This session is for Wakefield teachers only and is funded by Wakefield Council for the Our Year 2024 Schools Programme.

Held in the Reading Room of the National Arts Education Archive (NAEA) at YSP, this session will introduce the ideas and legacy of Sir Alec Clegg, the innovative Chief Education Officer of the West Riding of Yorkshire County Council from 1945 to 1974, and work produced by pupils in the West Riding during this period. Using archival material as stimuli, participants will discuss the challenges and opportunities of educators today and generate ideas that can be taken back to the classroom.

This CPD session will be divided into two parts. The morning session will consist of an interactive discussion. Participants will be offered a series of provocations and visual prompts from archive collections as stimuli to generate discussion, and through which to share, exchange and initiate critical reflections on the past and present status of arts education. The past educational values and ideas represented in the archival material will be utilised as a starting point to reflect upon the challenges and opportunities of the profession of educators today.

In the afternoon session, participants will work together in groups, actively engaging in the archival material and sharing their classroom experience with fellow teachers and the archive team. Exploring and using the content of a collection selected by the NAEA team, teachers will be invited to recreate the different stages of a class project. This session will provide further opportunity to find out about the archive and its arts education collections.

This participatory workshop will enable teachers to:

Morning session:

• Acquire knowledge about Sir Alec Clegg’s legacy in connection to collections held at the NAEA.
• Reflect on the subject of education, past and present, through a participatory approach.
• Engage with archival material (both text and visual) from a critical perspective; consider the benefits and limitations of the approaches considered; create discursivity and stimulate critical thinking.

Afternoon session:

• Apply new knowledge to artefacts.
• Share knowledge and expertise.
• Generate innovative ideas based on the new knowledge gathered and the interpretation and critical reading of the artefacts presented.

This session will be most relevant to KS2 teachers based on the depth of archival material to be explored. However, teachers of all key stages will be able to contribute to and benefit from the discussion.

Participants should park at YSP Learning and follow signs to the NAEA, arriving for teas/coffees at 09.30 for a 10.00 start. Lunch will be provided, please let us know of any dietary requirements by contacting sophie.yaniw@ysp.org.uk.

Participants will receive an email the week before the event with additional information, including questions to consider before the session. Teachers are also invited to bring an example of a class sketchbook to share with peers.