Arts Connect a Celebration of Our Programmes 2023 – 2026

The past three years have been extremely busy and productive as we have created and run a host of new visual arts education programmes, research projects and professional development with many partners. The team have taken time to reflect on and celebrate this work, and share some thoughts on the potential of art and culture for learning.

Primary Art Teacher CPD programme

This has been an exciting year for us as we’ve developed and run a series of in person practical CPD workshops aimed at supporting primary teachers to build on their understanding and application of arts-based learning in the classroom. We’ve worked with over 130 teachers from across the UK to grow their confidence, subject knowledge and skills using range of art materials and processes; from teaching sculpture to embedding sketchbook practice in the classroom. During each workshop we’ve explored how through teaching a high quality, diverse and inclusive art curriculum pupils can develop the tools and understanding to grow their artistic abilities and increase their critical thinking and visual literacy skills to become capable and confident artists.

Our final CPD workshop of the year focused on how primary art leads can develop an ambitious art curriculum that meets the requirements of the national curriculum, supports pupils’ engagement and progression and represents the school community. We were incredibly pleased to have two fantastic primary art teaching specialists leading with us on the day, Mandy Barratt and Fay Patrick, who shared how they have designed and built their art curriculum with practical examples and resources to support art leads.

It’s been important to us that every workshop is easily replicated and can be built upon back in the classroom so we’ve made sure to use easily accessible, affordable and sustainable materials and modelled activities that can be adapted to suit the needs of pupils.

We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response to our workshops, and it has been incredibly rewarding to see the impact of our work with teachers when they are back in the classroom.

Art Leaders Network

In September we were approached to develop an Art Leaders Network with 12 primary teachers from across the Central Co-operative Trust. The aim of the network was to grow teachers’ leadership skills, increase their subject knowledge and skills and to create a sustainable, proactive and supportive network across the MAT. To begin, we worked with art leads to identify strengths and opportunities for development in their art curriculum and set achievable goals that we could work on throughout the year. We’ve met regularly online and in person to reflect on progress, share learning and problem solve as a group. In response to feedback from art leads we designed a series of art skill development workshops and gallery visits to grow their subject knowledge and understanding of arts-based learning across the curriculum.

It’s been great to work with the art leads and see their growth across the year and to hear how they have been implementing their learning in the classroom and sharing ideas with their colleagues.

Wolverhampton Boys Impact Art Programme

We are working in partnership with the Black Country and Telford Boys Impact Hub and 11 local secondary school art teachers to investigate how art teacher’s practice can create inclusive and engaging classrooms where boys who are eligible for free school meals thrive. This is part of wider national research and activity being led by the Boys Impact movement, a network of educators, researchers and practitioners, who are dedicated to addressing the gap in educational outcomes for boys and young men

Our art-based programme aims to give boys more opportunities to engage with the world around them, have greater autonomy and voice and explore their identities as young men from the Black Country. Teachers from Heath Park School, Moseley Park School, Phoenix Collegiate and Crestwood School have all been investigating new teaching strategies and working with artists and art educators with the aim of enhancing the experience and learning of the boys they work with. Each teacher has selected a different focus for their in school project with themes such as developing relational pedagogy techniques, developing the content of their current curriculum and exploring new art based subjects such as animation, illustration and textiles and offering new experiences out of the classroom working with artists and arts specialists form the University of Wolverhampton and Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

Throughout the year we have run a series of in-person art teacher CPD sessions looking at research and current teaching practices and exploring how we can use contemporary art practices and local exhibitions to inspire our art curriculum and enhance the engagement and achievement of boys in art. We’ve worked with artist Tom Hicks (Black Country Type) and visited exhibitions at Ikon Gallery to explore how different art making practices can be used in the classroom with boys.

So far, the programme is suggesting that through teachers actively listening and reacting to the needs and wants of boys in their classroom and creating learning experiences with them, boys show a more sustained and higher level of engagement and progress in art lessons. The outcomes of our research will add to an evidence base which will be shared nationally.

A huge thank you to all the fantastic art teachers and arts educators who are working with us on the programme.

Using Creative Methods in Community Research.

In partnership with the Institute for Community Research and Development (ICRD) at the University of Wolverhampton we have designed and facilitated creative workshops in Walsall and Wolverhampton using creative methods to collect the feedback, ideas and opinions of different community groups. Through these research projects we have worked with Wolverhampton Council to investigate the implementation, effectiveness and impact of community ‘food shops’ and are working with Walsall Public Health to find out how year 6 pupils and their parents feel about their access to, and relationship with, nutritious food. Working with ICRD has given us the opportunity to develop new creative practices and build on our experience of community research, it has also allowed us to work with wonderful people from different communities who have been incredibly generous with their time and knowledge.