The Paths Children Take

Every child and young person should benefit from creative and cultural learning that allows them to progress, experience, extend and deepen their understanding of the arts and culture.

Yet progression in the arts and culture can be ill-defined or not prioritised. Young people can fall through gaps in provision and between phases of their education. And while the value of the creative industries to the economy is increasingly understood, the pipeline of future artists and audiences may be fractured. What are the risks of losing the contribution to children and young people's wider learning made by a growing experience of the arts? What are the implications for the many areas of employment in which creativity plays a vital role?

Our Annual Conference 2018, hosted by South Essex College and working with Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, addressed these challenges and examined how we can create an ecology of creative learning that gives every child the chance to flourish.

Three overarching questions ran through the day  :

• What does effective progression in arts and cultural learning for all children look like?
• What alterations might be made to day-to-day practice in schools and cultural organizations to better assure both excellence and inclusion?
• What needs to change in order to better assure progression; how do we exert influence to make this happen?

Contributors & Sessions

The day was hosted by Kenneth Tharp, Director of the Africa Centre.

There were main stage contributions from teacher, trainer and author Debra Kidd, creative producer and arts adviser Elizabeth Lynch, education journalist Laura McInerney and Cat Scutt, Director of Education and Research at the Chartered College of Teaching

At the centre of the day, eight Commissions of Enquiry took place. These extended workshops were facilitated by a range of experts and tackled big questions around ensuring progression before feeding into the final plenary.

You can read more about all of the Commissions of Enquiry that took place here.