Lambeth Education Action Zone

Lambeth EAZ: an arts focus

Lambeth Education Action Zone schools in partnership with the Royal Festival Hall have undertaken a range of arts activities with teachers and pupils from 1998 to 2003. They included poetry and creative writing workshops, film-making, drama, dance and art. This work aimed to support the improvement of teaching in learning especially within the eight Arts schools, but to a significant degree, across all 28 schools in the zone.

In order to ascertain how effective these interventions have been, and as a way of identifying key elements that combine to improve efficacy, the bfi Education Department evaluated and mapped the work undertaken in Lambeth EAZ, with a special focus on projects delivered in partnership with their lead partner the Royal Festival Hall (RFH).

What did Lambeth EAZ and the Royal Festival Hall aim to achieve?

Lambeth EAZ and the RFH outlined their aims and objectives in relation to the evaluation of these arts initiatives as follows:

Aims

EAZ

• To obtain a detailed description of teachers' and learners' responses to the provision of arts education interventions in Lambeth EAZ
• To raise standards of pupil attainment in primary schools
• To raise standards of learning
• To raise standards of behaviour
• To improve recruitment and retention of teachers

RFH

• To increase strategic engagement with schools and community groups
• To give schools the opportunity to engage with the RFH and create work alongside professional performers and artists

Objectives

EAZ

• Developments of the arts curriculum in schools
• Development of cluster for joint working amongst schools

RFH

• Development of partnership with Lambeth EAZ schools
• Development of a responsive style of education practice
• Extension of the educational potential of the RFH programme

How did the bfi approach the evaluation?

To produce summative and formative evaluations of the arts cluster initiatives, bfi Education used quantitative and qualitative research instruments. Qualitative methods aimed to provide 'rich description' of the school context that could serve as an interpretive paradigm for quantitatively measured outcomes. The Institute of Education is undertaking a larger scale quantitative study of Lambeth EAZ which we cross-compared our data with. The evaluation framework given in the next section summarises the information that we gathered as the basis for the evaluations made. The methodological approach was follows:

Gathering baseline data and contextual information

• Initial discussions with key EAZ and RFH staff;
• informal visits to a sample of the schools while arts projects are taking place;
• information from a literature review (including Lambeth EAZ and LEA education plans) to provide contextual information to aid identification of the specific research questions that could feasibly and fairly be addressed by the evaluation.

The design and implementation of an evaluation survey

To obtain a detailed description of teachers' responses to the provision of arts education in Lambeth EAZ, a questionnaire for a postal survey was designed. The first phase of this process involved clarifying the key questions to be addressed followed by the identification and itemising of subsidiary topics that relate to the central purpose such as:

• the types of intervention undertaken;
• the content of each intervention;
• the locations of the intervention;
• the timing of the teaching that took place (duration and frequency - how long and how often);
• how many children were involved;
• how were the teachers involved;
• what were the measurable outcomes etc.

The questionnaire[s] were designed and 'piloted' on a small scale using a sample of teachers in Lambeth schools.

School visits and interviews

Interviews were semi-structured and covered a range of topics probing three areas:

1. Prior knowledge and practice in relation to the arts,
2. The processes involved in the intervention,
3. Outcomes of the intervention(s).

Focus group interviews were held with a sample of children who participated in some of the arts projects in each school.

Whenever possible we observed the delivery of arts projects. 

Focused observation of arts practice in schools

The use of focused observation helped to clarify exactly how an intervention is working. Spending time within workshops or lessons was a valuable way of getting a feel for what was happening and could lead to revision of existing interview questions or the formulation of new ones. As a focus for our observations we would use Mertens' (1998, pp. 319-20) schema for foci of observation. The eight-point scale, each point reflecting a key evaluation category, can be summarised as follows:

1. Program setting
2. Human and Social Environment
3. Program activities and participant behaviours
4. Informal interactions and unplanned activities
5. The 'native' language of the program participants
6. Non-verbal communication
7. Unobtrusive measures
8. Observing what does not happen.

Telephone interviews

Arts practitioners delivering the EAZ arts cluster projects were interviewed to establish their aims and objectives in becoming involved in this programme; their views of its delivery and their assessment of its impact both on their own professional development and on the schools, teachers and pupils who took part. Contextualising information from company brochures and documents was gathered to further elucidate their company's aims, objectives and ethos.

For more details about this project contact:

Head of bfi Education

BFI

21 Stephen Street

London W1T 1LN

Tel: 020 7957 8973

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