Young Vic's INNOVATE Project Releases Findings

Young Vic Theatre and Royal Holloway, University of London today release research findings from INNOVATE, a radical two-year arts in education project in which teachers and artists collaborated to thread creativity and the arts through the curriculum to enhance, develop and transform learning experiences for young people.

At a time when arts provision and take up in schools is in continuing decline, the report published today finds that using the arts to teach subjects such as maths, history and sciences resulted in increased student confidence and participation in the classroom, deeper student reflection and an enhanced enjoyment of learning, as well as increasing teacher confidence and improving professional development. 

Established in direct response to the challenges faced by schools following the pandemic, INNOVATE was led by Young Vic Taking Part in collaboration with two partner schools South Bank University Academy and Dunraven School in Lambeth and Southwark, twelve multi-disciplinary artists and an advisory panel of educational and cultural experts during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.  

Working with Year 7 and Year 8 teachers, INNOVATE artists skilled in improvisation and drama, comedy, art and dance collaborated to plan and adapt lessons to incorporate a wide range of arts activities and demonstrate how creativity could help inspire learning. This included, for example, using basketball to teach film skills, teaching numeracy through cookery, and improving English-speaking skills by creating video game characters. 

Shereen Jasmin Phillips, Director of Taking Part, said: “INNOVATE was born out of a simple question – ‘how do we make children excited to learn?’. From maths classes to history lessons, it’s been amazing to see the impact of this project on teachers and students. Bringing artists and creative teaching into classrooms is a vital and effective tool for engaging students. We’re excited to share these learnings with educators, artists and wider communities.” 

Led by Professor Helen Nicholson and conducted by researcher Dr Yvonne Robinson at Royal Holloway, University of London, the report finds that teachers observed a visible increase in confidence in students who were previously reluctant to speak up in class. Additionally, subjects taught creatively encouraged deeper reflection from students about the topics presented, and students articulated the importance of enjoyment and playfulness to their learning process in INNOVATE lessons. Teachers also reported that their own confidence increased, and their professional development and learning was enhanced through INNOVATE. 

Dr Yvonne Robinson from the Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance at Royal Holloway, said: “The arts are declining in schools at a time when they are more important than ever. Creative learning exposes young people to broader education opportunities that help them to fulfil their potential. Arts education programmes like INNOVATE are crucial, not only in helping schools fully recover from the pandemic, but also for moving learning forwards in creative ways that support young people’s wellbeing.” 

The INNOVATE multi-disciplinary artists are Mikey Bharj, Jordana Golbourn, Lerato Islam, Sheryl Malcolm, Joseph Prestwich and Amy Robinson; Visiting Project Associates are Anyebe Godwin, Bruno Correia, Nadège René, TD. Moyo, Vicky Moran and Vincent Shiels. The advisory panel members—a guiding group offering advice and expertise and ensuring the project achieves its aims—are Dr Sylvan Baker, Darren Chetty, Kay Rufai, Dr Javeria K. Shah and Dr Vicky Storey. 

Nicholas Hargreaves, Assistant Head at Dunraven School, said: “After the dark, insular days of COVID-19, INNOVATE got teachers talking and working together again and provided them with the opportunity to step back and look at their practice through the eyes of an expert in a different field. This brought new perspectives, new ideas and the opportunity to create together. As a school leader, it was great to see teachers sit and talk about teaching and learning, share their difficulties and hear new perspectives on how to fix them. Teachers know that engagement and active participation are important parts of learning, and now they have developed their arsenal for making it happen in their lessons. Creativity allows students to apply their learning in new ways. The more ways they can apply and use their learning, the more chance they have that it will stay with them.”  

Annette Moses, Principal at South Bank University Academy, said: “I highly recommend collaborating with artists for future teaching and learning across the curriculum, as this adds another dimension to learning. It enriches the curriculum and provides unique engagement opportunities. Our students really enjoyed the collaborations and grew in confidence as a result of the work with the artists. Creative learning is fundamental to all learning; it is how we all began our learning journey. This can sometimes be diminished in schools or seen as less important. We need to challenge that view and remember that creative learning is engaging, fun and enriches student experiences. To ensure the success of the collaboration the curriculum must include regular meetings for the artist and teacher to review and amend the plan so that it is responsive to the needs of students.” 

The INNOVATE project research is available online for more information. Young Vic Taking Part will also host INNOVATE: Legacy & Learning to share the learnings of the report with teachers, freelance artists, creative engagement departments and applied theatre practitioners. More details will be announced in due course. 

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