On Inspiring Teachers and The Igniting of Passion: Blog 137

Good morning!

So I got back from Wroclaw in one piece, although a bit worse for wear from four days of highly charged creative stimulus. Enough to now need serious time to process. I knew I was flying back in to a different space but one equally as interesting and challenging. Just enough time to unpack and throw my clothes into the washing machine, pick up a few emails with details of yesterday's assignment and get my head around what I would say and do in my eight minute presentation at the Barking and Dagenham Headteacher's Conference.

I was delighted to have been invited as a guest speaker on culture by Jane Hargreaves, Divisional Director of Education at the Manor Of Groves Hotel in Sawbridgeworth.

Manor of Groves Hotel

I am part of a steering  group set up the Arts Council (Creative Education Partnership) which is an exciting space for national bodies - ACE, BFI, Heritage Lottery, education leaders and artists to come together to explore access to cultural experiences for children and young people. There are three such interventions in the UK, with the focus being on areas where there is a perceived lack of cultural engagement. In spite of the supporting statistics, Barking and Dagenham schools are in the top rung of success in arts subjects at GCSE, which counters the overall engagement picture in the borough at large.

Education is a natural place for discussion about a vision for cultural participation in all its manifestations. Art has always played a key role in educating children and young people and in spite of this government's inability to understand its vital importance, most teachers know instinctively that it is the secret weapon in their 'inspiration' armoury.

Ken Robinson is possibly the most influential voice for the past 25 years on cultural education  - I have met him many times and heard him speak to a room full of teachers in which you can always hear a piece of bluetack drop. 

Ken is uncompromising in his persistent call to policy makers, teachers and parents to avoid sleepwalking into a mechanistic era devoid of heart, passion and image. He says of modern education:

“One of the essential problems for education is that most countries subject their schools to the fast-food model of quality assurance when they should be adopting the Michelin model instead. The future for education is not in standardizing but in customizing; not in promoting groupthink and “de-individuation” but in cultivating the real depth and dynamism of human abilities of every sort.” 
― Ken Robinson, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

Ken is indeed an inspiring teacher for teachers. If you don't know his work I highly recommend a visit to his website http://sirkenrobinson.com/ where there is a wealth of fantastic material for educators.

In preparation for my presentation I had decided some weeks ago to forgo the powerpoint default and do something active to demonstrate the power of impact and inspiration that can be achieved through authentic engagement with the arts. I knew that better than me standing and spouting, possibly incoherently in my desire to keep a lid on my intense passion about this subject, that it would make infinitely more sense to invite Jen (15) and Phoebe (16) to share their insights about their involvement with our young women's programme Finding The Words generously funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation 

I had the great pleasure of working earlier in the month with Nigel Sagar, Principal Adviser for Education. We were to share our presentation and we had a flurry of excellent conversations and emails and discovered a shared irreverance and rebelliousness in our beliefs about children and arts participation. We planned our session together and it was a great opportunity to understand more about the deep and considered creative education practice that Nigel personifies. 

So I started as I often do with a couple of little stories. The first an acknowledgement of the fact the Barking and Dagenham Education department was the first to take Arc under its wing when it was a fledgling in 1986. With no money, no space, no show yet the Advisory teacher for English, Bess Haire invited us to use an old classroom in the Westbury Teacher's Centre. This belief in these green 20-something artists was a huge support in enabling our little dream of a theatre company to grow. I am always indebted to Bess. Indeed our first show Fallen by Polly Teale was conceived and born at the Westbury and went on to win a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival in 1986. So no wonder really that our home has always been here in Barking and Dagenham.

My next little anecdote was very personal and for me illustrates the powerful impact and inspiration of one of my own teachers. 'Bonzo' aka Mr. Richardson was my teacher in my last year at St Augustine's Catholic Junior School in Southborough, Kent. He was a true teacher in every sense of the word - and yes he did wear Hush Puppies - sorry! But most of all he loved working with children and spotting the very things that would ignite them individually. He 'saw' me when I didn't even know there was a me to be seen. Bonzo had a passion for France and its romantic language, and when the mood took him would spout Baudelaire and Voltaire to a slightly bemused class of 10 year olds. We didn't have a clue what he was going on about - but we listened with the innocence and openness of young children. I remember the richness of these strange sounds and words in his mouth and the fire in Bonzo's eyes as he spoke them. 

It was because of him that I wanted to learn French, and speak it still today with a pleasure that I am convinced was inspired by his. Anyway - with my early predilection for drama and all things dressing-up I came up with an idea and passed it by him. I wanted to write a play in French. Without a bat of an eyelid he got out the well thumbed-through Children's Illustrated French Dictionary and threw it on my desk, "get on with it then Carole". 

Left to my own devices I did just that - and over the next week or so I painstakingly wrote my script. I thought it was easy although long and a little boring to execute. It consisted of going through word by word and looking up the French equivalent. I had no notion then about declining or conjugating, it seemed a simple matter of copying the 'mot juste'. It did take a long time, and Bonzo left me to it, with an occasional word of encouragement, usually in French! 

When I finally finished my 20 minute script - he read it with a smile and glint in his eyes. The genius of the man was that not for one moment did he tell me it was a load of old gobbeldygook, nor indicate that he would correct it.

He allowed me to realise my script with encouragement and delight. I cast it with several unsuspecting classmates and took to afternoon rehearsals in the hall. I must have missed out on a lot of spelling and arithmetic I think. Stealing my props and costumes from home and making what I could, I embarked on a full scale directing exercise. Eventually and after some strict marshalling of my poor friends we rehearsed until we had it done. And then I was allowed to present my first piece of direction to the whole school - God only knows what they thought of it but they laughed and clapped loudly. And that was the sum of it - no fuss, done and dusted and back to the Saxons. 

This experience laid the ground for me for what I wanted to do in my life, although I could not understand or articulate it then. 

Bonzo, if he is still with us would probably never know his impact, because for him it was natural - just business as usual. But what is significant in sharing this story I believe is that Bonzo was innately able to see my passion for theatre and to create a safe space for me to practise it for the first time. Dear Bonzo - thank you for recognising the acorn in me. Great teachers do this for kids, if they are perceptive to the differences and spot the light in the eyes of their pupils. And they still do today, many of them. Sadly with the standardisation and pressures of today's classroom its easy for us to forget this kernal of genius and inspiration. The establishment of the Cultural Education Partnership in Barking and Dagenham and the passion of the group leading it gives me great hope for our children. 

Our presentation culminated in Jen and Phoebe talking about what it was like for them to take part in our Finding The Words Programme. Jen started with a spoken word recitation of the signature poem from the project - No Means No and once again you could hear a piece of bluetack drop in the room of teachers. Because they all get it and I think enjoyed being reminded and stirred by the possibilities in their own practice, and I trust to honour that which they already do. The girls presented with passion, poise and authenticity and are living examples of the ignited artist in all of us. I was hugely proud of them and of Natalie, Neelofer and Grace for leading them on this journey.

So that was yesterday - and today will be more work on applications for funding for Arc, a foray into Jasmine Street for a bit more work on my fifties installation and then off to a photography course to get to know my new Canon 600 better!

Have a great Friday y'all.