Sparking the imagination: creative experts working collaboratively with children, teachers and parents to enhance educational opportunities

Abstract

This article suggests that child poverty and unequal educational opportunity are inextricably linked. It is argued that even from an early age children from poorer backgrounds are disadvantaged in terms of their preparedness to thrive in the formal school environment. Educational achievement is strongly influenced by attitudes and much research suggests that children from less advantaged backgrounds feel less in control at school and lack confidence in performing traditional school tasks. The ‘Sparking the Imagination’ project set out to try on a small scale to co‐ordinate efforts in raising educational opportunity for children from disadvantaged backgrounds by focusing on the context in which teaching and learning takes place. It was also deemed necessary to introduce measures to raise the motivation and aspirations of all involved and this was achieved through the engagement of children, teachers, parents and creative experts in collaborative learning within the classroom.

Political Agendas in Public Education

“…Petrick (2014) highlighted that by growing up in poverty, the student was less likely to graduate from high school than students who grow up in a financially stable household. Further substantiating Petrick's research, Loughrey and Woods (2010) found that children who grew up in poverty began their educational path behind their peers skill-wise and rarely made academic gains to counter their losses, and, years later, the academic lag they acquired aided in the development of an accustomed lens that normalize subpar perceptions and performance.…”

“…Political candidates have used minority and poverty-based subgroups of students as a catapult for a heightened attention in the need for new reforms presidency after presidency. Within the literature, various components that weigh into the success of students' academics were discussed mentioning among others, the student's home life, poverty levels, and demands outside of the classroom (Chubb & Moe, 1990;Harrington, 2012;Loughrey & Woods, 2010;Messacar & Oreopoulous, 2013;Petrick, 2014). The teaming of the media, presidential candidates, and foundation members created a broadcast setting to deliberately manipulate the message delivered to the public (Knaak & Knaak, 2013;Ravitch, 2016) regarding America's academic standings on a global scale by omitting such external contributorsstudents living in poverty and minority studentsas evaluated in this study.…”

Fantasy as a Driving Force: Relations Between Fantasy and Motivation in Children

“…Such exercises could increase the motivation to learn. In the UK, school projects aimed at increasing students’ imagination and creativity have shown promising outcomes (Craft, 2000; Jeffrey & Woods, 2009; Loughrey & Woods, 2010). Loughrey and Woods demonstrated how disadvantaged children could develop positive attitudes toward school through different interventions in an arts-based curriculum.…”