Evaluation of Methodologies

June 2005

A number of individuals who have already taken part in LEIS workshops have provided us with an evaluation of the methodologies they experienced. Others have given us feedback on their experiences of using the Art Kit (zipper workshop materials) and some of the drama techniques. We consider this sharing of information to be integral part of the LEIS project and will be making it available as part of our website.

Some of the following feedback and evaluation is from discussions tutors have had with our LEIS internal evaluator.  The others are in the form of a first-person report supplied by individual tutors.

Essential Skills Masters Student

Before the zipper workshop session when she was told she would be making a sculpture, she was rather worried as she felt she wasn’t at all artistic.  However, she found it a very stimulating experience that made her think and reflect on her feelings and understanding of her essential skills work.  Because the discussion about what the sculpture represented had raised so many interesting questions, she decided it would be interesting to share it with the group of young men that she teaches job skills to as part of an access to employment course. She took along the sculpture she made to her work base to discuss with this group and explained that it was about her journey as a tutor and showed why she had chosen the objects she had used, for example, the shell represented a journey.

She found that it was a good stimulus to discussion as she was sharing her feelings and thoughts with the group in a very open way.  Having a concrete object made it easier to bring up more complex issues to do with equality that were generally hard to do in other types of discussion.  It was a good stimulus to get the group thinking, rather than asking the group to write their thoughts down, which wouldn’t have worked at all and would have limited their thinking to what they knew how to write.  Whilst she had very positive views of the use of the methodology she would not have felt able to use it herself.  She felt using this methodology would require a good facilitator to make sure people were confident about using it before it would work, especially with essential skills learners such as her group.

Tutor at a 3^rd Level Institute

She has not used the zipper sculpturing methodology with essential skills learners herself. However, she was interested in the way in which the methodology could be used with access students.  She hadn’t been anxious about the method as she uses a variety of methodologies herself and encourages her students to use interesting ways of presenting findings themselves.  She found both the making of the sculpture and the discussion of what it represented with the group afterwards very stimulating.  She, for example, had realised that her use of pink was partly about her desire to return to work with women that she had been involved in some years before.  This had reignited her passion about the education of women. 

She felt the value of the methodology was that it gave something concrete to discuss that had symbolic significance.  Through listening to and making suggestions to others some unconscious ideas are revealed.  For it to work, the group would have to feel safe and open and able to feel enjoyment.  Some things that are brought up might be quite self-revelatory, so everyone in the group would need to feel safe.  She also thought that everyone in the group would need to engage with the task.  If this method were to be used by others it would be important to have an element of demonstration.  This could be visual modelling via videos or multimedia computer based programmes.   Two or three different models of possible objects that can be created should be presented, otherwise viewers were likely to go for just the one way of doing it.  It would also be important to ensure that the facilitator was involved with the group, so that what emerged evolved from the whole group and was not prescriptive.  It was important that the goals to be achieved and the role of the facilitator were clear from the beginning.

Essential Skills Co-ordinator for FE and HE College

She had experienced two different methodologies – the first one was on zipper sculptures and the second one, collage.  She enjoyed both sessions and was able to set aside her own inhibitions and get into the flow of the sessions.  She had not been worried about the sessions beforehand, as she has used arts and crafts herself in working with a variety of groups and has found these methods work well.  She found the group she was working with on the Master’s course to be very supportive and everyone was open with each other, so this made the discussion about the meaning of the sculpture and the collage easy.  She found the discussion led to her thinking more deeply about the issues that her work raised for her in ways that a purely verbal or written exercise would not have done.

She also felt that these methodologies could be used effectively with essential skills users, especially to develop the communications skills of listening and talking.  Getting people to do a practical activity using a variety of materials was a good way to break down inhibitions.  It would be important, however, to make sure that the group was open and secure with each other and that the tutor had a good rapport with all members and that there were clear ground rules.  This was particularly important, as the methodologies can break down barriers and all need to be secure with this and also aware that they do not have to reveal things if they don’t want to. 

In using the methodologies she would make sure that they were contextualised to the particular focus of the group and provide themes.  This would provide boundaries and a framework within which the sessions could operate.  In her experience many learners need to talk about why education has not worked for them and these methodologies would enable that discussion to take place within a structured framework.  In a College setting in the end everything leads into assessment and accreditation, so it was vital that the LEIS handbook shows how the materials link into the essential skills curriculum.  She considered that the methodologies would easily map onto speaking and listening skills and it was essential that this link was made. If the methodologies were seen as outside the curriculum then learners and tutors would have to be persuaded of its value.  The methodologies might be dismissed as ‘arty-farty’ unless these links were made.

Literacy Organiser

She is the literacy organiser and the manager of the voluntary and part-time tutors in the area.  She has worked with a student who made his own sculpture that illustrated his understanding of equality.  She is impressed with the way in which the materials can be used with learners but felt that only experienced tutors should use them.  This was because volunteer 1:1 tutors were quite conservative about their methods and had developed their own techniques over time that worked effectively and it would be difficult to persuade them to try these new techniques.  She considered that these new methodologies would be most effective with groups such as the Roma and Travelling communities who did not bring assumptions with them about schooling.  This was because learners who had experienced difficulties at school generally wished to improve their existing skills, particularly of writing and spelling, in order to carry out practical tasks.  Because of these orientations they were less likely to want to experiment with other forms of learning.  She therefore considered that it would be quite a small group of tutors who would benefit from learning about these new methodologies.  In order to be effective these tutors would need to attend training workshops to build their capacity to use these methods.  Tutors were already trained in learner-centred, capacity building approaches so this could be taken for granted.  It was important that tutors had more tools to work with learners that were respectful of their concerns and a focus on equality was a useful way of building their capacities. 

Tutor Trainer

 I used this kit with a group of 8 trainee tutors while delivering the 5^th session of the initial tutors training course “Roles and Responsibilities of a Tutor” in BEST (Basic Education Service Tallaght) on Wednesday 9^th February. I have delivered this course many times over the past number of years.

My one concern about the art kit was that it would involve a significant amount of extra work for tutors. It seemed to me that in order to use the Art Kit it would be necessary to redesign the course and the content.  In this instance I made no changes to the course content or the methodology. At one stage during the session participants are asked to discuss, with a partner, what they consider to be the roles and responsibilities of a literacy tutor and to feedback to the whole group using flipchart/white board. On this occasion I asked that feedback be made in the form of a sculpture, using the art materials supplied by LEIS.

The reaction from the group ranged from surprise to incredulity and there were some complaints that people didn’t know what the sculptures should be like. Nonetheless, people started to pick up bits and pieces and within a very short time we had four wonderful sculptures demonstrating the roles and responsibilities of an adult literacy tutor.

I was very surprised at how much easier it seemed for this group of trainee tutors to articulate what they had learned in the previous four weeks than it had been for others groups to whom I had delivered this session over the preceding years. Using the art materials allowed people to express themselves in a different way without being obliged to search for the most appropriate word.

I found this process both interesting and exciting and hope to make more use of the kit in other classes/sessions.

The organiser of the scheme was very excited when I explained what I had done and showed her the sculptures. She is hoping we can incorporate this methodology more fully into our tutor training and would like to see experienced tutors being given the opportunity to explore this and other methodologies.

Feedback on the Art Workshop Leis Project

This pilot was carried out by a literacy/art tutor in a Senior Traveller training Centre.

Initially I planned to carry out the project with my adult literacy learners but this proved impossible because:

        I work with my learners by withdrawing them from their classes and the art project needed too much time. The learners would miss too much of their other classes.

        I work in a small room, which is shared with other groups. The room has to be left clean and tidy after use and as this project is quite messy it would take time to clean up afterwards.

        There is no storage or place to keep the art materials in this room.

It was proving difficult to organise the project with my literacy learners so I decided to carry it out in my art class.       Five Traveller women and one Social Studies student who were on work placement in the centre carried out the project on 3rd May 2005. The learners were told about the project a week before it was carried out and asked if they were willing to give it a go. There was some reluctance but the majority was in favour.

The session began with an exercise on equality using potatoes. There was very little direction given when the art materials were produced and the learners found this difficult, as they like to be told what way to do things. The abstract nature of the exercise caused confusion and the participants asked for instructions and requested glue and sellotape. Some of the learners commented that it seemed a bit childish.

Two learners chose to work together and they really enjoyed the session. Once the artwork began there was no discussion about equality or literacy but instead they explored the materials, cutting, sharing, chatting and offering each other pieces of the materials. The learners were quite inventive with the materials and ended up with unique pieces, which were very different to each other. Some included the potato, which was used for the opening exercise.

        Two learners said that they would love to do the exercise again. They liked the variety of materials and the bright colours.

        Two said that they enjoyed doing it but did not see the point of making something that was not a real or useful thing.

        One learner said that the whole thing was stupid. When asked to name her piece she named it 'Stupid'.

        One student in our session loved the exercise and seemed imaginative and unafraid to explore and test the materials.

        The learners did not want others to see their work as they felt that it looked a bit silly.

        There was nowhere to keep the finished pieces as they were bulky, and I had to take them apart the next day.

        The art kit is not really useful for the FETAC drawing module that I teach my learners.

        As I delivered the session I was also a learner exploring the possibilities of the exercise. I would like to have a training session myself and explore the exercise with others before offering it to learners again. Based on my experience I would be able to decide what learners it might suit and tailor the exercise to meet their needs.

        There was not enough foam/polystyrene in the pack for the artwork.