Enhancing Visual Arts Education

Topic(s) addressed

• Creativity– the inspiration of artists and artwork 

• Sustainability– mutual learning (school staff, community and experts in Art Institutes) 

• Transformation of spaces and well-being 

• Inclusion of pupils of all ages learning together

Target groups

• 140 pupils

• 28 school staff 

• 600+ parents and community

Methodologies

• Visual Arts identified as an appropriate means of addressing multiculturalism, diversity, inclusion and literacy (School Self Evaluation- SSE)

• Intensive training at the European level proved advantageous to all staff due to the high percentage of pupils needing English as an Additional Language (EAL) interventions.

• Various digital, creative, sustainable and mutual learning possibilities (the influence of the Architectural Biennale in Venice and Covid-19 limitations)

Environments

The Walk-About Gallery:

• making the pupils’ artwork accessible despite Covid-19 restrictions

• re-imagining and re-purposing the school corridors

• installing good quality notice boards and checking ventilation

The school will continue to hold five Walk-About Galleries annually, with nearly two hundred metres of accessible gallery space.

Teachers

• Coming up with innovative ideas aptly reacting to the Covid-19 challenges (Walk-About Galleries)

• Teachers introduced paintings relevant to the themes of climate change and sustainability

• Pieter Bruegel's Hunters in the Snow used as an illustration of the potential effect of the sea level rise on the local area

• Discussion spurred by the painting led to creative problem-solving.

Impact

• Building bridges between education and the wider community through contact with local galleries and Colleges of art

• Making visual arts a vehicle for change in the school through sharing information on the project with the wider school community

• Investigating the ways to promote students’ environmental responsibility through artistic processes

• Pitching the arts as a viable career path to the parents via school-based creative careers talks & workshops programme.