Arts in Education Elective

Arts in Education Elective - EVALUATION

by

PETER MINSHALL ©
Post Graduate Student
MA Arts in Social Contexts

13th February, 2008

RSAMD MAS ASC Module Code: MA (ASC) 7 A

Module Title: Electiv e: Arts in Education

Tutor

Marie-Jeanne McNaughton
Senior Lecturer BEd Curricular Studies Co-ordinator Dept. of Childhood & Primary Studies
University of Strathclyde Jordanhill Campus
Glasgow G13 1PP

Programme Leader

Tony Goode
Programme Leader MA Arts in Social Contexts
School of Drama Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama
100 Renfrew Street
Glasgow G2 3DB

Document due date open ended for 2008
Document elected sign off date 15th February, 2008
Document delivered by email 14th February, 2008

Arts in Education Elective - Evaluation

“Curriculum for Excellence challenges us to think differently about the curriculum. It encourages those working in education to plan and act in new ways. It also poses challenges for learning and teaching.”

Curriculum For Excellence Scotland - 2008

Introduction

Module MA (ASC) 7A was presented on the MA Arts in Social Contexts degree programme as a choice of three electives; the others being Arts in Criminal Justice Settings and Arts in Youth Theatre.

I chose Arts in Education because I wanted to examine the strategic relevance of the Expressive Arts in the present 5-14 education curriculum and in relation to the general area of 'continuity', the cultural effect this has on community development. The group consisted of four MA ASC students, one form Rwanda, one from Sierra Leone, one for Ayrshire and myself from Argyll.

In pursuit of the requirements in the updated assessment advice received on 31st January 2008 from the tutor, this evaluation only deals with analysis of the practical element of the module whilst attached to the department of Primary Studies at Strathclyde University between 28th January, 2008 and 8th February, 2008. It more directly covers the practical workshops activity conducted at and with Corpus Christie Primary School. The evaluation follows the group discussion assessment conducted on 8th February, 2008. As such the evaluation is descriptive, as requested.

This evaluation offers appropriate evidence of reading sources gained researching best practice. In support of the evaluation aim, it addresses the preparatory activity leading up to the point of delivery and provides a critical reflection on the methods in which the skills to conduct the practical workshop with primary school children were delivered.

Elective Aim

We decided to offer the children a scenario in which, through expressive arts, their actions would allow them to reflect on outcomes that might have parallels in their own lives. In order to achieve this objective, we selected a subject within the general umbrella of responsible citizenship and more directly within the area of conflict resolution. This was felt most appropriate in addressing arts in social contexts and how it might work combining drama with art and design.

Elective Preparatory Research

Overarching this field of study: 'Secretary of State for Scotland (1992) Scottish Office Education Department Circular 5/92

…believes that guidance (on expressive arts) now issued provides a sound basis for a coherent and progressive approach to the Expressive Arts in primary and early secondary education'.

Two things should be borne in mind when considering the Secretary's advice; firstly it came into being in the 1992-93 session (sixteen years ago) and secondly it only addressed ages of school children between 5-14. The implications here being that from the age of 15 onwards, expressive arts activity in schools ceases, in order that the matter of mainstream exam subjects can take precedence. Despite the newly announced 3-18 curriculum there remains in society evidently no joined up practical application or continuity of expressive arts in the community after children leave school.

The earlier consultation paper 'Secretary of State for Scotland (1987) Curriculum and Assessment in Scotland: A Policy for the 90's, identified four areas encompassing expressive arts: Art & Design, Drama, Music and Physical Education'. This clearly defines the intended area of expressive arts for the purpose of this evaluation and in the context of the guidelines, 'Scottish Office Education Department (1992) National Guidelines for the Expressive Arts, define the aims specific to Drama and Art and Design et seq:

Drama should provide all pupils with opportunities

to reach new understandings and appreciation of self, others and
the environment through imaginative dramatic experience;

to communicate ideas and feelings through language, expression and movement, in real and imaginary contexts;

to develop confidence and self-esteem in their day to day interaction with others;

to develop sensitivity towards the feelings, opinions and values of others through purposeful interaction;

to develop a range of dramatic skills and techniques.'

Art and Design should provide all pupils with opportunities

to consider, select and organise materials and media and develop knowledge of techniques, processes and skills, appropriate to the activity and to the individual's stage of development, in a learning environment which stimulates awareness and imagination;

to use feelings, imagination and memory to develop, express and communicate ideas and solutions;

to enjoy and appreciate their own art and that of others, and to become aware of the influence of place, time, culture and material on the images and objects invented and created by artists, designers and crafts people;

to become more aware of the visual environment and their relationship to it.'

This research usefully confirmed a well thought through set of criteria for both teachers and pupils to follow, and in this context provided clear guidance and the correct and balanced cultural setting for our chosen activity with the children.

Reflection on Arts Based Experience with Corpus Christie Primary School - Drama Preparation

To prepare for the drama side of the activity, we drew on the experience gained in a live performance we had given earlier on in the degree programme (which essentially showed us how, through facilitation, we could 'react to a felt disturbance') and prepared to make use of each of the group's individual talents. In short making the best use of the resources in the group. (It should be borne in mind that of the four in the group, each offered interesting yet widely contrasting sets of experiences).
Making helpful use of the tutor, we prepared a detailed operational plan and alone rehearsed the timings to ensure we could deliver the workshop within the allocated time, sensibly building in contingencies and making adjustments commensurate with expectations of dealing with the ages of children in P6. This also meant that due to time constraints we would have to direct and not facilitate this exercise.

During the lead-up to this period of drama preparation, we joined the Glasgow based Birds of Paradise Theatre Company and accompanied them on a live session of drama activity at a disabled school in the north east of Glasgow. What became useful in this activity was observing the relationship between time and achievement. In other words it is important to consider and ensure a sensitive understanding of the performers' abilities and set tasks that can be achieved within an allocated time frame. As a point of emphasis, only detailed planning can ensure success in performance terms.
In essence, after a good group discussion, we decided to engage in a form of story telling which would allow the children themselves to act out the story in a drama setting and to follow this up in an art and design setting, giving the children the opportunity to make a sculptured record of their drama activity. This we felt would perfectly satisfy a good exercise in expressive arts.

I offered the group the idea of the traditional nursery story of the hen who needed to gather wheat in order to make bread but had difficulty securing the help of the other farmyard animals - until it came to the point of eating the bread. We decided to adjust the tale into a traditional harvest story transforming the hen into a farmer and the animals into lazy farm hands. The plan was to brief the children on the story, explain how they would act out the story and freeze the story at the point where they decided to eat the bread.

After the acting part, the children were then to be organised into small groups (nominating one spokesman per group) and to be allowed time to consider the feelings of the farmer, their own feelings based on their decisions and what might happen as a consequence of analysing their feelings at the 'next harvest'. After they had time to respond, the plan was to take the children through image theatre and allow them, in larger groups, to create their own still images of the story in both negative and positive compositions.

This was to be concluded with the children 'morphing' their negative image into their positive image. On conclusion it was to be explained that the children would be given the chance, in art and design, to make a sculptured image as a record of their drama activity.

Art & Design Preparation

When it came to preparing for art and design we were introduced to the works of Alberto Giacometti a sculptor inspired by African and Egyptian images. This was of particular relevance for two reasons: one, the school children had recently completed an art project on Malawi and secondly because half our group came from Africa. And so from an extract on the artistic analysis in the Wikipedia web reference, we could see that et seq :

'… while the intention of his sculpting was usually imitation, the end products were an expression of his emotional response to the subject. He attempted to create renditions of his models the way he saw them, and the way he thought they ought to be seen. He once said that he was sculpting not the human figure but "the shadow that is cast." (*Qv.)'

This introduction came during the session on integrated curriculum workshops at Jordan Hill Campus. Here we were shown and given the opportunity to sculpture our own pieces of work that reflected the still images used in the drama performance. Part of this process involved reforming the still image from the drama and getting each other to use a piece of white chalk to draw on black paper, a line drawing as the design template for the sculpture. It is interesting to reflect on Giacometti's viewpoint and remember (*): 'he was sculpting not the human figure but "the shadow that is cast." This reinforced motivating support for the visual effect of our drama work and it served as the practical preparatory process required to deliver the art and design activity with the children.

The requirements to produce an operational plan for the art and design element took on different considerations. Unlike in drama, we had to work out a time table where the children would be using materials and not relying solely on their imaginational interpretations. We had to work through systematically and allocate time to each manual activity.

Reflection on Project Delivery and Own Participation - Interpretation of Evidence

I am happy to report that as a consequence of detailed planning and the discipline of the teachers and the pupils both the drama and art and design activities went off without a hitch. This was notable in that the children were able to enjoy these pursuits all the more by acting or working to the beat of a drum supplied and played by the student from Sierra Leone.

I mentioned the group had different experiences to offer. In my own case, not from a performance background, I enjoyed the task of narrating the story in drama and briefing the children when it came to art and design. For the part I played, in both those cases, the children understood what they had acted out and when it came to briefing the chalk and paper drawing, having given them one minute to achieve an outcome, which again to the drumbeat not only made it fun but resulted in accurate interpretation of the brief.

Conclusion

On balance the two week elective was time well spent and reinforced my own desire to further pursue the need to broker the cultural link between government and community. For me the elective stimulated the importance of mainstreaming expressive arts not just in the new 3-18 curriculum but the ever pressing need to establish continuity through school into the community as part of a natural and sustainable culture of life long learning, for as the UNESCO website http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=35260&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html on cultural diversity cites:

'…recognition of cultural diversity as a key factor of sustainable development'.

Clearly the teaching commitment of the expressive arts curriculum at Corpus Christie is high and if this is indicative across Scotland, this can only bode well for the future. I hope this evaluation can be shared and that it helps others to contextualise their work, develop new ideas and learn from this exercise. My thanks are due therefore, to Marie-Jeanne McNaughton, Wilma Eaton and the children at Corpus Christie for providing such an engaging two weeks.

Peter Minshall
RSAMD
13th February, 2008

Bibliography
Secretary of State for Scotland (1992) Scottish Office Education Department Circular 5/92
Secretary of State for Scotland (1987) Curriculum and Assessment in Scotland: A Policy for the 90's
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=35260&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
www. scottisharts.org.uk
www.strath.ac.uk/cps/staff/mcnaughtonmariejeannemrs/ :-
McNaughton, M.J. (2004) Educational Drama in the Teaching of Education for Sustainability, Research in Environmental Education, Vol. 10, No. 2 pp 139-155, Carfax
Woolf, F. (2004) Partnerships for Learning: A Guide to Evaluating Arts Education Projects (Revised & Updated), Regional Arts Board & Arts Council of England
http://www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Giacometti#Artistic_analysis