Anna Craft was Director of this project, which involved Dr Kerry Chappell and Paul Scott, St Bonifaces Catholic College (Plymouth), and Dr Peter Twining, The Open University, in student-led community-based transformation of school and learning. It buillt on the Aspire Pilot, undertaken at The Open University. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the Open University and SWGate funded this initiative to enable pupils, parents and teachers in ten primary and secondary schools in the South West to work together to foster creative and Aspirational work in their schools, and to define metrics appropriate to their own schools.

 

Aspire South West was led from a hub school, St Boniface’s, in Plymouth, and co-ordinated by Paul Scott, Y7 leader and head of ICT at the school. Paul and St B’s participated in the pilot phase of this programme (funded at that stage by NESTA). Co-exploration by communities in each school and across the co-development network of ten, led to school change in each site.  A report on the project can be found on the new Aspire website. The project led ultimately  to an expansion of this research and development programme, see website and also Chappell, K.A., Craft, A.R. (2011). Creative Learning Conversations: Producing Living Dialogic Spaces. Educational Research, 53(3), 363-385.