VIEWS From the pen of... Ghislaine Kenyon The arts in primary


schools In our regular “From the pen of…” piece this month, we hear from GHISLAINE KENYON, author of The Arts in Primary Education: Breathing Life, Colour and Culture into the Classroom, who discusses the motivational power of using the arts in primary education.


For a few years I was a primary teacher. This was during a pre-1989 utopia when I had the luxury of planning and delivering my own curriculum without having to angst about OFSTED - just as well given the circumstances: I was teaching in a small London church school near Paddington station, where there was a 90% turnover of children every year. Each new wave of


refugees or asylum seeking families seemed to be temporarily placed in nearby bed-and-breakfast accommodation and their children turned up at our school, mainly without English and more or less disoriented. Some months later they would be rehoused in distant boroughs and we didn’t see them again. For this reason, I decided I needed to connect directly and


powerfully with my Year 3 class and that the most effective way to do this would be to use the arts as a medium. Because I knew that the arts can bypass language and reach people personally. In my classroom we took broad themes such as New Life which could encompass the seasons (Spring) or new experiences in a new country, or Easter (we were a church school) or the life- cycles of birds or animals - there were so many possibilities. We read picture books, listened to, composed and played music, and made art of all kinds. I’ll never forget the look on Bushra’s face when, newly arrived from Pakistan, she made a wonderful pastel drawing on black paper of a budding daffodil. She had never drawn before and this early success was one of the experiences that helped her enthusiastically embrace her education. We also made regular use of the many free museums and galleries that were in easy reach of the school. Fifteen years later I had crossed the divide and was working at


the National Gallery, running programmes for schools. I soon realised that teachers’ courses were the best way to connect with our large national audience and in them we would often focus on one painting from the Collection looking at it from many perspectives, including how to use it to enrich the curriculum. One attendee was so inspired by the picture in question that he


planned a whole term’s work on it for his Year 6 class. And his headteacher, impressed with the work, invited me to see it. I immediately felt that this response to a National Gallery painting should be shared with many more people, in the Gallery itself. It became the first ever Take One Picture exhibition and I’m proud to say that the scheme has just celebrated its 20th season. Since those days I’ve been lucky enough to visit hundreds of


primary schools who, despite all vicissitudes in Education policy, have used the arts in creative ways throughout the curriculum because they believe in their motivational power. My book, The Arts in Primary Education (Bloomsbury Education) is both a tribute to these heads and teaching staff and a call to heads who have not yet done so to use the arts to breathe colour and light into their own schools.


The Arts in Primary Education: Breathing Life, Colour and Culture into the Classroom is available now from Bloomsbury.


November 2019 British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) Giving teachers a


platform for debate In her regular column this month JULIA GARVEY, Operations Director at BESA, discusses the importance of the organisation’s LearnED roadshow.


Last month I introduced you to my colleague Rob in the membership team. This month it’s the turn of our events team. In an era of digital communication, we


believe it is important to meet with teachers on a regular basis, to engage in debate and dialogue so that we can better understand the challenges being faced in schools. That


knowledge is then passed on to our members so that they might best develop products and services that meet teachers’ needs. At BESA we run over 120 events each year, both in the UK and


internationally. They range from small seminars and induction sessions for members, through to national conferences and exhibitions for teachers such as BETT and the SSAT. This year we are once again focused on our LearnED Roadshow and the events team are charged with the successful delivery of no fewer than 10 regional conferences between November 2019 and July 2020. Why is the LearnED Roadshow so important? Mainly because this is


a series of conferences where the content and focus is driven by teachers. LearnED is a joint initiative with the Department for Education designed to offer peer-to-peer training on the use of education technology to drive school improvement, reduce teacher workload and improve outcomes. How does each event come about? As a starting point we took


feedback from teachers who attended last year’s event and adjusted the agenda to suit their needs. We know it can be difficult to take time out the school day to attend events like this, in fact our research shows most teachers attend only one event each year, so we want to make sure your time isn’t wasted. With the conference structure agreed, our team research school


leaders in the regions we plan to visit, and look for recommendations from other teachers, to identify those head teachers and ICT leads who are blazing a trail. Or those that have a passion for technology and want to share their knowledge with others. It’s important that these are teachers who can talk from their own experience and share stories of the challenges as well as the triumphs they’ve experienced on their journey. These conversations have led to the evolution of the conference


from a panel-based event last year, to something more interactive this time around. Attendees will have the chance to debate the issues or explore the challenges that are facing them in their own schools, first with fellow delegates and then to pose their questions directly to the experts leading the session. For our events team, this can pose its own unique challenge in


terms of the choice of venue and the layout of the room. It can also affect the timing of each session as a healthy debate can often lead to sessions over-running. But when teachers become engaged in the topic nobody likes to interrupt the conversation. We hope this collaborative approach results in conferences that are


informative and fully justify the time out of school, but we are always open to new ideas and feedback from teachers. Our events team are waiting to hear from you.


Find details of the LearnED conference near you LearnED.org.uk


If you would like to speak at one of our events, or nominate a fellow teacher as a speaker, then please email me.


ujulia@besa.org.uk www.education-today.co.uk 13


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