Arts Council of Wales is the official public body that develops and funds the arts in Wales. We offer grants with money that we receive from the Welsh Government, the National Lottery and other sources of public and private support.
Our “vision” is of a creative Wales where the arts are central to the life and well-being of the nation, making our country an exciting and vibrant place to live, work and visit. This means recognising the cultural entitlement and creative needs of all individuals and communities across Wales.
Creative learning through the arts: an action plan for Wales 2015-2020 is an Arts Council of Wales and Welsh Government partnership programme that has transformed teaching and learning by placing the arts and creativity at the heart of education. The first phase of the programme ran from 2015-20 and was extended for a further 2 years from 2020–2022.
Since 2015, the Lead Creative School Scheme has worked with 658 schools across Wales, 113 of which have been secondary schools. This has provided opportunities for over 300 secondary school teachers to collaborate with creative professionals in the classroom to develop creative teaching and learning approaches within their school settings.
As part of Phase 2 of the Creative learning programme, the Arts Council of Wales launched an opportunity designed specifically for secondary schools who had previously been a Lead Creative School.
The aim of this strand was to assist these secondary schools to further explore, develop and embed their understanding of creative learning collaboratively across Areas of Learning and to explore curriculum design and delivery in preparation for Curriculum for Wales.
A key focus of this Enhanced Secondary Offer has been exploring approaches to embedding creativity across the curriculum achieved through working with creative professionals to co-design projects. The offer has also focussed on professional learning for teachers. The offer has worked with a small group of schools which, alongside Creative Agents and Practitioners have, formed a network through which they have shared and reflected on their experiences.
This offer aimed to provide Secondary schools with the opportunity to:
- Work with creative professionals to further develop and embed creative learning practice, expertise and pedagogy across Areas of Learning and Experience, to transform learner outcomes and support a change in the learning culture in schools
- co-design the programme collaboratively to include and respond to the real needs of teaching professionals
- Address each schools development priorities, focussing on Years 7 and 8
- explore transformational and reflective approaches to teaching and learning
- engage in collaborative working to form a learning network of secondary school teaching professionals across Wales
- support your school in preparation for Curriculum for Wales
The Brief
We are seeking an individual or organisation to help us evaluate the Lead Creative Schools Scheme: Enhanced Secondary Schools Offer.
You will work alongside the schools, Creative Agents, Creative Practitioners and members of the Arts Council of Wales’ Creative learning team connecting with and drawing on the experiences of all involved.
We are looking for an external perspective which will identify and draw out the learning, insights and challenges from this strand of the programme.
We are particularly keen to evaluate:
- Whether the individual projects have helped schools and participants to develop a deeper understanding of creative practice and creative teaching across the curriculum and the impact of this on learner outcomes
- The impact of the programme on teacher’s professional development both ‘in situ’, through involvement in the network formed and through wider conversations with their Creative Agent, each other, their pupils, and the Creative Practitioners.
- The impact on the development and delivery of school development priorities within and across Areas of Learning.
- The impact and potential benefits of making connections and collaborating between Areas of Learning and Experience
- How this programme has helped teachers prepare for the Curriculum for Wales 2022
- Whether there have been any other unexpected or surprising observations and outcomes arising from undertaking this project.
- Insights into the complexities facing secondary schools today.
- The impact on the creative professionals
The evaluation could be delivered in a number of different ways and we are open to hearing your ideas about the best way to achieve this.
We anticipate the fee for this work being in the region of £10,000.
If you’d like to find out more, please contact Sian James, Programme Manager for Creative learning through the arts: sian.james@arts.wales
How to apply
We want the application process to be as fair and equitable as possible. We pledge to make reasonable adjustments to achieve this. Please get in touch if there are any adjustments we could make or additional support we could offer to assist you and/or your organisation in applying. We will come up with suitable alternative options together. If you need information in other formats or help to apply, do contact us via the email address above.
There is no formal application form. Instead, we are asking you and/or your organisation to submit an Expression of Interest explaining in your own words why you would like to be considered for this work.
Ideally we would like you to have an understanding of the education sector and the challenges that face the Secondary School system.
We are asking you to do this by sending us a letter that includes the following information:
* Telling us why you and/or your organisation are interested in evaluating the Lead Creative Schools Scheme: Enhanced Secondary Schools Offer
* Describing the specific knowledge and experience you feel that you and/or your organisation will bring to the work.
* Outlining how you and/or your organisation see the work being delivered.
* Providing a detailed budget
Your letter should be sent to: sian.james@arts.wales
We would be grateful if your Expression of Interest could reach us no later than 17/09/2021.
A decision will be made on 30/09/2021