Exploring how the arts can build equity in education settings, enrich the lives of young people and develop the professional practice of teachers.
Arts-based approaches can build equity in classrooms and support children and young people, particularly those experiencing disadvantage, to overcome barriers to learning.
The arts play an important role in supporting young people to thrive in education. The arts can enrich learning experiences, increasing young people’s engagement in school and learning and supporting key educational outcomes. The arts can also unlock potential by helping young people to develop skills in critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and problem-solving. In addition, engaging with the arts supports young people’s communication, empathy and emotional wellbeing.
For many young people, particularly those experiencing the most disadvantage, the only opportunity to gain access to arts education is at school.
Where good practice exists in schools, colleges and the arts organisations that work with them, the benefits for young people are significant. This is where we focus our grant-making and learning.
There is an appetite for collaboration between teachers and arts organisations, and for them to explore and improve their practice and the outcomes for young people. We are particularly interested in supporting such partnerships.
We also respond to teachers’ interest in having more opportunities to develop their skills and professional practice in teaching through the arts, and in understanding their pivotal role in creating and delivering an arts-rich curriculum and school environment.
Colleagues from Trestle Theatre and the University of Hertfordshire offer insight into their evaluation approach and discuss the value placed on collaboration as a core part of the design of their Teacher Development Fund project.
Collaborative evaluation approaches were key to the success of the YDance programme, Step It Up. Linzi McLagan, Head of Education for YDance, discusses the importance of their collaboration with the Robert Owen Centre (ROC) at the University of Glasgow and shares some of the approaches used within their programme.
Evaluation consultant, Dr Anni Raw, describes the evaluation approach she is co-developing with project partners on the Parallel Rhythms programme in Huddersfield.
Pat Cochrane and Vicky Storey, evaluation support consultants for rounds 3–6 of the Teacher Development Fund, reflect on the differing approaches to evaluation across TDF projects and share some of the ways that colleagues have enabled genuine exploration as an integral part of programme design.
For a snapshot of the grants we made last year in education and learning through the arts, the graphs below show how much funding we awarded and where this was distributed across the UK. You can find out more about the organisation we funded in our grants database.
We support arts and cultural organisations to work in partnership with schools and make arts-based learning a core part of education.
We support teachers to develop arts-based approaches which create equitable classrooms where all children learn and thrive.
We have two funds focused on education and learning through the arts: our Arts-Based Learning Fund and our Teacher Development Fund. Find out more about each fund and how to apply.