Recommendations and Reflections

The notion of citizenship and what it means has long been the subject of extensive debate, one which has evolved over time to include concerns about political, social, economic, and more recently, environmental rights. Discourse around citizenship is often polarised, particularly at the extremes of the political spectrum. The case for increased interaction between research and educational practice is spelled out in the recommendations of the six countries involved in the international project of Creative Connections, for policy makers and for training in art education, with a focus on active citizenship and European identity concepts. Over recent years there has been a signification shift in the citizenship debate from notions of formal citizenship, which is the status position and legal basis of citizenship, to realised citizenship that involves active participation. These changes have affected education almost continuously, for example in Ireland the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) has been working towards a review of Senior Cycle education since the early 2000s. As part of the review, the NCCA has developed a new optional citizenship education subject to follow on from Junior Cycle CSPE. The subject is provisionally entitled Politics and Society. The draft Politics and Society syllabus, which is currently undergoing a process of public consultation, provides significant scope for investigation of contemporary issues related to European identity/citizenship (Cusack, 2009). The six participating teams in the Creative Connections Project reported difficulties in developing with the citizenship aspect of the Creative Connections project. The contributions of the six participating countries were organised within broad themes that have resulted the following recommendations:

Theme 1: Inter-country Dialogue

1. Creative Connections makes clear the importance of arts education to build links and forms of participation between schools and European countries, nevertheless time is needed to use the full potential of the web environment in education: for building communication and co-operation, to create personal connections and to get into the subject in some depth.

2. The full potential of an international co-operation project is reached with engaging several teachers from the school with different disciplines to optimize the use of time and expertise and to build a cross curricular entity for learning skills.

3. Teachers should encourage inter-country dialogue and pupils’ enthusiasm for this aspect of such a project.

4. Pupils often mentioned various kinds of holiday when talking about community. Unlike most establishments, Europe does not have an annual holiday (e.g. Europe Day ) which is known and relevant to pupils. The Czech Republic team suggested that a specific holiday might give them a sense and positive connotations of Europe and belonging.

5. More opportunities for all pupils to use creatively arts and informatics technologies and to tell their own stories and learn about European students are needed. Such opportunities can help them to: learn about one another; understand one another; develop a spirit of respect, accept one another’s differences, develop openness and fraternity among all the members of the European community.

6. Creative Connections has provided some ways for teachers to develop understanding of the school curriculum beyond disciplinary boundaries and separation of materials and resources from their usual uses by fostering inquiry and student and teacher participation, especially those that can be found in situations of exclusion or marginalisation (e.g. the ‘poorer’, southern countries within the Union).

Theme 2: Web-environment and blogging 

1. The national curricula and local curricula development in partner countries needs to fully recognise the possibilities that a web environment can offer pupils and teachers (from both urban and especially in rural areas) by using an online gallery and having dialogue trough contemporary art.

2. When using an online learning environment, the teachers must be provided with sufficient training and technical support to develop their confidence and skills in using digital technology and their subject knowledge in using art materials and skills: simple, clear and functioning online environment, which can be built in early stage of the project to be tested and trained for, and this can help all the participants involved in organising the use of digital facilities and to be concentrated and motivated on the learning.

3. Consideration should be given to timings and pace of online interactions of this kind, so that all partners are uploading work and posting comments within a specified time frame. We note that it would be helpful to have this kind of work on a longer timescale so pupils are involved for the whole school year and the teachers are engaged in training and planning well in advance.

4. In the light of teachers’ inexperience use of technology in their teaching – noted in all partner countries the instructions for website blogging need careful instruction and technical guidance.

5. Teachers should allow their pupils to use the safe environment of the quad blog independently or in their home. There is a need to challenge the (often unwarranted concerns) about pupils engaging in online environments independently.

6. Tentative explorations of blogging between countries and in multiple languages developed in Creative Connections suggest that this could be a useful way and appropriate way of creating connections between schools, teachers and pupils in a range of countries. It is important to note, as we always have, that “...blogging as a way of supporting a community of practice or an affinity space… Blogs in and of themselves, do not necessarily promote social participation” Davies and Merchant (2009).

Theme 3: Building Teacher knowledge through Action Research

1. Time for planning is needed, as well as several training days, meetings and reflection to support the development of the teachers’ professional skills. We recommend that teachers also allow time for continuous skills learning as a part of undertaking an online project.

2. A single broad theme which is jointly decided between the members of each quad blog – i.e. the four schools which are being united, would give a sense of purpose and direction for the responses by the pupils. This may help facilitate longer and more detailed patterns of response between pupils.

3. Emphasis on active communication and close co-operation of researchers and teachers in sharing the information from the teachers' training, planning and executing the in-school projects should synchronize the timing and practice to a strong exchange of expertise between the different countries during the process.

4. A possible model for the development of citizenship concepts/themes might include the identification of a curricular fit between the aims/objectives of the Creative Connections Project and the post-primary Art, and Citizenship Education programmes. These could include short course in Civic, Social and Political Education (CPSE), a particular subject lesson such as Politics (as in the Irish case).

5. Action research methodology should be maintained as the driving force behind the young pupils’ which engagement requires decision-making and creative competencies. This also provides a sound structure from which teachers can develop their own knowledge and competencies when reflecting on the practice involved in complex, creative projects such as Creative Connections.

Theme 4: Cultural Awareness and Visual Media

1. The citizenship focus taken by participating teachers needs to be clear and manageable and must play to their strengths as Art educationalists so that it can be meaningfully embedded within the context of art making. We recommend that they work with Citizenship educators too for expertise sharing and cross curricular links.

2. It is recommended that art and design methodologies, which use digital technology, digital platforms and social media be developed to further connectedness between European pupils.

3. The national curricula shall include cross curricular opportunities whereby contemporary art is used to explore ways of increasing transnational understanding and multi literacy, with a focus on enhancing knowing and an understanding related and diverse perspectives of active citizenship and identity.

4. School administrators in national and local departments need to ensure that there is appropriate educational support for learners living in sparsely populated areas to ensure equal learning opportunities particularly with online resources and the opportunity to work with other schools in urban areas.

5. Emphasis on pupils’ knowing and understanding of national and international social and cultural issues, using visual media carries particular implications for the art practice and citizenship education. This should be carefully explored.

6. The relationship between artwork and student experiences should allow for reflection and review of the situation within contemporary Europe both referring to the governance crisis in Brussels and the management of social change model with the challenges to the state structures of EU members.

7. Pupils found the questions of design relevant and meaningful for themselves and they understood that design creates a disposition of both private and communal life. Discussions and studies of design are therefore suitable in education if pupils are to be made aware of agents that influence a community´s public life and that they will also play a part in such actions now and in the future.

Theme 5: Discussing art works

1. Children should discuss artworks in groups and as a whole class, and at the beginning of the project teachers might need support in how to engage pupils in responding to artworks. We present some ideas for how to develop such discussions on our websites.

2. Teachers should model how to respond to artworks to emphasise thoughtfulness and constructive criticism. Refer to the sample lesson plans for ideas of how to manage this.

3. Visual metaphors (e.g. light, dark and metamorphosis of a shape) can be a way of rethinking “fixed” or “stereotypical” viewpoints concerning citizenship, and this way can sometimes be even more suitable than a verbal narration. Working with the visual can open dialogues in which children do not have to directly modify their habitual verbal standpoints. Instead, they can explore the issues and evolve understanding through the visual media.

4. We propose that a citizenship educator and art teacher work in tandem with the participating pupils to ensure that the two areas of expertise are catered for in these complex art/citizenship projects.