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European Social Fund Plus
Project2023-08-17

Creative learning helps children to dream big

Creative learning helps children to dream big
© shutterstock

The Creative Partnership Programme co-financed by the European Social Fund, is an educational initiative introducing more creative learning opportunities into the classroom in Czechia. The programme invites artists and other creative thinkers into the classroom to collaborate with teachers and encourage children to adopt more creative learning habits.

Katarína Kalivodová, CEO of Společnost pro kreativitu ve vzdělávání (Association for Creativity in Education), the organisation spearheading the programme, explains how it works, ‘Creative practitioners come from across all areas of the arts and creative industries, and they include artists, actors, dancers, musicians, commercial designers, architects, and writers. These creative individuals often have a different way of looking at things not constrained by traditional educational thinking.’

Angel Primary School and Kindergarten is just one of more than 50 schools in Czechia to have benefited from the three-year programme. Students in the programme use creative learning actions to help them with their science and history projects. Pupils are encouraged to absorb themselves in the learning process, documenting their learning experience through creative arts and crafts. They are encouraged to paint posters, write and perform poems, and stage plays.

Katarína highlighted how the creative sector brings the tools that teach children to develop creative and analytical thinking skills. In many ways, students wouldn't typically explore these skills before starting a university education. The programme is particularly successful in improving educational attainment in children with low levels of academic motivation. Many of these children come from deprived backgrounds and, having no identifiable role models, struggle with their levels of aspiration.

‘It's about changing how young people think, [it] enables young people to think about a problem rather than just teaching them the solution […] For the first time in their lives, many of these young people start looking at potential career paths and the various educational routes they need to take to achieve their goals.’

Project details

Project name
Creative Partnership Programme
Countries
Czechia
Organisation
Společnost pro kreativitu ve vzdělávání (SPKV)
Participants
500+ students
Project start
2016
Project end
2018
Total budget
247 595,08 €
EU Budget contribution
123 797,54 €