5 Objects in a Bag – A workshop with Headway Arts’ Creative Director Allie Walton-Robson in Skelefteå, Sweden.

Aims:

To begin:

• to develop and explore creative processes with 5 objects used as stimulus.
• to find ways of communicating and sharing ideas.
• intercultural dialogue through the project.
• break the ice and build trust within the project team.

Method:

I asked the group to sit on chairs in a circle –  a practical arrangement that we like to work in at Headway Arts. We can all see and hear each other, there is no end or beginning, no one is at the front or back, higher or lower. We are all at the same level physically and in equality.

Each country was asked to bring along 5 identical objects. We placed them ceremoniously in the centre of the circle. The objects looked beautiful. The UK brought 5 handmade bags.

I then invited a volunteer to begin the process of exploring the objects considering all five senses. I encouraged the volunteer to use whichever manner they preferred, maybe or maybe not using words but showing and sharing thoughts with the rest of group in some way. Happily, Fernando from Spain kindly volunteered to begin (a much appreciated thank you!) and so the group began the sensory process of exploring the objects and sharing the personal meanings they provoke.

I asked the rest of the group to observe carefully and respectfully, which they did. The volunteer was given as much time as they wanted for their sensory exploration and then were thanked for their ideas and asked to choose someone else in the circle to pass the object onto. This carried on until everyone in the group had joined in. Some people considered the object offered to them while others swapped it for another from the centre.

When it was Fran’s turn, she deliberately went outside the circle* to find another object (a glass) to illustrate that we must expect the unexpected in our work.

I deliberately asked people not to describe the objects that they had brought along. This allowed everyone to respond and make up their own minds about the objects without being influenced by prior knowledge. (Partners: You may like to add descriptions to this blog now so we can find out the actual stories behind those lovely things?)

In the workshop, people chose to use mainly non – verbal expression: gesture, movement, action, mime. I was very happy to see this naturally happen as it supported those within the group whose first language is not English. As a result, we began to find ways to communicate with each other in a very human way.

Ideally we should have had much more time to explore the objects properly. At the end of the workshop each country chose a bag and placed their objects inside. They then took these away to begin working with them in their own groups.

Evaluation

Q1: what are we learning?

At the end of the session I asked the group to identify what skills they thought they had been using:

Some of the responses were: imagination, discussion, team work, listening and answering, listening to information, communications, working through a process, creative thinking, giving and receiving, taking instructions.

Q2: What conditions need to be put in place for people to progress in their learning?

Some of my notes include:

• Time – when working with another group I would have had more time and would have slowed down the process.
• Records – usually I would have taken written notes of everyone’s ideas to remind me what everyone did to ensure that nothing was missed and could be returned to in a future session.
• Openness to questions – People felt more comfortable performing the task when they were able to check things with questions.

Q3: What can we do to help the learner recognise what they have learned?

Q4: How can we best apply what we are learning to our organisation?

Through sharing: I am sharing this document on the blog so it can be read by others and discussing it within the organisation particularly with others who could not attend the mobility. It will also be available online to external viewers.

What are the next steps?

The next step is to start a process of creating something new within our own organisations using the ‘bag’ as a stimulus.  These can be shown/shared and discussed at our next mobility in Ferrara.

We should look at how we can best organise and interpret the creative ideas that come from the process.

While we are involved in the creative process with our own learners, do keep looking back at the 4 evaluation questions above.

The story continues in Ferrara…good luck!

What did we learn from Medlefors Folkhogskola?

During the first transnational visit to Sweden, Medlefors Folkhogskola introduced us to the unique way they work with their students.

Johanna, a student guidance councillor, began by explaining Medlefors attitude to learning: ‘come as you are, go as you like and leave satisfied.’ She also introduced learners to the concept of ‘folkbinding’- liberal adult education in Sweden which allows lifelong learning for everyone irrespective of age or background. Participation is voluntary meaning that people have the ability to influence their own learning journey and make choices which can benefit them directly. It will be interesting to see how different education systems in partner countries affect what we are able to offer disadvantaged groups.

We learned the types of support that Medlefors offers students. Student guidance councillors, such as Johanna, establish the first point of contact with a student and arrange  meetings where they can get to know students and their specific needs. Johanna then feeds this information back to the rest of the staff at Medlefors, in particular to Special Needs Teacher who plans students’ learning journeys, making adjustments where necessary to create an individual, unique schedule for each person.

ARTS learners were introduced the unique style in which students learn at Medlefors. Many students arrive at Medlefors having made little progress in the traditional education system in Sweden. Firstly, there was a huge emphasis on study aids including audio books, I-pads and Claro read. Students are particularly encouraged to learn using their senses, particularly using Dunnock Dunn’s and Larstil Smodell’s models of learning.

It became clear that using perception and senses at Medlefors is paramount and learners were invited to a lesson with Special Needs teacher Maria to try this out for themselves. Learners listened to Maria reading an extract from a novel and were asked to draw or paint whatever images came to mind. Some amazing images came out of working in this way. Likewise learners were then put into groups and asked to listen to songs from the film version of the same novel. They were then asked to write down how the songs made the learners feel with each individual feeling/emotion written down on strips of paper. These were collected and redistributed amongst each group who then put them together into a poem or pattern. This use of creativity allows everyone to express themselves and is a good introductory exercise for disadvantaged people learning to express themselves within a group.

A unique programme at Medlefors is ‘PULS’ which stands for ‘personal progression and lifestyle’. Students can choose from activities which increase motivation, relieve stress and improve communication skills as part of their weekly school timetable. Activities on offer include yoga, relaxation, physical exercise, cooking, study techniques and self-reflection (setting goals, evaluation etc.). The PULS programme ultimately allows students to express their feelings and opinions and put things into context in alternative ways.

We also learned the Study Circle technique, which is very popular in Sweden particularly with Arbetarnas Bildningsforbund (ABF), one of the owners of Medlefors. The Study Circle technique is a democratic learning environment where the leader is an equal member of the group. No special training is required to be a leader. Courses can be on any topic with the emphasis being on learning, discussion and creating together. We had opportunity to investigate the Study Circle through practical workshops and can now look at how we use what we have learned with our own groups.