SCHOOLS are to benefit from an initiative to support pupils in developing critical thinking skills through visual arts and drama.
The two-year Creative Teacher programme is to be funded by Young at Art, the north's leading arts provider for children.
Young at Art was announced as the only Northern Ireland recipient of funding from the latest round of Paul Hamlyn Foundation's (PHF) Teacher Development Fund.
Creative Teacher developed from Young at Art's Creative Child programme and will align with `the world around us' strand of the Key Stage 1 and 2 curriculum.
Participating schools have been part of the Creative Child programme in previous years, meaning they already enjoy strong positive relationships with Young at Art and its artists.
Eibhlin de Barra, Director at Young at Art, welcomed the award.
"As well as being the first time we've been funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, this will be the first time we have explicitly sought to directly influence teachers' ways of working, placing the focus on the creative process, rather than the outputs, an approach which has a proven positive impact on the confidence and self-esteem of pupils," she said.
"There's also strong evidence that this approach has a ripple effect on the families of pupils, as they learn to play with siblings and interact differently with parents and guardians."
PHF's Teacher Development Fund aims to support teachers and school leaders to develop the necessary skills, knowledge, confidence and experience to deliver effective arts-based teaching and learning opportunities in the primary classroom, and to embed learning through the arts in the curriculum.
Catherine Sutton from PHF said the foundation was impressed by Young at Art's drama and visual arts approaches to enhancing pupils' critical thinking skills and commitment to working in schools to support children experiencing significant disadvantage.
Bunscoil Bheann Mhadagain in North Belfast is one of seven primary schools due to participate in Creative Teacher.
"Our pupils really enjoyed taking part in the Creative Child project - it gave them a wonderful opportunity to explore their creative side through art, drama and performance and brought a whole new dimension to this area of the curriculum," said Principal Máire Uí Éigeartaigh.
"We are looking forward to the Creative Teacher project which will give teachers an enriching professional learning opportunity in a much neglected but extremely important area of self-expression which complements all areas of the curriculum."
