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Rethinking Education

A group for anyone who wants to help us develop an NTW approach to education.

Members: 140
Latest Activity: Feb 1, 2022

Our Manifesto

To act as a catalyst in creating new networks to stimulate debate across arts, education and beyond

To provide a forum to discuss education in a language that encourages fresh and innovative ideas

To develop leaders and advocates from a range of backgrounds, working throughout the whole education system

To focus on creating long-term solutions to the problems of the formal education system

To encourage cross-curricular dialogue to promote the benefits of the arts at all stages of the educational experience

Come join us.

Discussion Forum

Creative Schools: what's happening out there? 2 Replies

The creative schools/ creative practitioners project has been running for about 2 school years now. I was so enthusiastic about its aims when launched at the Arts Council Wales event. I think the…Continue

Started by Bill Hamblett. Last reply by Martin Daws Apr 16, 2018.

Sharing - Rethinking Education for the 21st Century 1 Reply

http://shar.es/131gVNNesta posted this on twitter this morning. It is an article written by Naveen Jain called School's Out For Summer. It was originally posted…Continue

Started by Jain Boon. Last reply by 4elements1 May 31, 2015.

Going forward

What if there is a way to take any discussion group to impact the future, involve the group and conversation , by discussion, attitude, interaction be it voice visual impact, more engagement allows…Continue

Started by Gary Morris Feb 27, 2015.

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Comment by Naomi Chiffi on July 7, 2015 at 2:30

Hi all

We are hoping to hold the first of our regional Rethinking Education group meetings in September in Cardiff and in early October in West Wales.  Please let me know if you'd like to come along to get involved in the discussions - it would be great to get as broad a group as possible!

Thank you

Naomi 

Comment by Devinda De Silva on July 2, 2015 at 22:48

The presentations, slides and videos from the recent Creative Learning Through the Arts Briefing Sessions can be found here

Comment by Dan Lloyd (Flameholder) on June 19, 2015 at 11:06

I love your attitude Naomi, I agree, but unfortunately you're fighting against the entire freemarket economy.

Comment by Naomi Chiffi on June 18, 2015 at 2:18

Thanks Daniel and Gareth, some really interesting contributions.  I agree, Daniel that we have been forced into this belief that 'real life' = boring and it's a huge failing of not only educators but parents to try and squeeze freedom of creativity and expression out in favour of adherence to rigid structures in order to get through exams (as if that is the greatest goal of 'education'....)  The whole idea needs to be looked at differently - that freedom through creativity can actually have a positive effect on performance purely because the candidate is naturally more expressive as a result of the creatively free approach they've been encouraged to adopt through their learning.  I would be interested to hear from any parents who have chosen to electively home-educate their children about their own approaches to learning through play.  

Gareth, your response is so detailed and helpful, thank you - it would be interesting to hear more about the types of games you are talking about - do you think these are techniques that could be utilised by teachers across all curriculum areas?  How could a science or maths teacher use these techniques in a practical sense in their lessons?

Thanks again both

Comment by Gareth Tempest on June 17, 2015 at 4:49


Hey Naomi I think that’s a really interesting question

I’m a huge advocator of the idea of play and think it’s essential to any creative process whether it be in the context of putting together a show or one of personal development. 
Whenever I teach or run workshops I always try and work from this base of play and use structured games as teaching tools to try and make complex stage techniques and approaches to acting accessible for children and young adults. I can only speak from my own experience but through exploration of games and group feedback, led by the children, I’ve always found they’re very quick to discover how a scene could be developed and improved.   I think as a teacher you need to be really clear in setting out the objectives and rules of each game and obviously ensure that you’ve created a safe space for the company to explore and develop idea in. However as long as you’re there to aid them in their discoveries, steer them away from bad technique and stagecraft then I think you should leave as much of the discovery up to them as possible.
By giving them this power to influence a scene, see it change and unlock it for themselves I think you’re giving them a sense of ownership over their craft. This sense of ownership and the acquired knowledge, I feel, makes them more likely to embrace the idea of being an artist, as they feel a part of the art. 
Another reason I love game play is it removes the idea of ‘acting.’ In my opinion all an audience needs from it’s actors is honesty and sometimes the best way for performers to access this is through a game play within a scene. And just to be completely clear I’m no talking about tag or zip zap boing but a well structured games that suit the scene and environment focusing on the relationships and characters on stage. I’ve often found that this frees actors and performers from the idea of ‘doing acting’ as they’re focus is taken away from doing ‘good acting’ and placed into the scene unfolding in front of them.
With all this in mind I think it’s not only possible to extend the idea of learning and development through play to the age of 18 but I think it’s the key to them considering themselves artists. 
I apologise that it’s such a long response but I thought it was a great question and so thought I’d share my personal views on it.
All the best.
Gareth
Comment by Dan Lloyd (Flameholder) on June 16, 2015 at 8:14

I like Gavin's last link. For Naomi's questions I say they already are artists because we're born creative and the idea of learning through play should be lifelong. That's we have so many adults making life wrong, we've turned society into some pseudo-real version of itself where people guard the idea (purely through conditioning) that life is most real when it's most boring. What I mean is whenever art is put into an industry or financial context it instantly becomes boring, but we seem to think that's some nitty gritty stuff we have to deal with. I say no, we choose to deal with it, there's a difference.

Comment by Naomi Chiffi on June 16, 2015 at 1:58

Hi all

I'm Naomi and I am delighted to have been appointed as Education TEAM Assistant with NTW.  I am very excited about ways in which we can develop an innovative, useful and exciting 'NTW' approach to education.  Over the coming weeks I will be asking for contributors to these discussions in person at Rethinking Education Group meetings that will be held in venues throughout Wales.  For now, it would be great to continue to hear your contributions online and I would love to hear your thoughts on the following questions:

How can we best enable young people to think of themselves as artists rather than teaching them how to 'do' theatre?  

Should we and can we extend the idea of learning through play right up to the age of eighteen? 

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Comment by Bill Hamblett on May 22, 2015 at 4:22

Comment by Gavin Porter on May 18, 2015 at 3:02

THIS IS THE FUTURE OF COLLEGE

IT'S NOT THE DEATH OF HIGHER EDUCATION, BUT COLLEGE AS WE'VE KNOWN IT WILL BE FORCED TO UNDERGO SOME DRAMATIC CHANGES IN THE NEXT DECADE.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3046299/the-new-rules-of-work/this-is-th...

Comment by Anna Shaw on May 5, 2015 at 10:09
Just been catching up a bit on the discussion. Starting at the end and working backwards..missed so much! But, totally enjoyed the RSAnimation piece. How very true! And, I still sooh regret animation not following my heart and doing animation when I was leaving school. I was told animation would be all computerised (with no room for us Morph fans who wanted to do 'stop-gap' animation), and that 'theatre in education' was gone too (funding cuts again)... but there is always a way, if the paper clip can vary to adapt and be useful....so can we. I was told I had the right kind of exam results to be a radiographer..(?)...at that point I lost hope in my "Careers teacher". Hmm?
 

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