Rethinking Curriculum – The Superpower of Looking- How looking at Art can support Oracy and Visual Literacy in your curriculum development.

Are you interested in developing your primary curriculum in creative ways? Would you like to increase children’s ability to be curious and to develop critical thinking as a key skill for all children? Visual literacy is a fundamental competency that is essential to develop children’s aptitude for criticality and articulation of thoughts and ideas across all curriculum areas. In this webinar you will hear from colleagues who have tested Art UK’s ‘Superpower of Looking’ resources which have been  created by the charity Art UK especially for primary schools to embed within the Art and Design curriculum.

The Superpower of Looking programme aims to engage primary children with careful looking and critical thinking through observing and thinking about art.  Five teachers, who have explored this concept in a range of diverse settings through an action-research model, will share examples from their own research to show how the Superpower of Looking has impacted children’s learning as well as their own curriculum offer. They will present key findings from their individual projects, which reflect priorities from each setting and community. Their action-research projects investigate the potential for a paradigm shift in educational policy and practice towards understanding and implementing the key skill of visual literacy through Art and Design lessons.

The findings from these projects will help shape the intended roll-out of the Superpower of Looking to all primary schools by 2030. 

This webinar comes to you as part of the Rethinking Curriculum webinar series. The project aims to support and equip teachers and school leaders with the knowledge and skills to identify, plan and implement curriculum development work in a sustainable, creative and place-based approach. This will mean that all pupils will have access to an expansive, inspiring curriculum that connects them with local communities and enables them to lead healthy, fulfilled lives.

The session will be hosted by Jenna Crittenden ( Teacher Advocacy Lead) 

Jenna Crittenden is Teacher Advocacy Lead at the Chartered College of Teaching, leading a national project ‘Rethinking Curriculum’ that aims to support and equip teachers and school leaders with the knowledge and skills to identify, plan and implement curriculum development work in a sustainable, context specific and impactful approach. This will mean that all pupils will have access to an expansive, inspiring curriculum that connects them with local communities and enables them to lead healthy, fulfilled lives. Jenna also leads the college teacher advocacy work, from fellowship round tables to policy engagement. Prior to joining the college Jenna has been a Primary Headteacher, Curriculum Design lead, governor and also acts as a trustee for MTPT and Team Up.

Speakers:

Susan Ogier – University of Roehampton –  Project lead/ Art UK Academic Partner 

Susan is a Senior Lecturer in Primary Education, specialising in Art and Design at the University of Roehampton, London, having spent many years teaching Early Years and primary art in school. She has a Master’s degree in fine art, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is a member of Chartered College of Teachers and holds a Certificate of Evidence Informed Practice.  She is author of Teaching Primary Art and Design, (2017) published by Sage, as well as a series of books for children, professional and peer-reviewed journal articles, and several book chapters. She is known for her strong association with the subject association NSEAD, and for leading CPD events for trainee teachers, class teachers, mentors, and senior leaders through consultancy work. She is also the Associate Consultant for NASBTT in primary art and design.  She has been involved in several EU funded education research projects focusing on art as a vehicle for learning and is currently undertaking project work to support the charity Art UK’s roll-out of the Superpower of Looking programme for primary schools. Susan’s most recently published books in the Sage: Learning Matters series are: Teaching the Arts in Primary Schools (2021); The Broad and Balanced Curriculum in the Primary School: Educating the whole child, (2nd Edition) (2022); Teaching Sustainability and Climate Change in the Primary Curriculum, (2023).

Teachers:

• Mandy Barrett – Teacher Researcher: Specialist Art Teacher, Teacher Champion for Superpower of Looking, Mandy was interviewed on Radio discussing her work on Art UK’s Superpower programme> https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0026nds. She works at Gomersal Primary, Bradford
• Gemma Hankinson – Teacher Researcher: Upper KS2 lead – Offley Primary Academy, Cheshire.
• Liz Harper – Teacher Researcher: Art lead – St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School, Stoke on Trent
• Helen Jones – Teacher Researcher: Assistant Headteacher/Art lead – Pilgrims Way, Primary School, Southwark  
• Gill Sekatawa – Teacher Researcher: Art lead – Nelson Academy, Eastern Multi Academy Trust, Norfolk