in collaboration with Bath Spa University and 5x5x5=creativity
29th September 2014
Focus: Developing our methodology and emerging research questions
Key questions and discussions:
- How do we develop a methodology that illuminates creative and democratic practice in relation to the arts in our schools?
- How can we use the concept of ‘glow moments’ (inspired by MacLure, 2010) in order to show beautiful learning and to illuminate the importance of creative practice?
- How can we approach the processes of documentation and reflection throughout the project, ensuring that the lens we look through is on behalf of the arts?
- Within our documentation, how can we use the concept of ‘crystallisation’ (Richardson, 2000), rather than ‘triangulation’, to show multiple perspectives and to add richness, complexity and depth to our research?
This session focused on the development of a methodological approach that is consistent with the creative and democratic ethos of each school and of 5x5x5=creativity. We discussed the idea of ‘glow moments’, a notion discussed by MacLure (2010) in relation to research and in particular analysis of documentation. We discussed the importance of documentation within the research process and of reflecting on that documentation in relation to our focus. Each school discussed their emerging research questions, providing some context in relation to how these questions had emerged and their importance within the wider context of their settings. As a group we discussed each question and through a collaborative process shared advice regarding how each question might be developed, for example by refining its focus in relation to the arts and the principles of CPRT. We also discussed the processes of documentation that might emerge in relation to each question and how this documentation may feed into further development of the research question and of how those questions might be explored in each school context.
6th November 2014
Focus: Sharing emerging themes and refining our research questions
Key questions and discussions:
- What are the key themes that have begun to emerge within our research, in relation to our research questions?
- How will this research project be explored within each setting, for example, with a cross section of children, with a focus on a particular year group, as a school wider project?
- What approaches to data collection have been used within each setting?
- How might reflection on this documentation affect our research questions, planned research activities, processes of documentation and approaches to methodology?
Within this session, each setting shared their progress with their research, identifying some key emerging themes, for example: that some children have limited access to opportunities for drawing within school and at home; different approaches used by different teachers to explore the research question; the importance of enabling time for discussion and reflection as a staff team; the importance of having a common vocabulary of enquiry; the ways in which questioning and commentary can frame and extend children’s reflections on learning; and the possible ways in which we can bring together different types of documentation to illuminate the impact of different practices. Each setting shared some emergent documentation and discussed how their projects were developing within their schools, discussing the different approaches taken. We revisited each schools research questions and discussed how these might now be developed in response to what had emerged from their documentation and reflection to this point.
26th November 2014
Focus: Progress so far, what is emerging?
Key questions and discussions:
- Research methods: How are we working with the concept of ‘glow moments’ within each setting? How does this concept relate to our use of the creative and reflective cycle? How are these methodological processes emerging within our work? Is there anything that is currently not working? Why not?
- Research questions: Reflecting on what we have done so far, are there any changes we need to make?
- Communicating our research: What opportunities will we have to communicate our research, in and out of the city of Bath, and to the wider CPRT group? What form might that communication and dissemination take?
This session focused on discussion the research processes within each setting, identifying what was going well and where there might be challenges. Each setting shared documentation from their work so far, in different forms, for example photographs and children’s drawings. Opportunities for further professional learning and support were discussed in relation to the emerging priorities of each school. A desire for bespoke CPD sessions, for example focused on the relationship between drawing and writing, was shared and discussed, including the opportunity of collaborating with local artists and cultural centres to deliver this support.
Penny Hay and Katherine Evans
January 2015