative approach to arts-based learning that ensures that the resources we have created will have relevance for a wide range of teachers across sectors, career stages and national contexts.”
The teacher training resources were trialled with students at Leeds Beckett University. The students evaluated the learning materials and these were adapted in response to their feedback – including introducing an interactive game to help trainee teachers to think reflectively about their practice. The resources are now being used within teaching at Leeds Beckett and have been integrated into the courses of the universities across the project.
Dr Stephenson added: “Many of the students we spoke to didn’t see themselves as creative, and hadn’t previously experienced creativity in schools. Being part of this project made them think differently – and we saw this across all of the countries we worked in.
“We hope that the resources will be used nationally and internationally – and have already shared them with our 450 partner schools and more than 740 participants in the project.”
Alongside the resources, the academics have published two new pieces of research from the project: an article in Children and Society exploring the benefits and barriers to artists working in education and highlighting the need for policy at a national and transnational level to value the creative arts; and an article in the Journal for Research in Arts and Sports Education on artist educators’ practices across Europe.
The project received €446,000 of funding from Erasmus+. The team are now applying for more European funding to build on the project, looking at intercultural learning in the arts. The Leeds Beckett researchers are also working with the University of Iceland to create and develop more opportunities for university teacher training students to engage in creativity within their teaching practice – including at Leeds Beckett University.