Goldsmiths’ Artsmark programme: Crafting Change by Professor Tara Page

Artsmark, Arts Council England’s award for arts and cultural provision, recognises schools’ commitment to culture and creativity, and empowers teachers to embed arts, culture and creativity across the whole curriculum. 

Over the 15 years I’ve been immersed in the dynamic world of teacher education and school environments in the UK, Goldsmiths’ PGCE students have shared their transformative experiences with Artsmark and how they envisioned carrying forward their Goldsmiths learnings into their Artsmark journeys in the future. This ignited my curiosity about a partnership with Arts Council England, and after rigorous research and consultations exploring the journey of Artsmark past and present, Goldsmiths became the new national delivery partner for Artsmark in September 2023. 

Underpinned by the Artsmark framework, our partnership aims to cultivate dynamic, creative learning environments and empower school communities to be agents of change, fostering creativity, collaboration and critical reflection within and beyond their schools. 

Recognising the importance of understanding the pulse of our learning communities, our Artsmark learning programme champions authentic, embedded change that will have a meaningful impact. We know that for this to happen we need to understand where we are and what we want to change, both in our classrooms and in the bigger picture – holistic whole school change. And that you, the teachers, are the experts of your learning communities: you know them inside out. 

The learning programme empowers schools to make these changes, to develop creative, critically-engaged collaborative action research that is from the ground up, from within, and that involves everyone in the school community learning and working from and with each other. 

Structured into three immersive modules, each of which catalyses innovation and growth, the Goldsmiths learning programme equips teachers with the tools for transformative action. 

Module 1 is a self-guided online module introducing the programme, its benefits, what to expect and the support offer. Schools then carry out an assessment of their current context using the Artsmark framework. Participants can choose whether to attend the following two modules in person or online. In Module 2 (Making Change), schools will learn how to use the findings from this assessment to inform the design and implementation of action research to develop, extend and enrich the arts, culture, and creativity in their learning community. Module 3 (Impact of Change) teaches how to critically examine and analyse data and evidence collected from action research, using these findings to evaluate and assess the impact of interventions and the resulting impact on arts, culture, and creativity in a school’s learning community.

In addition, Goldsmiths provides extra support options, ranging from online drop-in sessions to Additional Learning and Development opportunities on a variety of topics. We will also be fostering a vibrant peer-mentoring community through our Goldsmiths Artsmark Teachers’ Environment (GATE), enabling the sharing of experiences and the flourishing of expertise to benefit a nationwide community of shared practice.

We are thrilled to embark on this journey with schools and teachers; to find out more about Artsmark visit www.artsmark.org.uk. 

About the author

Professor Tara Page is a researcher, artist, pedagogue and Professor of Pedagogy and Praxis at Goldsmiths, University of London. Learn more about her research here.

Banner image credit: Photo-Arts Council England © Callum McMorran, Canteencreate Chorlton High School