pace and individual pieces of art.
Findings to date in Phase 1 show that increasing ownership of the physical spaces in the gallery brought some challenges for teachers. They were sometimes limited in their use of artworks as curriculum resources. In interviews, they reflected that the main reason for this was that they felt they needed specialist knowledge. They felt that they needed to know artworks in this way before they could connect to or discuss them with the children, maintaining a traditional teacher/learner dynamic rather than facilitating the children’s own ideas or adopting a position of learner alongside the children.
Over time, the teachers did report that they felt freer and more able to be spontaneous. One teacher described how she felt more creative because of the experience. Examples included using pieces of art as a stimulus for writing, reading, history or, in one case, music. Even when the curriculum topic being covered could not be directly related to the art available in the gallery, the lessons still took place in the gallery space, encouraging the children to feel confident there. It was not uncommon to see children working independently on mathematics under a Lowry painting or their favourite piece of art.
The children involved were hugely positive about the experience and there was evidence of increased ownership of the gallery spaces. The focus groups showed that the children felt that they had been given increasing freedom and responsibility throughout the residency and had learned in a more engaged and dynamic way. One child said that going to the gallery everyday was ‘like we were stepping into another world’.
The headteacher, who visited the classes on numerous occasions, observed that he felt that the children had more time for themselves. Interviews and focus groups corroborated the fact that both teachers and pupils viewed these opportunities to engage personally with the artwork in the gallery positively. Several children who teachers reported were not particularly confident at school thrived and showed signs of becoming much more independent.
The next stage of the project will examine how the gallery can boost teacher confidence in using the artwork within their curriculum. Interviews also showed that teachers were sometimes anxious about the behaviour of their children in an open public space.
An output of the project has been a new collection display co-curated with local primary teachers to provide a starting point for schools to engage with artwork and open the processes of curating. Schools-in-residence learn more about these processes before their residency begins and can select works from the gallery stores and swap them in and out of the display, taking ownership of the display to connect to their own interests. They are given the opportunity during the residency to generate interpretation materials for the display to make visible their own ideas, responses and knowledge for other visitors.
These experiences of the residency and the display are not designed to provide one-off arts experiences or prescribed curriculum links. Rather, we aim to support teachers in connecting with the collection in ways that are relevant to them and the curriculum, developing their experience in using artworks creatively, confidently and independently. The display provides a unique opportunity for teachers to experiment and reflect on their own practice and for children to develop their confidence in visiting and engaging with cultural venues: www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/exhibition/ideas-depot
The next stage of the study will be a further two residencies in the next six months. This will help the university and gallery to identify and test out a programme of professional development. At a time in the UK when cultural education is so at risk, the development of this model as a meaningful and genuine collaboration between schools and cultural organisations offers a strategic solution for sustainable engagement.
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (2012) The Culture White Paper