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Four Virtual Schools and four creative and cultural organisations have worked together to explore ways of enhancing the wellbeing and creative education of care-experienced children and young people.
The Artful Alliance project was led by Blue Cabin, and tialt was commissioned as learning and evaluation partner. Each Virtual School/creative organisation partnership delivered an action research project with care experienced children and young people and the trusted adults in their lives.
Findings from the project are now available and we spoke to Blue Cabin director, Jenny Young, and tialt co-director, Douglas Lonie, about what has been learned.
Douglas:
We deliberately took an inquiry-based approach which meant that we didn’t need to prove anything, or test hypotheses, but instead could explore these questions.
Some partners had been working with care experienced young people for some time, for others it was newer to them. This meant that the experience held within the group varied, but I would say all partners learned something new from taking part.
We found that when carers and broader stakeholders were involved this had a really positive effect on the experience of the young people and on the organisations supporting them.
We included training and discussions on social pedagogy which I think had value for both cultural organisations and Virtual Schools.
The relationship between Virtual Schools and mainstream schools wasn’t really explored in the programme once it was underway, although many partners reported that the young people’s achievements were integrated into and supported their Personal Education Plans.
Jenny:
In designing Artful Alliance we intentionally asked Virtual Schools and creative organisations to apply in partnership. Some partnerships were established and had been working together for some time, whereas others were emerging.
We recognised that spending quality time together to implement creative activities for care-experienced children and young people is crucial, albeit demanding in terms of capacity. Embedding relational practice within partnerships and between practitioners and participants is part of a social pedagogy approach.
The partnerships reported how valuable it had been to spend this focused time together – learning had taken place on all sides that had directly impacted how a project had been designed, staffed and evaluated.
Each of the four partnerships has plans to further their collaboration, pursue additional funding, and deepen their connections, highlighting the importance of dedicated effort and collaboration to support this work.
Douglas:
Again thinking of this as an inquiry-based action research model, we felt it was important to provide capacity-building alongside funded delivery for young people. This included online sessions as well as regular group planning and reflection sessions on overall programme development.
There was an aim to develop a community of practice which did start to emerge towards the end of the programme. I think if we were to do it again, we would consider providing the capacity-building over a longer time, enabling more flexibility about who needed to participate in which aspects. That said, we received really positive feedback about much of the capacity-building that was provided.
I think there is scope for future programmes like this and for the people who fund them to be thinking about how a capacity-building element, and community of practice development, can be built into programme design – ideally with the capacity-building time being funded as part of the grant.
Jenny:
The capacity-building component was a fundamental part of the programme.
The sessions covered topics such as self-care, social pedagogy, trauma awareness, and buddying. Partners noted that the content and theoretical frameworks positively impacted their project delivery, although they acknowledged that attending these sessions stretched their capacity.
Virtual School partners mentioned that the content seemed more focused on the creative partners, which presents an opportunity and helpful challenge to our thinking.
Overall, partners reported that enhancing their practice enabled them to respond more effectively and confidently when working with care-experienced young people, allowing for a more tailored approach to meet individual needs.
Douglas:
I’d say from our perspective as the learning partner we tried to create sharing opportunities a bit too early in the programme. We were trying to build rapport amongst the group, but they hadn’t done enough new activity to be sharing their experiences when we started that aspect.
It’s difficult trying to engage broad geographic regions and build rapport because in-person activity like an opening meal or conference might have enabled this but it takes so much time and costs a lot of money.
Overall, I think spreading out the programme over a longer timeframe may have allowed us to schedule the sharing and reflection sessions a bit more logically.
Jenny:
One challenge was creating a capacity-building programme that covered a lot of content while fitting into a tight schedule. It was important for us to offer these opportunities because many participants found that attending the sessions had a significant impact, leading to meaningful changes in their practice and self-care.
We also could have brought on board more partners – the applications we received outnumbered the available spaces for the partnerships. This also shows the need for this type of programme.
Douglas:
There’s really useful learning in the evaluation report and we’ve already shared that with Arts Council England who are developing how they work with Virtual Schools in the years ahead, particularly around Artsmark.
Beyond that, I think it’s useful for all Virtual Schools, local authorities and arts organisations to think about how sharing their learning, reflecting on their own development as professionals, and considering what we can all learn from each other, has value.
Sadly, most of our jobs make us feel that we’re too busy to make time to learn from each other and exchange our practice with each other. Understanding the context of parallel sectors and professionals is only going to help us develop and ultimately provide better services to care-experienced young people.
Jenny:
We are excited to share the evaluation report! We believe the findings will resonate with some organisations while offering new insights for others.
Our goal is to influence knowledge and practice in the sector and to engage in ongoing conversations. We look forward to continuing our work with tialt and offering standalone training sessions and workshops that were part of the capacity-building programme to organisations across the UK. This will include topics like social pedagogy training, the importance of self-care, and buddying for artists in this field.
We also want to highlight the excellent training already available, such as the fantastic trauma-aware online training from Kazzum Arts.
Douglas:
I think the fact that all the partners said that they wanted to continue working together is a fantastic outcome.
Although the overall programme may benefit from being extended, the partners did report that they felt the wrap-around capacity-building and opportunity to get to know each other and share their experiences had real value.
Ultimately the young people involved had really creative, enriching experiences and many achieved Arts Awards. Lots of carers and local authority staff got involved in new activities. All of which goes to show that stronger ties between virtual schools and the arts organisations that are around them is likely to have a positive impact for everyone involved!
Jenny:
Absolutely! The continuation of the partnerships is a fantastic outcome of Artful Alliance.
We are dedicated to supporting trauma-informed creative projects for care-experienced children, young people, and adults across the North East of England and beyond. Working alongside tialt and the Artful Alliance partners from across the country has taught us a great deal, and we’re excited to share the learning and recommendations in the report.
