Craft School
To support the delivery of Craft School, and building on research and understanding from previous educational programme Make Your Future, I developed the Craft Council’s flagship pedagogical framework Make First.
Make First is a learner driven approach to empower making practice both inside and outside of the classroom. Built on a foundation of best practices of anti-racism and anti-ableism, Make Firsts creates learning that gives permission to young people to develop embodied making practices, take risks and develop creative and critical thinking skills.
Working alongside the Craft Council and Yinka Ilori, I designed, launched and managed a national education programme that encouraged young people to get hands on making experiences. Craft School is the Craft Council’s flagship education programme and was designed for young people from KS2 - KS5. Craft School was designed to be delivered in schools or non formal learning environments, such as hospital schools, and youth clubs.
As part of this work we developed briefs for young people to respond to core themes of Yinka Ilori’s work; Storytelling, Play and Empowerment.
Supported by resources and a CPD programme, Craft School aimed to encourage teachers and young people to engage with a variety of craft making practices, to explore risk taking in a safe environment and to creatively engage with materials and processes, to grow their confidence and practice.
In celebration of the completion of the first year of Craft School I worked with the Exhibition team at the Craft Council to co-curated an exhibition to showcase Craft School winners’ work alongside that of established craft makers.
The exhibition also explored the themes of the Make First pedagogy, through the creation of space for making within the Craft Council’s Gallery. Interactivity was embedded into the exhibition design, through open access to handling collections and materials for making readily available. Space for display of objects made during the exhibition also encouraged visitors to reframe themselves as makers and allowed the exhibition to grow during the course of its opening.
What we produced
To support the successful delivery of Craft School within schools and non-formal learning environments, we produced a substantial body of resources and curated a sustained CPD programme for educational professionals.
As part of this I produced three videos with Yinka Ilori discussing his practice and key themes explored within the Make First Pedagogical framework. Other resources also included a Teacher Toolkit and Learner’s workbook.
I also represented the Craft Council at NSEAD’s conference Leading through Practice and presenting and publishing a paper on outcomes of Craft School. I also contributed to a blog post for Accessart and convened and chaired a national conference on the future of Craft Learning.
Additionally I supported the development of NSEAD’s Anti-Racist Art and Design Frame work and was interviewed for Art Review magazine, alongside Yinka Ilori.
