Student Participation in The Cultural Rucksack

Author: Paul Collard

Institution: Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE)

Full Reference: Collard, P. (2014). Student participation in The cultural rucksack. Den kulturelle skolesekken.

Summary of Key Findings

This study explores the views of young people from Norway about their experiences of the activities of Den Kulturelle Skolesekken (‘The Cultural Rucksack’, DKS) and culture in general, to inform future work of DKS. The project was developed by DKS and Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) and involved a small group of 13–18-year-olds in each of three different Norwegian locations: Trondheim, Lillehammer and Ås, in the period of November 2013 – February 2014. Workshop programme for each group included 5 – 6 workshops lasting approximately 150 minutes each, offering a range of cultural activities, both provided by the DKS and not, with sessions allowing deep reflection. Each group’s programme was led by a Norwegian artist experienced in working with young people in schools as well as collaborating with DKS. Next to the workshops for young people, one workshop for teachers was held in each area as well. Paul Collard interviewed each artist and analysed their reports and other material generated throughout the programme. These, together with the discussion following an interim presentation by DKS in February 2014, informed the report.

The combined qualitative and quantitative study provides insights into young people’s views on specific cultural and learning activities, analysis of the activities and the young people’s responses, and final recommendations to DKS resulting from the research.

Some of the observations from the study are as follows:

• High engagement, interaction and participation and intense learning are considered very important elements of workshops by young people.
• Young people are very perceptive about workshop design and the way it is delivered.
• Developing a real sense of ownership of artworks helps young people connect with the art better and enhances their experience.
• Most engaging learning activities for young people are those where they are simultaneously physically, socially, emotionally and intellectually engaged.
• The young people acknowledged that they would be able to enjoy anything, so long as the quality was high enough. They showed a sophisticated understanding of quality and the ability to distinguish between input quality, process quality and output quality.
• The young people placed a lot of importance on the value of learning within DKS programmes.

 

Read the report here.