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Creative learning through the arts –an action plan for Wales
2015–2020
NEW Dance at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold as part of Flintshire Dance’ Fest 2014 (image: Jamie Jenkins)
Audience The entire teaching workforce and government and national partners, including regionaleducation consortia, local authorities, governing bodies, arts and cultural organisations, and all leaders of funded non-maintained settings.
Overview This publication sets out the Welsh Government’s strategic objectives for creative learningthrough the arts in Wales from 2015 to 2020.
Action required None. For information only.
Further information Enquiries about this document should be directed to:Arts Council of WalesBute PlaceCardiffCF10 5AL0845 8734 900
or
Department for Education and SkillsWelsh Government Cathays ParkCardiffCF10 3NQ0300 0603300
Additional copies This document can be accessed from the Welsh Government’s website atwww.wales.gov.uk/educationandskills and the Arts Council of Wales website atwww.artscouncilofwales.org.uk
Related documents Creative learning through the arts: timeline 2015-2016(Arts Council of Wales and Welsh Government, 2015); An independent report for the Welsh Government into Arts in Education in the Schools of Wales (Arts Council of Wales, 2013); Qualified for life: An education improvement plan for 3 to 19-year-olds in Wales(Welsh Government, 2014); Using the Pupil Deprivation Grant in support of the arts and cultural activity (Welsh Government, 2015); Successful Futures: Independent Review of Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements in Wales (Welsh Government, 2015)
ISBN 978 1 4734 3009 9Copyright © Arts Council of Wales and Crown Copyright
Ministerial foreword 3
Our vision 4
Our aims 4
Context 5
Our actions 7
Evaluation and reporting 17
Annex 1 19Summary of recommendations from an independent report for the Welsh Government into Arts in Education in the Schools of Wales
Contents
Hafod Primary School children painting a mural at a local nursing home
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School project, Artis Community (image: Nancy Evans)
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Learning about the arts and culture,participating in the arts and developingcreative skills should be prominent in theeducation of all children and young people.These are essential ingredients for a well-rounded, rewarding and motivational learningexperience. Moreover, it is only through havinghigh quality arts and creative experiences inschools, by valuing them and giving them theirdeserved place in our curriculum, by makingthem available to all children, especially thosefrom deprived backgrounds, that we cannurture the potential of our learners anddevelop skills we need for our economy.
In March 2014 the Welsh Government issued a response to Professor Dai Smith’s report on the review of Arts in Education in the Schools of Wales (2013), agreeing to all twelverecommendations. We made a pledge todevelop a plan which would formally assert the central role which we envisage for artseducation in the schools of Wales, which wouldalso deliver our Programme for Governmentcommitment to maximise participation in the arts and to work with the Arts Council ofWales to develop an action plan for arts andyoung people.
More recently, in Qualified for Life: an educationimprovement plan for 3 to 19-year olds in Wales, we set out our aims to build a successfuleducation system which would directlycontribute to greater innovation and creativity,to the cultural capital of the nation, and to amore equitable and successful society. The planfor creative learning through the arts willsupport us in achieving the Qualified for Lifeobjectives: it will contribute to our plans tobuild an excellent professional workforce, andto develop a curriculum which is engaging andattractive to children and young people.
In his recent report, Successful Futures, whichfollowed an independent review of curriculumand assessment arrangements in Wales,Professor Graham Donaldson has reaffirmedthe importance of creativity in thedevelopment of our children and youngpeople. Welsh Government is currentlyconsidering its response to ProfessorDonaldson’s call for fundamental change.
Our commitment to funding the actions of this plan demonstrates our belief in theimportance of the arts and creativity. Thisshared commitment – in the partnershipbetween Welsh Government and the ArtsCouncil of Wales - will bring about a seachange in the way that the arts and educationsectors work together to deliver benefits forour learners.
Huw LewisMinister for Education and Skills
Ken SkatesDeputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism
Ministerial foreword
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Our vision
The arts, and creative approaches to teaching and learning, should have amajor role in all our schools, where collaboration with arts and culturalorganisations and with creative practitioners is a common feature, and wheregood practice is shared and accessible to all.
Our aims
Our three educationpriorties: improving
literacy, numeracy andreducing the impact of
disadvantage
Improve attainment
through creativity
Increase and improve arts
experiences andopportunities in
schools
Support our teachers and arts
practitioners indeveloping their
skills
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Context
Developing Dylan workshop with Laura Sheldon, Literature Wales (image: Sioned a Nia Photography)
This plan responds to the 12 recommendationsof Professor Dai Smith’s report (see Annex 1).Following the extensive consultation that tookplace during the period of Professor Smith’sreview, we have engaged in furtherconsultation with a wide range of stakeholdersincluding arts organisations, teachers andeducation consortia. In developing this plan,we have examined further evidence and drawnon the expertise and experiences of arts andcreative learning programmes delivered acrossthe globe.
The plan has also been informed by and seeksto support the delivery of a number of WelshGovernment policies and strategic initiatives.Central amongst these is Qualified for Life: an education improvement plan for 3 to 19 -year olds in Wales (2014), setting out actions toimprove educational attainment, and to buildan education system that will directlycontribute to a stronger economy, greaterinnovation, greater creativity, and to thecultural capital of the nation.
Professor Dai Smith writes in his report:
‘In a twenty-first century,schooling will increasinglybecome the basis of a creative society, of a creativeeconomy and a creativeculture. Creativity, or beingopen to the acquisition of new knowledge andinnovative skills, will shapeour world like no other forceimaginable.’
For such creativity to thrive we need not onlyto recognise the importance of the arts, butalso build infrastructures and programmes thatput the arts at the core of our education system
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and call on the talents of our creativeindividuals to work with young learners. We also need to provide opportunities foryoung people from disadvantagedbackgrounds who often have limited access toarts activities and cultural experiences - youngpeople for whom active participation in thearts and working with creative practitionerscan engage, motivate, build confidence andtransferrable skills.
In his report on the curriculum and assessmentin Wales, Professor Graham Donaldsonreaffirms the importance of creativity and thestatus of the arts in the curriculum:
The expressive arts provideopportunities to explore, refine, and communicate ideas, engagingthinking, imagination and sensescreatively… Engagement with theexpressive arts requires application,perseverance and close attention todetail, capacities that have benefitsacross learning more widely. In thereview of Arts in Education in theSchools of Wales commissioned bythe Welsh Government, Professor Dai Smith said powerfully, “It is clear … that countries across theworld recognise the significance and potential of the arts in enablingimproved educational, social andeconomic outcomes.”
Professor Graham Donaldson, Successful Futures: Independent Review ofCurriculum and Assessment Arrangements in Wales, 2015
We will use creative teaching and learning andarts activity to tackle lack of aspiration and lowlevels of engagement and achievementamongst disadvantaged learners. In this waythe plan will help to achieve a number of theobjectives of Rewriting the Future: raisingambition and attainment in Welsh schools(2014).
Through strong partnerships with the fourregional education consortia, our actions willalign with the school improvement frameworkset out in the National Model for RegionalWorking – the guidance for regional consortiaand local authorities. We will seek to align thenew arts and creative ‘offer’ with the regionalconsortia infrastructure in order to supportschool leaders and teachers.
By engaging the arts and creative approachesto raise standards in literacy and numeracy, wewill support schools in implementing theNational Literacy and Numeracy Framework.Through our actions we will also support theArts Council of Wales’s Young Creators strategyand the implementation of a number ofrecommendations of Culture and Poverty:Harnessing the power of the arts culture andheritage to promote social justice in Wales(2014) report by Baroness Kay Andrews.
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Our actions
This plan is designed to bring about a stepchange in the range and quality ofopportunities that our children and youngpeople are given to engage with and learnabout the arts and culture. Its success willdepend on strong partnerships: the WelshGovernment in partnership with the ArtsCouncil of Wales, working with the regionaleducation consortia, schools, local authoritiesand the wider arts and cultural sector.
Every aspect of the plan requires the activeinvolvement of artists, creative professionalsand arts, culture and heritage organisationsworking in partnership with teachers andschools. The actions set out on the followingpages will be taken forward by the WelshGovernment and the Arts Council of Wales.
Myths, Arts Connection school project
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With careful planning and appropriateprofessional learning, nurturing the creativityof children and young people through thedeployment of the arts across the curriculumcan bring about significant improvements inmotivation, behaviour and attainment amongchildren and young people.
To prepare our young people to thrive in thefuture economy of Wales, Professor Smith’sreport called for creativity to be given a centralrole within the curriculum, which in turn willrequire our teachers to be supported todevelop a more creative approach to teachingand learning.
We will achieve this through a Lead CreativeSchools Scheme - an intensive interventionthat draws on the skills of creative practitionersand teachers working together.
l Schools applying to be Lead CreativeSchools will identify key issues they wish toaddress through a creative approach tolearning. For example, a secondary schoolmay choose to tackle low attainment inmaths at KS3, using a range of techniques toengage and motivate learners; a primaryschool may wish to develop innovativecross-curricular approaches to boost literacyskills.
l Schools participating in the scheme will beallocated a specially trained creativeprofessional who, in collaboration with theregional consortium and challenge advisor,will work with the school to develop aprogramme which will address theidentified priorities. The programme will beembedded in the school’s improvementplan, benchmarking criteria agreed and datagathered to evidence impact.
l Artists and creative practitioners will beactive in the delivery of the programme.
l The teacher will be central to theprogramme at all times, partnering with thecreative professionals in designing,delivering new approaches and reflectingon their practice.
The Lead Creative Schools Scheme will:
l support schools over a minimum of twoyears to bring about improvements inoutcomes for learners;
l embed changes in teaching practice togenerate a sustainable impact;
l be run in partnership with the 4 regionaleducation consortia;
l be available to around a third of schools inWales (provision for both Welsh and English-medium) over the 5-year period of this plan;
l support schools to find creative approachesto literacy, numeracy and reducing theattainment gap between learners eligiblefor free school meals and their peers;
l include the expectation that teachers willshare the knowledge, skills and experiencethey gain from the scheme, both withintheir school and with others;
l for schools achieving Lead Creative Schoolstatus, provide recognition of these schools’commitment to improvement throughcreative learning and the arts.
We believe that this approach will result insustained improvement and changes topedagogy. Senior management support toembed this intervention with whole-schoolimprovement policy will be the key to itssuccess.
1. Improve attainment through creativity
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l Included consideration of the place of creativity in the curriculum as partof Professor Donaldson’s Review ofCurriculum and Assessment.
l Considered models of creativepractice in education and havedeveloped methodology for a ‘madein Wales’ Lead Creative SchoolsScheme.
l Establish a Lead Creative Schools Scheme,with the potential to reach a third of schoolsin Wales over the 5-year period of this plan.
l Consider the impact, if any, of ProfessorGraham Donaldson’s report on Assessmentand the National Curriculum for themethodology of the Lead Creative SchoolsScheme.
l Support our Lead Creative Schools over a minimum of two years to bring aboutimprovements in outcomes for learners.
In summary: our actions
We have We will
Ffotogallery animation workshop, Stanwell School, Penarth
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2: Increase and improve arts experiences and opportunities for learners
Professor Dai Smith’s report highlighted the factthat there is already a rich and varied arts andcultural offer available to schools across Wales.The challenge is in making that offer morewidespread and more relevant to schools.
To meet this challenge we will establish an All-Wales Arts and Education Programme inorder to:
l increase and improve opportunities forteachers, learners, artists andarts/cultural/heritage organisations to worktogether (through the medium of Englishand Welsh);
l increase opportunities for young people toexperience the work of Wales’s artists andarts/cultural organisations; and
l create more opportunities forcommunication and partnerships betweenschools, artists, arts/cultural/heritageorganisations and local communities.
Through the Arts and Education Programme,schools will be able to: draw on the knowledgeand practice of artists and arts/culturalorganisations to enhance and complement theteaching of the arts in schools; support schoolsin delivering the Minister for Education andSkills’ three priorities of literacy, numeracy andreducing the impact of disadvantage onattainment; and provide arts and culturalexperiences for learners, both within andoutside the curriculum.
We have already signalled our commitment tothis agenda by actions such as remitting Estynto undertake a best-practice review of the artsin schools, commissioning a toolkit to supportliteracy and numeracy through the arts, andother actions listed on page 13 below.
Communicating what’s on offer
Improving communication about what is onoffer is key to widening access. To address this,
a new arts and creative learning portal will beestablished and hosted on Hwb, the all-Waleslearning platform.
The portal will be designed for use by teachers,learners, arts and cultural organisations andpractitioners. It will provide information onopportunities for schools, showcase bestpractice, host resources for teachers andarts/cultural organisations, provide informationon professional learning opportunities, andcontacts for local, regional and nationalnetworks.
Regional working
We will improve arts and creative opportunitiesfor learners through regional networks. FourRegional Arts and Education Networks willdeliver the Arts and Education Programme,with close links to the regional educationconsortia, challenge advisors, and the co-ordinators responsible for the Lead CreativeSchools Scheme. The remit of the networks willinclude:
l Collating and disseminating best practice;
l Establishing and co-ordinating arts andcreative learning networking opportunities(face to face and digital), for teachers, artists,arts and cultural organisations;
l Providing a ‘brokerage’ service betweenschools and artists, arts/culturalorganisations;
l Providing training opportunities for artspractitioners to improve and tailor theirprovision to the needs and priorities ofschools;
l Providing opportunities for teachers andartists to develop and share theirknowledge and skills; and
l Managing and co-ordinating a ‘local artschampions’ programme.
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Local Arts Champions will be experiencedteachers of the arts. Their schools will befunded to release them to spend short periodsof time promoting best practice, supportingothers to adopt similar approaches, or bringingothers into their school to observe and learn.Artists and arts/cultural organisations will alsohave opportunities to undertake this role.
For schools to gain the benefits of participatingin the Arts and Education Programme, seniormanagement of schools will be asked to
demonstrate their full support. We will askthem to nominate a member of staff, preferablya head of department or member of the seniormanagement team to play the role of SchoolCreativity and Arts Champion. This person willbe the link between their school and theopportunities available through the regionalnetwork. They will help their school to identifytheir arts education priorities, ensure that theirschool is aware of best practice and can makethe most of the benefits of greater access toarts and creative opportunities.
Hafod Primary School children studying sculpture and producing charcoal drawings
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Experiencing the arts
An ‘Experiencing the Arts’ fund will encourageschools to provide children and young peoplewith opportunities to ‘go one step further’ intheir exploration of creative, cultural and artsexperiences. These opportunities will haveparticular benefits for learners from deprivedbackgrounds with limited access to activeparticipation in the arts. This fund can bedrawn on to support visits to venues such asgalleries and theatres in order to enrichlearning in the classroom, or used to supportnew and innovative collaboration betweenschools and arts and cultural organisations. Inall cases, schools will be expected todemonstrate how the activity contributes toand enriches learning and offers learnerssomething new and stimulating.
Progression routes
We recognise the need to consider supportand progression for our more able andtalented learners. A number of arts initiativesexist in Wales that provide opportunities fortalented children and young people, enablingthem to participate in enrichment activitiesand to work alongside our leading artsprofessionals. However, these opportunities are not available nationwide.
Mapping will be undertaken by the ArtsCouncil of Wales to develop a morecomprehensive picture of what is currentlyavailable from our arts and culturalorganisations for our talented young people.This research will highlight opportunities andgaps in provision as well as identifying thecurrent and future resources needed tosupport this work.
The Welsh Government is conducting a reviewto identify the provision available for more ableand talented (MAT) learners aged 3-19 acrossWales. This includes provision for learnerspursuing creative or arts subjects, such asperforming and visual arts. The purpose of the review is to understand how schools, FEinstitutions/colleges and local authoritiesidentify, support and challenge MAT learners.The findings of this review, together with theoutcomes of the Arts Council of Wales research,will inform our future actions.
Wherever they are on their creative journey,young people need access to balanced andinformative advice on careers so that they areaware of the opportunities available and theskills required. We recognise that there is workdo be done with stakeholders and partnerssuch as sector skills councils, and our nationalcultural organisations, on how young peoplecan gain a better understanding aboutpathways into this sector. We will exploreoptions for communicating information onopportunities and career pathways to teachersand learners. We will also ask Careers Wales towork with the arts and creative sectors toprovide up-to-date and accessible onlineinformation about occupations.
We also recognise the powerful role that thearts and creative skills can have in engaging,motivating and building the confidence ofyoung people who are at risk of leaving schoolwithout qualifications and with no clear routeinto further education or employment. Theregional networks will foster links between artsorganisations, schools, local authority YouthEngagement and Progression coordinators andlead workers who support young people at riskof disengaging from education and training.Through these links we will increase awarenessof and participation in the creativeopportunities available for marginalised youngpeople, and align the implementation of thisplan with the Welsh Government's YouthEngagement and Progression Framework.
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l Commissioned a toolkit to supportliteracy/numeracy and the arts.
l Remitted Estyn to undertake a ‘bestpractice’ review of the arts in schoolsat Key Stages 2, 3 and 4.
l Published case studies on the arts ineducation on Learning Wales.
l Included the arts in the Pupil Offer forPathways to Success Schools as part of Schools Challenge Cymru.
l Published guidance on using the PupilDeprivation Grant in support of artsand cultural activity.
l Included the arts in the WelshGovernment commissioned Review to Identify More Able and TalentedProvision across Wales.
l Develop an arts and creative learning portal to be hosted on Hwb, the all-Wales learningplatform.
l Fund four Arts and Education Networks todeliver a range of activities at regional, localand school level.
l Set up an ‘Experiencing the Arts’ fund forschools.
l Integrate arts-based activities whereappropriate in the training and supportprovided to schools to implement the Literacyand Numeracy Framework.
l Work with the arts and heritage sectors topromote opportunities to support learners todevelop literacy and numeracy skills.
l Work with arts and cultural organisations toincrease their education ‘offer’ to schools, tomake it more accessible and in line withschools’ needs and priorities.
l Continue to work with Pathways to SuccessSchools (Schools Challenge Cymru) toincorporate the arts within their Pupil Offer.
l Develop a learning pack on the PupilDeprivation Grant and arts and cultural activity.
l Consider the findings of the Review to IdentifyMore Able and Talented Provision across Wales,and develop appropriate actions.
l Ask Careers Wales to work with the sector toprovide up-to-date and accessible onlineinformation about arts and creativeoccupations.
In summary: our actions
We have We will
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l Work with our national cultural organisationsand other stakeholders to explore options forcommunicating information about careerpathways in the arts/cultural/creative sectorsand to strengthen links between schools andthese sectors.
l Work with Youth Engagement and Progressioncoordinators in the local authorities to promoteparticipation in the arts for young people atrisk of leaving school without qualifications.
In summary: our actions
We have We will
School visit to Oriel Myrddin Gallery (image: Seren Stacey)
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3: Support our teachers and arts practitioners to develop their skills
Sustainability will be built into this plan bymaking changes to the way teachers, artspractitioners and cultural institutions developtheir practice, and to the way in which schools,consortia and cultural organisations developtheir policy.
We know that the features of successful changeto teaching practice include the establishmentof professional learning communities, access tospecialist expertise from outside the schoolenvironment, learning rooted in evidencegained from experimenting with newapproaches in the classroom, and challengingnegative assumptions about what pupils canand cannot achieve. This is in line with theprinciples of the Professional Learning Modelwhich has been developed to support theprofessional learning of all educationalpractitioners in Wales as part of the New Dealfor the Education Workforce. We will applythese approaches to the methodology forprofessional learning in the Lead CreativeSchools Scheme and the All-Wales Arts inEducation Programme.
To enable teachers and creative professionalsto fulfil their roles in the Lead Creative SchoolsScheme, high quality professional learning willbe provided for teachers, creativeprofessionals, arts champions and arts andheritage organisations.
Schools participating in the programme willshare the knowledge and experience gainedwith other schools, in an approach whichcontinues to be modelled by our Lead andEmerging Practitioner Schools Pathfinderprogramme. Establishing opportunities forteachers and arts/cultural practitioners tocome together to share experiences and tolearn with and from each other is central to thedelivery of this plan. Local, regional andnational networking opportunities will bedeveloped to share best practice and to ensurethat the improvements in practice aresustained.
We need to ensure that the knowledge andskills necessary to deliver the plan aretransferred and embedded in the educationand culture sectors within Wales. We willtherefore run a programme to ‘train thetrainers’, to ensure that we have the capacity tocontinue delivery of high quality professionallearning provision, on completion of this 5-yearplan.
Our investment in the development of artistsand creative practitioners will result in apowerful cohort of trained culturalprofessionals. Evidence from elsewhere inEurope suggests that such professionals, oncetrained, remain active within the educationalsector employed and supported directly byschools and other agencies. As schoolsexperiment with a wider range of creative andcultural opportunities, supported by theProfessional Learning Model, they will becomemuch more discerning and effectiveconsumers of arts and cultural opportunities.
We will also explore the opportunities forcollaboration between Welsh Initial TeacherEducation and Training (ITET) centres and theLead Creative Schools Scheme, and thepossibilities for sharing best practice indeveloping creative teaching methodology.Longer term changes may of course beinfluenced by the Welsh Government’sresponse to the recommendations of ProfessorDonaldson’s Review of Assessment and theNational Curriculum for Wales, and therecommendations emerging from ProfessorJohn Furlong’s review of ITET in Wales,including proposed changes to the QualifiedTeacher Status Standards as part of the work tosupport the professional standards forteachers.
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l Developed a framework to supportthe professional learning of alleducational practitioners in Wales –the Professional Learning Model.
l Included the arts in the Masters inEducational Practice unit on Poverty.
l Develop professional learning opportunitiesfor teachers and arts practitioners in our All-Wales Arts and Education Programme thatsupport the national priorities of improvingstandards of literacy and numeracy and ofnarrowing the attainment gap and which arefully aligned to the Professional LearningModel.
l Offer a bespoke professional learningprogramme for practitioners – teachers andcreative/arts practitioners – in our LeadCreative Schools Scheme.
l Develop a sustainable approach to professionallearning through ‘training the trainers’ for ourLead Creative Schools Scheme.
l Include creative teaching methodology andcollaboration with arts/cultural organisationsin the structure for the new Mastersprogrammes that will be launched in 2016.
l Encourage ITET centres to promote creativeteaching methodology and links with the LeadCreative Schools Scheme, and encourage theembedding of the arts into ITET programmes.
l Develop case studies of effective practice,including examples of arts participation in linewith the Professional Learning Model.
In summary: our actions
We have We will
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An evaluation will be undertaken to assess theeffectiveness of the Lead Creative SchoolsScheme and the All-Wales Arts in EducationProgramme over the 5-year period of the plan.This will collect and examine evidence inrelation to outputs, outcomes and impact;including data-gathering from schools andregional education consortia. The research willbe designed in a way to capture impact thatmight be attributable to the Lead CreativeSchools Scheme in particular, as well as provideevidence about implementation that can beused to improve the scheme and the All-WalesArts in Education Programme over the periodof the funding. In particular, the evaluation willconsider the impact of the plan on threeaspects of pupil development:
l Progress in attainment in numeracy andliteracy;
l The impact of the programme on reducingthe differences in attainment of youngpeople from different socio-economicbackgrounds; and
l The creativity of learners.
The research undertaken to evaluate the LeadCreative Schools Scheme and the All-WalesArts in Education offer will be published on theWelsh Government website.
Evaluation and reporting
l Gather evidence to demonstrate theimpact of arts interventions oneducational outcomes.
l Publish reports on the progress of thisplan each year, with actions for thefollowing year.
l Publish research papers relating to theevaluation during, and on completionof, the 5-year plan.
In summary: our actions
We will
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Strategic partnership
Welsh Government and Arts Council of Walesworking with regional education consortia and other stakeholders
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1. The Welsh Government should formallyassert the central role which it envisagesfor arts education in the schools of Walesby making a commitment to the provisionof high quality arts education and accessto the arts.
2. The Welsh Government should promotethe use of the arts in helping to deliverimproved numeracy and literacy, and inreducing the attainment gap.
3. The Welsh Government should enhancethe current curriculum to include creativity,alongside numeracy and literacy as a coretheme across all the subject disciplines andin both primary and secondary education;further the Welsh Government shouldconsider an arts rich education to be coreto the whole school experience of allpupils, and should, with the Arts Council ofWales, seek to enable wide experience ofthe arts outside school as well asinteraction with professional artists in theschool environment.
4. That all initial teacher training (ITT)delivered by HE institutions in Walesshould ensure that creative teachingmethodology is ‘core’ to educationalpractice.
5. The Welsh Government and the ArtsCouncil of Wales should work with a groupof experienced education practitioners todevelop a new framework for arts relatedcontinuing professional development(CPD). This should address the needs bothof teachers and of arts practitioners, andsupport the national priorities ofimproving standards of literacy andnumeracy and of narrowing theattainment gap.
6. The Welsh Government should support:
• The fostering of schools ‘arts champions’within the new national plan for creativelearning
• Welsh Arts Awards and/or medals forindividual teachers
7. The Arts Council of Wales and LocalGovernment should be remitted to workwith local authorities and educationconsortia to prioritise a range of specificinitiatives, to support and develop creativeteaching, to include:
• WAM (Wales Arts Mark) Certificates
• Mentoring of teachers with artspractitioners and arts organisations
• Working with local government toidentify, develop and sustain a system of schools ‘arts champions’
8. The Welsh Government and the ArtsCouncil of Wales should ensure that aCreative Education Portal is developed, asan additional, integrated element of ‘Hwb’,the all-Wales Digital Learning Platform.
9. The Arts Council of Wales should beremitted to work with its revenue fundedclients and other cultural institutions toestablish ‘Creative Learning Networks’ toencourage arts, artists, teachers, parentsand educationalists to exchange ideas andinformation, and to work together withProfessional Learning Communities toimprove standards of creative learning inschools. The Networks should reflect andinform the four regional educationconsortia.
Summary of recommendations from an independent report for the Welsh Government into Arts in Education in the Schools of Wales
Annex 1
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10. The Welsh Government should explorefunding options aimed at ensuring thatequitable provision is available to youngpeople in all art forms, and thatexceptionally talented young people areable to pursue and develop their talent.
11. The Welsh Government and Careers Walesshould work in partnership to support astronger focus on providing morebalanced careers advice to young peopleto highlight opportunities and pathways inthe arts and creative industries sector.
12. The Welsh Government should requireEstyn to undertake a periodic audit ofWelsh schools to assess the embedding ofcreative learning, and the quality of theongoing arts experience and its impact onliteracy and numeracy outcomes.
Creative storytelling workshop with Emma Cartwright, Mission Gallery