Creatives in Schools ‘was more than a nice to have’

Saturday, 29 June 2024

Children will have fewer opportunities to engage in the arts and creative thinking at school because of the Government’s decision to axe funding for a highly regarded arts programme, educators say.

Last week the Government came under political fire for its decision to cease funding the Creatives in Schools programme from this year to save between $2.8 million and $3.2m a year.

The programme funded professional artists to partner with schools and kura, so the former could share their specialist knowledge and creative practice with students. Engagements were in depth and lasted between eight and 20 weeks. It had funded hundreds of arts projects in schools since 2019.

Katie Howes, the head of drama and dance at Wellington Girls’ College, said that as a result of its Creatives in Schools projects, students’ engagement had skyrocketed. Because of the programme, the school was able to hire venues and rehearsal spaces, and transport students to and from sites. It gave students an opportunity to engage in creative thinking, and took the burden off small departments in which teaching staff have no capacity to lead artistic projects. “Our students benefit so much from it,” Howes told The Post.

“Now [without Creatives in Schools] it basically falls back again on to individual teachers who are already juggling a million things and are under immense pressure to deliver this themselves whenever they can cram it in … School budgets are stretched, space is stretched and teaching time is stretched. When you when you don’t have the money or the extra creative to draw upon, I think there’s a real danger of those opportunities being lost,” Howes said.

Even though Creatives in Schools had been incorrectly dismissed as a “nice to have”, Howes said it had been an integral part of her school’s curriculum. “That’s something that’s getting lost. This was an opportunity to deepen and strengthen our curriculum ties with the arts. It’s not just an extra.”

Tony Biddick, principal of Auckland’s Henderson Primary School, and Melanie Dean, principal of Wellington’s Lyall Bay School, also both spoke positively about the programme to The Post.

Biddick said engagement with the arts often accelerated children’s learning in other subject areas. In addition to having student benefits, Creatives in Schools helped build generalist primary teachers’ confidence in being able to design and implement creative teaching, he added.

Dean said her school’s engagement with Creatives in Schools (a mural project) helped embed her school’s values within children and united the local community. The Government wanted to focus on structured literacy and numeracy but problems with education ran much deeper and were linked to issues including poverty, trauma and neurodiversity, she said.

Quoting the late British author Ken Robinson, who spoke of factory-like education that killed creativity, Dean said it was not a positive outcome if children turned out exactly the same. “They’ve all got their own special wonderment about them. We need to foster that about each individual child. We don't want everyone to be lawyers. We don't want everyone to be doctors. Everyone needs to be able to be happy in what they're doing and to be able to be part of society in what they choose to do,” Dean said.

Evaluation reports for Creatives in Schools consistently praised its efficacy and recommended it be continued. A 2022 report said it allowed students to express themselves, leading to feelings of personal achievement and fulfilment, which boosted their overall sense of wellbeing, visibility, confidence and self worth. It “profoundly” impacted students’ self discovery journeys, helping them re-engage with schools. In some cases the programme led to better attendance and classroom behaviour.

It boosted students’ skills across critical thinking, self management, collaboration and communication, helped to identify and nurture creative talent, and made learning more comprehensive and engaging, the report found. It also helped build better connections between schools, families and communities, and supported sustainable career opportunities for creatives. Ninety-five per cent of lead teachers would recommend the programme.

Creatives in Schools’ cancellation comes as a study is released, showing that New Zealand students are among the world’s top creative thinkers. The study of 15-year-olds from 64 countries, carried out in 2022, found that New Zealand students ranked within the top seven countries for creative thinking competencies.

Speaking about the results, NZ Post Primary Teachers’ Association president Chris Abercrombie said last week: “There is no doubt that literacy and numeracy are important, but the arts certainly has an important place in our curriculum also … Equipping rangatahi (children) with these kinds of creative problem solving and lateral thinking skills is increasingly important in this day and age.”

Labour’s Rachel Boyack said there was clear evidence that developing creativity can lead to improved mental health and greater resilience in children, and improved results in other educational areas like maths and science. “It makes no sense to cut this programme. … We should be promoting programmes that support development of our creative skills,” she said.

In an emailed statement, Education Minister Erica Stanford said Creatives in Schools didn’t directly progress the Government’s education priorities.

The education ministry provided support for a range of programmes designed to enhance teaching and learning in the arts, including performing arts competitions and music programmes. Those, among others, provide learners with opportunities to engage in creative education experiences, Stanford said.

Schools could use operational funding at their discretion based on what works best for their students, Stanford said, and had the choice to use that funding for creative education programmes.