Create, Speak, Thrive — Cultivating sustainable collaboration and evaluation

The collaboration between Trestle Theatre and the University of Hertfordshire (UH) dates from 2020, when the Royal Opera House Bridge brokered a relationship between Trestle, University of Hertfordshire (UH), a speech and language therapist and two local schools, which led to a pilot project. This pilot was significant in shaping our current TDF project, helping us to delineate the focus of the evaluation and to understand our ways of working and identify shared values.

The Create, Speak, Thrive (CST) project focuses on the use of drama and storytelling to test and develop a universal approach to language acquisition addressing speech, language and communication needs in primary schools and providing teachers with new creative pedagogies. Figure 1 provides an overview of the overall project.

Given the focus of PHF funding on teacher development, the evaluation explores the Continuing Professional Development and Learning (CPDL) models that underpin the project; how teachers, artists and other partners collaborate to co-create effective drama-based learning and teaching opportunities; how embedded reflection and teacher inquiry contribute to skill development and learning; and what supports school-wide implementation and long-term sustainability (Figure 2).

CST is premised on collaboration — the project has been designed to provide opportunities for collaboration, recognising that collaboration can lead to ​‘improvements in practice as the sharing with, and learning from, one another offers meaningful ways of framing and reframing existing practice’ (Loughran 2006:57). There have been opportunities to share experiences, discuss and co-develop across the partner groups via CPDL, co-creation sessions and reflective practice. The evaluation complements this approach, capturing examples of collaboration and their impact on professional learning, while opening alternative channels of communication, away from the daily CST activities.

Another strong strand throughout CST is teacher inquiry and embedded reflection to support teacher development. The evaluation, conducted by the UH team, echoes this theme. The evaluation questions are reflective in nature and the data collection approaches prompt participants to share honest reflections on experience and learning by engaging in evaluation at different time points, looking back on their previous experiences and forward to future activities, within and beyond CST. This has been done through focus groups, where partner groups engage with evaluation activities; the collaborative nature of these activities leads to shared understandings. And through paired interviews, where artist-teacher dyads will have the opportunity to reflect on their experiences of working together. The reflective activities embedded in the project are there to support teacher development rather than to furnish the evaluation; while participants may choose to share these activities, the evaluation’s focus is on what has been learnt through reflection.

While the project is focused specifically on teacher development, the evaluation invites feedback from all partners who play a role in that development: the specialist partners, artists, school senior leaders, and teachers, and is underpinned by mutual respect for and valuing of the experiences and voices of others. The evaluation is formative and developmental in nature, so the findings can help all participants, including us, to learn from the experience of engaging together.

We have found this collaboration has thrived and progressed largely due to our shared values and our willingness to listen and be responsive to each other’s needs. There’s an understanding and appreciation of the intrinsic value of the arts, particularly within learning and education. Having an external evaluation partner has also meant we’ve had more time and opportunity to focus on our respective tasks.

We each favour working collaboratively and value building strong sustainable relationships with all stakeholders. For example, all CST partner groups contributed to our online Year 1 Sharing Event. Working together since the pilot has also aligned our expectations with each other, as well as for the project. Our mutual understanding for the need for flexibility comes from the project being inquiry-led but equally from our shared compassion for educators, the unique needs within each school and for a sustained approach. Opportunities for flexibility have mitigated challenges arising from changes in staff, time restraints or partnership, and school, or classroom environments. Most significantly, there has been a continuous appreciation for each other’s approaches and working environments and it’s been wonderful being able to marry the two worlds of a creative arts team at Trestle and researchers from UH. We all recognise that we can learn from this experience and that the project will benefit from this cross-fertilisation of different people’s experiences, perspectives, and practices.

You can find out more about the project here.

Trestle Theatre: Helen Barnet (Creative Director), Muneerah Yate (CST Project Manager)
University of Hertfordshire: Karen Mpamhanga, Claire Dickerson

With thanks to Royal Opera House East, our specialist partners, artists, schools, and teachers. 

The evaluation was reviewed and approved by The University of Hertfordshire Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities Ethics Committee with Delegated Authority. The UH protocol number is EDU/SF/UH/05685.

References
Loughran, J. (2006) Developing a Pedagogy of Teacher Education. Understanding teaching and learning about teaching. Routledge