Improving Creativity in the Education Sector
Welcome to my first blog post. My third and final year of the BA (HONS) Arts Practice degree is my most challenging. This website being the end result of my Major Project, showcases my learning journey and development to date. This space displays my thoughts, ideas, research and practical work tailored to the topic above on a week by week basis. I hope you enjoy following my creative story. Happy reading! :)
Proposed Ideas
Last semester a proposal was collated based on a chosen topic, mine being 'Improving Creativity in the Education Sector'. Being passionate about both arts & crafts and the education sector, I wanted to combine these areas to raise awareness of benefits, identify barriers and suggest ways to overcome these.
As creativity is declining drastically within the education sector, now is the time for change! Three main reasons for the decrease since 2010 are: the introduction of the EBACC qualification, reduced funding and BREXIT. However, the creative sector is worth £101.5 billion (www.gov.uk, 2020) to the UK's economy so it needs respecting and protecting.
The purpose of this project consists of two main components: Benefits for others & personal benefits. Some benefits for others include: developing problem solving skills, allowing self-expression, generating new ideas, risk taking without the fear of failure and reducing internal stress and anxiety. Benefits for myself include: expanding current knowledge, practical skills and improving employability opportunities.
All work created throughout the duration of the Major Project was to be showcased in an exhibition held at the Royal Assembly Rooms in Great Yarmouth for a three day period between 29/04/20-01/05/20. However, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, this project is now web-based to showcase relevant work. The project will be filled with completed examples of practical projects which could be used in both the curricular and non-curricular sections of education. Lesson plans will assist and be available for others to purchase should they wish to do so. These will be available via email only.
Cross curricular techniques can be used to help embed creative tasks into academic subjects such as maths, English, geography, etc... 'Thinking outside the box' can be tricky for some, so hopefully this method will offer a helping hand to expand creative skills and knowledge.
I will also be sharing my experience of delivering arts & crafts to elderly residents in some wonderful local care homes. The initial project ideas were created by Creative Mojo, but facilitated by myself.
Please follow me to see progress throughout this interesting and inspiring journey. :)