How the Change Schools programme works

Luton School takes part in Shine 2008. Luton School takes part in Shine 2008.

Creative Partnerships starts from the belief that teaching is fundamentally a creative profession and that teachers are well-accustomed to finding creative solutions to complex challenges. By pairing the complementary skills of creative practitioners and teachers, Creative Partnerships helps to liberate the creativity of everyone involved so that fresh and engaging approaches to teaching and learning are developed through collaborative processes.

The Creative Partnerships approach is distinctive:

  • it starts with the school improvement plan – linking programme development closely with priorities identified by the school
  • it makes time for proper in-depth planning to ensure programmes are relevant and needs based
  • it facilitates processes where young people, teachers and practitioners can work together as co-constructors of learning
  • it brokers and supports long-term relationships between young people, teachers and creative practitioners
  • it supports in-depth evaluation and reflection, leading to sustainable and embedded practice

Initiatives or projects vary greatly, as the programmes and the projects within them are designed to be individual responses to the needs of each school. The key defining characteristic of project activity is the collaborative partnership between creative professionals, classroom staff and young people and the ways in which this partnership helps to bring the curriculum to life, providing new ways for learners to engage with subjects and to develop increased motivation for learning. Creative Partnerships projects allow time for in-depth planning, co-delivery and reflection. More importantly, they are more active and more fun than standard curriculum activities and, at the core of the process, they give pupils greater involvement in decision making.

The Change Schools programme focuses on generating long-term dialogue about creative teaching and learning, and how schools can become effective creative learning environments. Change Schools are encouraged to explore in depth how they are developing the conditions where creativity can thrive. They look at:

  • the role of leaders in developing a creative school
  • how the curriculum is planned and organised
  • the ways in which teachers teach and learn creatively
  • the ways in which children are encouraged to learn creatively
  • the ways that spaces and other resources are used
  • the ways in which external partners, especially from the creative and cultural sector, are involved in the life of the school

Successful projects involve creative professionals from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, including for example:

  • scientists
  • architects
  • designers
  • engineers
  • marketing experts
  • cooks
  • gardeners
  • artists

This means that projects will appeal to a broad range of interests and learning styles.

The pace of change is different in every school and is shaped by a myriad of influences and demands. Creative change programmes sometimes result in rapid and dramatic changes in a school’s culture and a complete re-working of its ethos and approach. More commonly, the changes are gradual, building over time to an embedded approach.