One Day Digital for Teachers

October 8, 2013 J. Fenby Leave a comment

Digital Creativity CPD

Nesta, the UK’s innovation charity, are running a day’s CPD on digital creativity for teachers so they can teach young people the digital skills they will need in the future. Teachers can learn website development, computer animation, character design, video editing, app development, visual programming and how to design and print 3D objects. Teachers will get support materials on the day so they can use the skills they have learned back in the classroom with their pupils.

Nesta are working with a range of partners including CoderDojo, Mozilla, RunRev and Maklab to make sure that teachers attending get a real feel for how these technologies work and get a chance to work hands-on with them over the day so they are able to pass that on to their pupils.

The event is on Saturday 23 November at the University of Edinburgh. For more information and to reserve place go to onedaydigital.eventbrite.com

Dance, Opportunities

Get Scotland Dancing!

September 27, 2013 J. Fenby Leave a comment

Get Scotland Dancing encourages more people to get active and get involved in dance.

For the most up to date news, opportunities and information on dance in Scotland, visit the Get Scotland Dancing website, and if you’d like regular updates, you can subscribe to a monthly newsletter.

Get Scotland Dancing

The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and 2014 Commonwealth Games, provide an unparalleled opportunity to raise the profile of dance as a creative, participative and physical artform. In support of this Scottish Government policy, Creative Scotland will invest £1.5 million across a four year period, creating an inclusive celebration of dance across Scotland, linking into the wider UK and marking Scotland’s place in the world.

Working with Scotland’s key dance organisations, Get Scotland Dancing will bring together professional and amateur dancers of all ages to dance in public spaces in our towns, villages and cities – bringing dance to the people and people to dance. We want to strengthen opportunities to participate in dance and create a lasting legacy for communities throughout Scotland.

To get involved and help Get Scotland Dancing please contact James Allenby, Project Manager james@getscotlanddancing.org

Music, Teachers

Nominations now open for the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence 2014

September 27, 2013 J. Fenby Leave a comment

Taking place on the evening of 7 February 2014 in the Barbican’s newly refurbished Garden Room & Conservatory, the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence 2014 will celebrate the work of those in the music education industry.

Held in conjunction with Music Education Expo 2013, the inaugural event presented 9 awards to very deserving individuals
and organisations. Presented by Classic FM’s Margherita Taylor, the evening was a wonderful tribute to the hard work and achievements of those in the music education industry.

Categories

There are 11 award categories this year as follows:

Best Musical Initiative
Best Print Resource, sponsored by Rhinegold Publishing
Best Digital/Technological Resource
Best School Music Department
Hub Innovation Award, sponsored by the Musicians’ Union
Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Black Cat Music and MusicPracticeRooms.com
Music Teacher Magazine Editor’s Award
Most Innovative Retailer
Best SEN Resource (special educational needs)
Excellence in Primary/Early Years Music
Best Classical Music Education Initiative, sponsored by Classic FM

To find out more about the criteria for each category, please visit www.musiceducationexpo.co.uk/award-categories

The winner of the Best Classical Music Education Initiative (sponsored by Classic FM), will be decided by a public vote on classicfm.com from mid-November.

Nominations

Nominations for the other 10 award categories must come from you, and we need all of you to participate! You all know somebody, or an organisation, or indeed product, worthy of winning one of these prestigious awards, so please, get involved and support music education’s best and most deserving recipients. It’s free, simple, and you’ve got to enter to have a chance of winning.

Nominations close on 7 November 2013, and the finalists will be announced on 18 November 2013 via the Expo social network sites and in the December issue of Music Teacher magazine.

To make a nomination, please visit www.musiceducationexpo.co.uk/nominate, download an application form and send the completed form to music.teacher@rhinegold.co.uk. Anyone is eligible to make a nomination; you can even nominate yourself!

CfE, College CLNs

Creative Learning: Innovations and Ideas from the College Sector

September 27, 2013 J. Fenby Leave a comment

Earlier this week, College Development Network hosted an event for the College Creative Learning Networks to share learning and ideas from their work in promoting creative and innovative approaches to learning and teaching.

Some really interesting ideas and priorities emerged during the discussion including:

a) the need to examine more closely the links between creativity and enterprise;

b) modelling how creative approaches can be used in more traditional subject areas;

c) extending and developing partnerships and links with the wider community and

d) ensuring that governance and leadership are aware of the centrality of creativity in policy and practice.

The event also provided an opportunity for attending Creative Catalysts to hear about Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan from Joan Parr of Creative Scotland, and about Education Scotland’s Curriculum Impact Report on Creativity Across Learning from Sheila Page, HMI.

CfE, CLN News, Creativity Portal, Education News, Partnerships

Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan and Curriculum Impact Report on Creativity Across Learning published

September 27, 2013 J. Fenby Leave a comment

Exciting news this week as two important documents relating to creativity across learning were launched at the Scottish Learning Festival:

Published by Creative Scotland, Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan aims to inspire educational policy makers and practitioners to utilise creativity to benefit learners in schools and other settings.

The Creative Learning Plan is the result of work by a partnership of organisations working across Scotland in education and creativity and sets out an ambitious vision for creativity in education over the next 10 years.

Among the changes the partnership is aiming for are:

New policies and plans supporting creativity throughout Scotland
More creative teaching practices and support for creative initiatives within local authorities, schools and places of learning
More support for and understanding of the value of creativity and experiential learning by parents and carers.

Find out more and download the Plan here: Creative Learning Plan

Education Scotland’s Curriculum Impact Report on Creativity Across Learning sets out key findings from a review of current practice in Scotland and focuses specifically on the development of creativity skills in learners. It proposes a definition of creativity is and identifies a set of core creative skills or attributes.

‘Scotland needs to prepare its young people for life and work in an uncertain economic and social environment if they are to thrive in an era of increasingly rapid change. The need for a well-developed set of higher-order skills will be a key part of the toolkit they will need and the ability to think creatively will be one of the most important tools in that toolkit’.

Download the Creativity Across Learning 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report here:

Creativity Across Learning Report

Education News

Brewstometer – new online creativity measuring tool launched

September 27, 2013 J. Fenby 1 Comment

Creativity is increasingly recognised as an essential higher order thinking skill for learning, life and work.

A new online creativity measuring tool, Brewstometer (www.brewstometer.org.uk), was launched this week at SLF.

The Brewstometer introduces the principles of creativity and helps learners reflect upon and evaluate any creative experience they had recently, this could include a lesson, a workshop, a performance, a gallery visit or project.

As an online resource, practitioners can use the Brewstometer as best suited to their learning environment needs, whether it be a whole class or small groups or one-to-one. The Brewstometer has been developed by Creative Scotland and Education Scotland as part of Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan.

CLN News, East Ayrshire

Creative Minds on the Agenda

September 24, 2013 J. Fenby Leave a comment

Author Gordon Brown, from Glasgow, gave the keynote speech – and food for thought – at a recent ‘Naturally Creative’ event in St Joseph’s Academy, Kilmarnock

Around sixty teachers, artists and students from across East Ayrshire interested in networking and finding out more about what’s going on in the arts attended the evening, which was organised by the Council’s Creative Minds Team.

“The Creative Minds Learning Network in East Ayrshire is growing both in numbers and diversity of membership. It’s fantastic to be part of this exciting movement of people championing arts and cultural education in our schools and the wider community. Gordon’s presentation created a real buzz of dialogue and activity challenging the way we work and how we do things providing a stimulus for thought and action.” Helen Duncan, Cultural Co-ordinator

Gordon, who delivers ‘creativity training’ under the Brain Juice brand as well as writing crime novels, shared his ideas about what creativity is and how it works. This sparked discussion about the role of creative minds in business and about the value of teaching creativity in schools.

Those who attended the get-together also had a sneak preview of the outstanding new St Joseph’s Academy art exhibition.

Many took advantage of opportunities to meet and chat with fellow artists, teachers and parents in a friendly, informal setting.

People were also invited to put their names down for future workshops, visits and experiences, as the new Creative Learning Opportunities training diary for 2013/14 was launched. The network is part of a national initiative funded by Education Scotland and Creative Scotland.

Councillor Eoghann MacColl, Spokesperson for Lifelong Learning, said: “There’s quite a network locally of artists, practitioners and people simply interested in the arts and culture.

“I’m delighted that the Creative Learning Network provides such a stimulating forum for like-minded individuals to get together and discuss ideas in this way, in order to enhance creative, artistic and cultural education for our young people, in line with Curriculum for Excellence”.

Helen Duncan

Cultural Co-ordinator

East Ayrshire Council

Educational & Social Services

Creative Minds Team

The Wallace Building

John Dickie Street

KILMARNOCK

KA1 1HW

T: 01563 555 650

www.facebook.com/#!/helen.duncan.313

www.facebook.com/CreativeMindsLearningNetwork

Creative Practitioners, Literacy, Older People, Parents, Teachers, Young People

Inspired? Get Writing! Creative Writing Competition 2013/2014

September 19, 2013 J. Fenby Leave a comment

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/education/competitions-3740/inspired-get-writing-creative-writing-competition-20132014

Enjoy writing but need that little bit of inspiration and a goal to get started?

Why not enter this year’s National Galleries Inspired? Get writing! competition? You can write in prose or poetry about anything that has inspired you from our permanent collection: drawings; paintings; prints; sculpture; photography; installation. There are five categories for school pupils and adults. Four volumes of Inspired? Get writing! have been published, featuring winners from previous years, so you can check out the standard. For full details download the rules. There is also a resource pack which you might find helpful.

There are 5 categories:

• Under 12 years

• 12 – 14 years

• 15-18 years

• Adults prose

• Adults poetry

Entries should be submitted by Friday 17 January 2014. Results of the competition will be announced by Thursday 17 April 2014.

Art and Design, CfE, CPD, Expressive Arts, Glow

Glow meet with artist David Batchelor: Turning the ordinary into something beautiful

September 18, 2013 J. Fenby Leave a comment

Glow Exclusive! Tuesday 24 September at 2pm

David Batchelor is an artist, born in Dundee and now living in London who is best known for his brightly coloured sculptures using industrial materials including light boxes from neon street signs, industrial dollies used to move heavy objects and items from everyday life such as brightly coloured plastic sunglasses and kitchen utensils.

As part of the Education Scotland Learning Experiences Catalogue, David will join us live on Glow from his studio in London on Tuesday 24 September at 2pm to talk about his artwork and answer your questions. To sign up for the event, simply visit Glow TV.

For a full schedule of forthcoming learning experiences and to find out more, visit the LearnCat today.

CfE, Education News, Events

Scottish Learning Festival 2013 – 25 and 26 September 2013

September 16, 2013 J. Fenby Leave a comment

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/slf/index.asp

This year’s SLF takes place on Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 September in the SECC, Glasgow. The theme is ‘Raising the Bar in Scotland – transforming lives through learning’.

Included in the programme of seminars, keynotes and discussions, are the launch of Scotland’s Creative Learning Plan, and Education Scotland’s Creativity Review Report. A number of Creative Learning Networks will be represented at local authority stands and visitors can find out about Scotland’s creative and cultural providers at the Creative Scotland stand in the Cultural Village.

Education Scotland will also be launching its Corporate Plan 2013-16. Sign up for a round-table discussion about how Education Scotland plans to work with all its partners to make changes to education in Scotland.

The full programme of keynotes and seminars, along with details of additional activities, are available on the SLF website. Follow all the action on social media at #SLF13.