Participation in community arts

Participation in community arts Professor Carolyn Kagan and Dr Ornette Clennon, Research Institute for Health and Social Change, Manchester Metropolitan Unviersity

Merseybank Intergenerational Community Evaluation • To create intergenerational evaluation teams to evaluate community projects • Creative methods – photography, film making, poetry, storytelling, • Skills development • Areas of multiple deprivation in the city of Manchester

Project planning A participative process was used to explore the nature of evaluation and to plan the project

Getting to know each other

Poetry workshop A poet facilitated exploration of styles and content working intergenerationally and individually

Our place

Out of the ghetto

Another world exists

The exhibition

Conscientisation • I didn’t think I’d like the poem session, but I did. I met people I wouldn’t have met before and thought about things I wouldn’t have thought before. I have thought about why we think about others in the way we do. • Thinking about our place makes us realise why it is as it is • I enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with older people, bonding with each other and finding out about their lives and what goes on in the community. • I hadn’t really thought about it before. Well, I knew what I thought about the place but didn’t realise I feel so strongly- both good an bad.

Conscientisation… • I didn’t think I’d like the poem session, but I did. I met people I wouldn’t have met before and thought about things I wouldn’t have thought before. I have thought about why we think about others in the way we do. • Working together on the poem gave me a real insight into how other generations react to being on the same estate. It made me think differently about my life and why it is as it is.

Raised self esteem • This has made me feel more confident about the project. Well, about myself too. • I think that now, if I can write a poem, I can do anything! • [when I found I had won the poetry competition I said “omg...are you kidding me?...I'm well chuffed...wootwooh...

Motivation for action • It has been a great insight into [what is possible] which I feel is beneficial to any community. The people I have met and worked with are an inspiration in a world which can be very cynical towards either the young or those who are older.It has made me want to do more

Project overall..self empowerment • One long term unemployed older person got a job during the course of the project and another soon after it ended. • A younger participant who had dropped out of school, applied for and got a training place for a child care course. • The oldest participant said she had gained a great deal by spending time with others from a nearby but different socioeconomic area, and produced a touching oral history accompanied by photographs of her life

All Change for Crewe Research Project http://www.allchangeforcrewe.co.uk/

All Change for Crewe Education AgendaMacro Aims • Improve attainment levels in low-performing schools, and increase levels of skills/qualifications • Align Further/Higher Education provision with the needs of knowledge-based and growth-orientated sectors in the local economy • Support existing major employers in developing their in-house skills, and more generally help to nurture new and innovative businesses

All Change for Crewe Research AgendaMicro Aims • Looking at impact of self-esteem on educational attainment and academic self-concept (Self Esteem) • Looking at raising community aspirations towards Higher Education (Self Empowerment) • Linking educational empowerment with wider community economic empowerment (Motivation for Action)

Participants • We worked with year 5 and year 6 children (aged 8-10yrs) from two local primary schools (N=94) • We worked with elderly residents from two local care homes

Methodology 1 • Creative writing, music workshops exploring WW1 as part of national commemorative activities and visiting the university campus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_NWs_1Er04&feature=youtu.be (Segment 9:24 – 10:36)

Methodology 2 • The design was quasi-experimental using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and used both a non-random and randomised samples • Used AHEQ (Attitudes towards Higher Education Questionnaire) (Maras, 2007) • Used Map of Me Graffiti chart (Clennon, 2013)

Methodology 2 • Map of Me Graffiti Chart

Data Analysis • We carried out the analysis by using Pearson’s r-correlation (r) and Spearman’s rank correlation (rho). • Our main measurement of pre- and post-intervention correlation and significance for AHEQ was Pearson’s r-correlation with a measurement for p. • In order to judge whether ‘Map of Me’ comparisons between pre- and post-intervention control and test rankings were reliable, we found it useful to test the distribution of the data and its statistical significance with Spearman’s rank.

Findings • The boys attained consistently lower scores than the girls for Academic Self-image, Peer engagement, General Self-worth and Education • The boys’ findings are consistent with existing literature examining boys’ attainment • Social collaborative learning seemed to better suit the girls • Boys showed a preference for gaming • Gaming can also be a form of social collaborative learning (McClarty, et al., 2012) • Minecraft is an educational gaming platform gaining in popularity in Schools in the UK

Recommendations • We recommended that funding should be made available for more (primary) teacher training in the educational use of Minecraft and educational gaming. As coding will become part of part of the National Curriculum for Computing, this could be a good time to invest in this area • We recommended reviewing the wider role that gaming could play in both educational and social interventions in Crewe (especially working with NEETs) • We recommended assessing the potential impact of gaming on Crewe’s creative industries and whether a co-ordinated ‘curriculum’ of (social/educational) gaming across Crewe’s education providers would contribute to entrepreneurial growth in Crewe’s creative economy.

Implications for Community Empowerment • Community Arts as catalyst for engagement in Education • Education as a primary driver in economic regeneration for communities (OECD, 2006). • Engagement/Empowerment at local level • Engagement/Empowerment at Local Authority level

References • Clennon, O. (2013). How effective are music interventions in the criminal youth justice sector? Community music making and its potential for community and social transformation: A pilot study. Journal of Music, Technology & Education, 6(1), 103 - 130. • Maras, P. (2007). ‘But no one in my family has been to University’ Aiming Higher: School Students’ Attitudes to Higher Education. The Australian Educational Researcher, 34(3), 69-90. • McClarty, K. L., Orr, A., Frey, P. M., Dolan, R. P., Vassileva, V., & McVay, A. (2012). A Literature Review of Gaming in Education: Research Report. researchnetwork.pearson.com. • OECD. (2006, February 16). Early childhoods and Schools: Personalising Education. Retrieved from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/personalisingeducation.htm

Participation in community arts