Reimagining (Primary) Curriculum through creativity, story and ethical citizenship

11th June 2021
9.00 - 1.30

9.00 – 10.00

Thinking differently about learning through Covid:

Connection, struggle, hope and wellbeing through story

Case Studies of practice:

Fossil hunters – Viv Aitken and Catherine Blewden

Reimagining Home – Story Makers Company and Interplay Theatre

Museum of Legends – Story Makers Company, Project Ujima and Interplay Theatre

Story Makers Press

Inquiry Questions:

What do we mean by making stories?

How can making collective stories help us to act in the real world?

10.15 –11.30

Reimagining relationships:

Finding new ways to think

Emerging research landscapes:

Lisa Stephenson

Dr Kay Sidebottom

Dr Vicky Storey

Dr Antonios Ktenidis

Inquiry Questions:

How can stories disrupt the dominant discourse?

What does this practice look like in action?

11.45 –1.15

Future Practice in action:

Reimagining Curriculum

Whole school approaches

Windmill Cluster of Schools and Brixton Learning Collaborative: Confident Creators project

Welsh Curriculum: A creative approach (Hywel Roberts, Debra Kidd and Kelly Mackay)

Icelandic Curriculum: The six fundamental pillars of education (Rannveig Björk Þorkelsdóttir)

Feversham Primary: An arts rich curriculum

Ethical Citizenship Award Launch: Lisa Stephenson and Katie Smith

Arted Erasmus project launch: Tom Dobson and Lisa Stephenson

Young people’s creative manifesto – Why it matters

Inquiry Questions:

What is the potential of collective creativity as curriculum?

How does making stories together make young people feel?

Join us for our virtual festival where we explore the ways in which imagination and immersive story can bring learning to life in a complex and changing world. Hear from international educators, innovative school leaders and practitioners about the ways in which they are actively reclaiming imaginative and future facing pedagogies.

Festival Resources

Join us here for a snapshot of the day of the festival to explore exciting new creative projects and chat with other participants.

Enter

Telling the story of an unsung New Zealand hero through a home-based learning adventure

Join us to hear about ‘Fossil hunters’ - a dramatic inquiry-based learning adventure Catherine created for her class of year 2-3 students over lockdown in 2020. Beginning with some context about our professional relationship and the NZ curriculum, we will share how the programme of learning was developed - including culturally responsive elements. We’ll talk about how spaces for student creativity and ownership were maintained, share some of the childrens’ responses, and we’ll reflect on what we learned about curriculum and storymaking along the way. The presentation will take the form of a professional dialogue over zoom, with listeners welcome to ask questions and offer responses via chat.

Viv Aitken

Kia Ora, I’ve been involved in education for over twenty five years as a teacher, teacher educator, researcher, professional development facilitator, and convenor for www.mantleoftheexpert.co.nz. Formally Senior Lecturer in drama education at Waikato University and Associate Professor in Education at EIT, I’m now a Ministry-Accredited consultant with Tātai Angitu e3@ Massey, which gives me the privilege of working with schools all over Aotearoa implementing creative approaches to local curriculum. I enjoy writing and presenting and I’m very pleased to have recently finished a book Real in All the Ways that Matter: Weaving learning through the curriculum with Mantle of the Expert (NZCER 2021). I am co-chair of the newly formed Dramatic Inquiry Network Aotearoa Trust, which recently gained recognition from the NZ government as a Network of Expertise

Catherine Blewden

Tēnā koutou katoa. I graduated from Waikato University in 1991 and have been teaching in various capacities ever since. I have worked in a number of diverse schools at different year levels. I currently teach a lovely class of year two children and hold a Kāhui Ako position which supports improvement in student achievement and well-being by strengthening teaching practice. This role allows teachers to share skills and knowledge in new ways through a cycle of inquiry and improvement. My focus has been on developing knowledge, understanding and practise of Dramatic Inquiry and embedding this creative approach in my own classroom and throughout our school. I have recently written a contributing chapter for a book written by Professor David Giles, sharing my Dramatic Inquiry story and its transformative effect on school-wide teaching and learning.