The project is designed to innovate and develop the components of a methodology for educators in European partner countries to learn and use the Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) method to facilitate Learning with Visual Arts in Schools and in Cultural Institutions with a remit for arts education. The results of this project will significantly contribute to the horizontal priority of the Erasmus+ Programme namely achievement of relevant and high quality skills and competences. Schools tend to opt for transfer of information in arts education. Often teachers start by giving information about an artwork first, then follow with some audience-focused discussion. The VTS method shifts the emphasis to learner-centred processes, particularly using enquiry-led practice. Also, educators can experience isolation in schools if their visual arts teaching skills set are viewed as a specialism not relevant to the range of other school subjects thus affecting the motivation of educators. The VTS method facilitates development of foundation skills for other subjects such as maths, languages and science. There is also a need for better support systems for educators extending beyond the school confines which this project can address. The VTS method scaffolds the learner’s responses to an artwork at the outset, using discussion as the gateway to understanding rather than the opposite way around as is the case in conventional arts education. The learner is encouraged to think speculatively and to acknowledge what their peer group is saying, then to put forward their own ideas. Often the learner begins to give evidence for what they are seeing without being prompted. With continuous practice, their levels of verbal articulation rise as does their confidence in speaking. After an extended period of working in a VTS context, the learner starts elaborating explanations with more critical art language. The partners in the project are from six countries and range from large public institutions to small social enterprises and artists' associations. The project is co-ordinated by the Arts Office in Dublin City Council. The other partners are the Finnish Museum of Photography, VTS Nederland, Muserum in Denmark, the Slovenian Association of Fine Arts Societies, and a Spanish consultancy working with schools, called CREA360. There are also eight associate partners who will collaborate in this project ranging from academic institutions to museums/galleries to government agencies. The project objectives are focused on the major project results: 1) To develop a 'training of trainers' delivery mechanism in Europe to train and support educators in the VTS method. Educators are understood to encompass primary school classroom teachers, secondary school art teachers, as well as art museum facilitators/educators. 2) To offer schools and cultural institutions opportunity to introduce the VTS method into their classroom and museum/gallery setting. 3) To increase the use of art museums as settings for VTS teaching of visual arts. 4) To capture and share the impact of the training of educators and the pathways for using the VTS method in schools by developing one research framework across all partner countries. 5) To produce an image bank relevant to VTS compiled from European collections and artists' practice. These objectives all form part of a methodology to effectively implement a new teaching method for visual arts education in schools. The main pillars are training of trainers to develop the capacity to train educators; research in schools to understand needs and challenges to change the curriculum; and development of learning materials to support educators and learners such as the European Image Bank. The main target group and direct beneficiaries will be educators in schools. The target is to benefit educators from at least 4 schools during project period in each partner country. A selection process of schools will be initiated at the start of the project where the partners will agree and communicate criteria for school participation. Trainers trained in the project will train participating educators. Each partner will be responsible for leading and managing the implementation of the VTS method in their native language, in their schools. The opportunity for synergies in this project stems from the good mix of skills in the partners and the possibility for sharing good practice between countries. The project will make accessible information on progress in all partner countries as well as knowledge gained across the project. The impact of the project will be a level of trust and a modus operandi to continue with the coordination of the delivery mechanism for using the VTS method in schools in Europe together with capacity to conduct further research in the adoption and use of the VTS method in schools and confidence to 'export' the delivery mechanism into European countries not currently in the strategic partnership.
The project was designed to offer educators an innovative opportunity to learn to use the Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) method to facilitate learning with visual art in schools and in cultural institutions with a remit for arts education. The project guided educators from local arts and education communities in 6 European countries to come together, train and test the VTS method, which supports learners to respond to an image from their own point of view, using a structured and open ended discussion as the gateway for understanding the image rather than offering information. Learners are encouraged to think speculatively, to acknowledge and build on what members of their peer group are saying, and to build confidence and competence in their own ideas and evidence building. The Project Objectives were: 1) To test the training pathway of the VTS method with educators in Europe. In the project, educators are understood to encompass primary school classroom teachers, secondary school art teachers, as well as art museum facilitators/educators. 2) To capture and share the impact of the training in VTS on educators and highlight the opportunities and challenges using the VTS method in schools by developing a shared research framework across all partner countries. 3) To offer schools and cultural institutions opportunity to introduce the VTS method into their classroom and museum/gallery setting. 4) To increase the use of art museums as settings for VTS teaching of visual arts. 5) To produce an image bank relevant to VTS compiled from European collections and artists' practice. The project was made of partners from 6 different countries and ranging from large public institutions to small social enterprises and artists' associations. The project was co-ordinated by the Dublin City Arts Office in Dublin City Council. The other partners are the Finnish Museum of Photography, Finland; VTS Nederland, Netherlands; Muserum, Denmark; the Slovenian Association of Fine Arts Societies, and a Spanish consultancy working with schools, called CREA360. 26 associate schools supported educators to practice VTS at local level and 9 associate partners collaborated in this project ranging from museums, curriculum development agencies and municipalities. Each partner was responsible for leading and managing the implementation of the project and the VTS method in their native language, in their schools and cultural institutions. The main target group of the project was educators in schools and cultural institutions. The indirect target group was children and young people. A wider group of interested people began to connect with the project as it was taking place, such as curriculum designers, academic organisations, libraries, and community agencies. Results The results of the project significantly contributed to the horizontal priority of the Erasmus+ Programme, namely achievement for educators of relevant and high quality skills and competences Over the course of the project, 664 VTS lessons were given to children and young people, and approximately 2205 students were reached by educators participating in the project. 155 classes were involved in VTS sessions. 4 learning, teaching and training activities, led by Senior Trainer of VTS/USA Yoon Kang O’Higgins, took place for educators and partners to build skills and competence in the VTS method. In order to track the quality of the training experience, the educators participated in a short evaluation which was evaluated and reported on by Muserum, Denmark. 6 transnational partner meetings took place to plan, deliver and evaluate the progress of the project as it went along. 01 Research framework - evaluated 8 museum educators, 8 art teachers, 3 subject teachers and 4 primary school teachers participating, led by each partner at local level. The impact for educators was that after training and implementing VTS in the classroom or cultural institution, they felt more confident in facilitating open ended conversations with their students. Therefore, they found themselves using open ended discussion as an approach more frequently in their teaching. While VTS is a visual art methodology, educators highlighted that they had become better at listening to their students voices through facilitating open ended discussions. 02 Image Bank - a set of images compiled by all project partners - was tested by educators during classroom and training activities. E12 Multiplier Event - The Permission to Wonder Symposium was planned for 21 April 2020 for Dublin Castle; following its cancellation due to Covid19, we experimented with new ways of disseminating the results, experience and knowledge of the project. A series of webinars via Zoom were attended and viewed by an international audience. Online webinars, infographics, training materials and vimeos of educators are available on the project website www.permissiontowonder.com