By Professor Tom Inns, Director of the Glasgow School of Art

CREATIVE education: is it the preserve of further and higher education? Or an educational model which when applied to primary and high school education can have transformational benefits?

The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) was an early supporter of Paisley’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2021 and the desire not only of the council but also the people to reignite their radical and entrepreneurial spirit and transform their town through creativity and culture. Enthused by their ambition we moved from a position of supporting a bid to being actively involved, exploring how we could, as Scotland’s national school for the visual creative disciplines, engage in a deeper and more meaningful involvement where we would add value.

A Memorandum of Understanding signed by the GSA and Renfrewshire Council this week contributes to the central tenant of this transformational agenda – to lift Paisley’s young people out of poverty. A young person born in 2017 will be starting school as the City of Culture draws to a close, starting high school in 2027, the mid-point in Paisley’s step-change and will leave school in 2035. What their options will be in 2035 we do not know, but what we do know and what we can influence now, is their life chances through education.

This ground-breaking partnership formalised through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of developing Scotland’s first School of Creative Education does just that. Working with Renfrewshire Council and Castlehead High School, the partnership aims to maximise the potential of all young people now and in the future at Castlehead, ensuring that they not only develop the qualifications but also the life skills that will enable them to be resilient, critical thinking, empathetic individuals who are well prepared for the shifting world of work and future study that awaits them following school.

The studio-based culture for which creative education and especially the GSA is known provides a flexible, open space in which to learn, encouraging students to interact with each other and to create a community of learners. It is a culture that GSA wishes to share and extend with Castlehead, to support the development of all young people, across different disciplines and curriculum areas and allow each young person, regardless of their background, to realise their potential in whatever they choose to do.

This studio model is already developing within the art and technology departments in Castlehead and the initial phase of our partnership work will seek to deepen this practice, learn from the student experience and explore ways it can be extended throughout the school curriculum to benefit all learners.

Bringing staff together from both Castlehead and the GSA will enable a sharing of practice and learning from each other to create a shared vision for the school and the pupils. It is anticipated that all members of the school community will be involved in the new learning opportunities.

I, and colleagues at GSA, do not see this as a short-term initiative but rather the start of a long-term relationship which has mutually beneficial outcomes for Castlehead pupils and ourselves. We are excited and committed to this partnership, which we feel will not only enhance the creative disciplines themselves at Castlehead but also impacts on the wider school learning experiences. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding is the first stage in this development and can only gain momentum due to the commitment to this work on all sides.