New Initiatives to Support Creativity in Schools Announced

Posted by Schooldays Newshound, on 12/09/2019. New Initiatives to Support Creativity in Schools Announced

Tags: Teacher Education And Politics

The number of Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools will double to 300, with an additional 150 schools joining the initial pilot group.

77 additional primary and post-primary schools will join the Schools Excellence Fund – Creative Clusters to collaborate on innovative arts and creative learning projects in their local areas.

Three new Local Creative Youth Partnerships will be piloted in Kerry, Laois/Offaly and Limerick/Clare education and training boards to forge new collaborations and enhance the use of existing resources.

The first Creative Schools National Celebration will take place from 4-8 November.

Josepha Madigan TD, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Joe McHugh TD, Minister for Education and Skills today (11 September, 2019) announced details of the additional 227 schools that will have increased access to creative activities as part of the Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools and Creative Clusters initiatives. In addition, three new Local Creative Youth Partnerships have been established.

The expansion of these initiatives, as part of the Creative Ireland Programme, places arts and creativity at the centre of school life for over 100,000 students. .

A national celebration of the arts and creativity in schools participating in Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools will take place from 4-8 November 2019 at schools and venues across the country. Children and young people will have the opportunity to showcase their experiences of the arts and creative learning through their involvement in the initiative.

Notes:
The list of Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools 2019-2020 can be accessed here.

The Creative Ireland Programme is a culture-based programme, all of Government initiative which places creativity at the centre of public policy, and is designed to promote individual, community and national wellbeing. Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools, Creative Clusters and the Local Creative Youth Partnerships are supported under Pillar 1 – Creative Youth. You can find out more here.

Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme and is led by the Arts Council in partnership with the Department of Education & Skills, the Department of Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht and the Department of Children & Youth Affairs.

Creative Schools was launched in 2018, with 150 schools selected to participate in the first round (commencing at the start of the 2018/19 academic year).

Schools that are selected to participate are provided with access to a Creative Associate to assist in developing a creative plan for each school

Creative Associates may be either teachers or from a range of creative professions who draw on their practical experience of ‘creativity’ to respond to each school’s individual needs.

Each school is allocated a grant of €2,000 to implement their individual plans.

The initiative was opened to a second tranche of 150 schools in 2019.

Total funding of €2.36m is being provided in 2019 to support the initiative.

Creative Clusters is a pilot initiative of the Department of Education and Skills, led by and in partnership with the Teacher Education Centres (ATECI) and funded through the Schools Excellence Fund. A Creative Cluster consists of between 2 and 5 schools collaborating on the design, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of an innovative arts and creative learning project which supports them to address a common issue or challenge, identified by that cluster. Clusters can consist of primary schools only, post-primary schools only or a combination of primary and post primary schools.

The Creative Clusters initiative commenced in the 2018-19 academic year with 23 clusters established comprising 71 schools countrywide.
In the academic year 2019-20, 21 Creative Clusters, potentially of 5 schools each, comprising 77 schools will be established.

Source: education.ie