Research findings

Smoothing the troughs of academic downtime in secondary education with creative learning approaches – Ryan Williams

“Academic downtime” or “educational slumps” reside naturally in the rhythms of the teaching year. Intertwined with the lead up to holiday periods and post exam intervals, educational downtime practice exists in a different sphere to the rest of the year. The tendency for student engagement to diminish according to the proximity of key time periods throughout the school calendar is tied into practice embedded into perennial educational patterns. Depending on the time of year (and current positioning in students academic career) students lose motivation through their own fatigue and the fatigue of their teachers. Many students receive a passive experience that fails to enrich development or foster intrinsic growth due to this ‘trough’ of disengagement.

In this action research project I attempted to identify and tackle academic downtime at Kingswood School in Corby. As an arts specialist school, I asked the question of whether creative learning approaches can provide increased engagement for the benefits of teachers and students at Kingswood school.

In the initial action research cycle, end of term “burnout” and student disengagement were dually explored and from the primary and secondary research findings I tested a number of small­‐scale creative learning tasks that served to motivate and engage students and teachers alike. Further research into concepts of deep learning in cycle two allowed development for a large-­scale creative learning event that sought to deeply engage students and teachers at its core. Adopting a wide range of engagement techniques such as “thematic immersion” and facets of drama pedagogy, the creative learning event sought to test methods of engagement through trans-­disciplinary planning and co-­constructive collaboration.

Creative learning week 2011 was utilised as a way of reinvigorating identified troughs of engagement in the academic calendar.

Through the framework of action research, the inextricable end of term burnout (or fatigue) experienced by teachers and students was considered in a way that could benefit both parties. Through the findings of the project it was concluded that there is little value in provision of passivity exercises for the end of term “academic troughs” in the year. The need to fully engage learners with alternative experiences that develop deep intrinsic learning qualities and also inspire us as teachers to create and discover in ways we readily convey to our students (but don’t necessarily practice ourselves) was identified to be of paramount importance. Through planning creative learning events there are significant benefits of stronger cross-­curricular networks and better working relationships all round. For both teachers and students, a proposal that a temporary revision from the practice and conventions inherent to the current end of term practice was presented as way of benefitting all stakeholders.

Through primary and secondary research methods it was argued that there is value in allocating time to be brave with identified low output periods of the school calendar. There is also significance in providing alternative ways for learning to be presented to students. Increased Student engagement may be justifiable by itself but added deep learning experiences are undeniably valuable to all stakeholders. The value is experiential and prolonged immersive experiences connecting teachers and students collaboratively in a creative context is an invaluable opportunity that should be seized with all hands (small or grown up)

Giving teachers opportunity to carry and dictate their own part in the creative learning planning would allow greater integration of teacher expertise (within a thematic context) and hence a greater potential for enjoyable creative experiences. We also rarely get opportunity to deliver content alongside our colleagues, which this opportunity would afford us.

We owe it to ourselves and our students to reward the hard work that teaching and learning demands with a change in pace, delivery and sense of fun in the deep engagement that a creative learning week can offer.

If we can gear up to captivate instead of winding down to pacify, the troughs of academic downtime could ascend and ultimately become the peaks of creative engagement uptime.

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