ARTS - CULTURE - CREATIVITY - EDUCATION
Research, Evaluation & Intervention Design
Welcome to the website for Dr David Parker.
David's research aims to understand the impacts and effects of the arts in education and explores creative approaches to pedagogy.
THE CASE FOR THE ARTS AND CREATIVITY
Why are they needed and what do they offer?
Experienced researchers and programme leaders explain how transformative arts and creative practices can be.
ARTSMARK
RSA ANIMATE: KEN ROBINSON
PAUL COLLARD, CCE, CREATIVE EDUCATION
ANDREAS SCHLEICHER, OECD, ON CREATIVITY
CREATIVE LEARNING THROUGH THE ARTS
ABOUT ME
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Dr David Parker is a freelance consultant specialising in research and evaluation in the arts and education sectors. He has a longstanding interest in education programmes designed to unlock the creative potential of young people and has contributed to a range of studies which seek to explore new methods of measuring and valuing creative development in schools.
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He is currently working as a consultant for Arts Council England where his experience has been directed toward redesigning and evaluating a new Artsmark programme for schools across England. Additionally he is beginning to evaluate the nature and effect of Arts Council England's national 'call to action', the Cultural Education Challenge.
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David was Director of Research at Creative and Cultural Skills from 2012 – 2014. He was tasked with mapping future skills needs of the creative and cultural industries and during his time with the organisation focused particularly on cultural heritage, jewellery and design sectors.
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From 2004 – 2012 David was Director of Research for the Creative Partnerships programme. Initially based at Arts Council England, and latterly at Creativity Culture and Education (CCE). He offered strategic leadership on research and evaluation, responsible for generating key learning from education and training programmes.
The range of research and evaluation he managed over this period is now the focus of an AHRC funded 'living archive' project at Nottingham University. Learning from this work is summarised in his book Creative Partnerships in Practice (Bloomsbury, 2013). David also edited an innovative series of 'readers' – short accessible publications designed to help teachers engage with a range of inter-related issues associated with creative education.
Previously, David worked in the Education Department at the British Film Institute from 1999 – 2004, focusing on research, where he took a particular interest in the uses of moving image media in the teaching and learning of all forms of literacy.
Prior to this he was a Research Fellow at Kings College London (1997-99), based in the School of Education where he undertook a series of studies focusing on the uses of animation in primary teaching under the auspices of the Centre for Research on Literacy and the Media.
He completed his PhD in English Literature and Film in 1998 and since then has published several papers, book chapters and books on creative and cultural work with, for and by young people.
SELECTED PUBLISHED WORK
CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS IN PRACTICE
Bloomsbury, 2013
Drawing on the extensive archive of case studies from the Creative Partnerships Programme, from sculpture and storytelling to film and multimedia skills, and the experiences of Creative Partnerships individuals, Creative Partnerships in Practice is the authoritative guide to embedding creative learning in schools.
The Creative Partnerships programme, run by the Arts Council, England, was the largest schools-based creative learning intervention ever seen. Artists and creative practitioners worked side by side with educators to bring creativity into the classroom. Over the course of a decade it helped almost 5,000 schools, 90,000 teachers and over one million young people to embrace creative learning both in school and at home.
Written by David Parker, former Director of Research at Creativity, Culture & Education (CCE), this practical handbook builds on the Creative Partnerships programme and explains how you can embed the key principles of creative practice within your school.
THE ROUTLEDGE INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK OF CREATIVE LEARNING
Routledge, 2011
The concept of creative learning extends far beyond Arts-based learning or the development of individual creativity. It covers a range of processes and initiatives throughout the world that share common values, systems and practices aimed at making learning more creative. This applies at individual, classroom, or whole school level, always with the aim of fully realising young people’s potential.
Until now there has been no single text bringing together the significant literature that explores the dimensions of creative learning, despite the work of artists in schools and the development of a cadre of creative teaching and learning specialists. Containing a mixture of newly commissioned chapters, reprints and updated versions of previous publications, this book brings together major theorists and current research.
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Comprising of key readings in creative education, it will stand as a uniquely authoritative text that will appeal to those involved in initial and continuing teacher education, as well as research academics and policy specialists.
Sections include:
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a general introduction to the field of creative learning
arts learning traditions, with sub sections on discrete art forms such as drama and visual art
accounts of practice from artist-teacher partnerships
whole school change and reforms
curriculum change
assessment
evaluative case studies of impact and effect
global studies of policy change around creative learning.
"The Challenges of Developing System-Wide Indicators of Creativity Reform: The Case of Creative Partnerships, UK" (pp. 448-459).
ANALYSING MEDIA TEXTS
Bloomsbury, 2004
Andrew Burn and David Parker outline how multi-modality theory can be used to analyze texts which employ multiple semiotic modes and media, in such a way that a balanced consideration is given to the characteristics of each mode, how they integrate, and how they distribute textual functions between them. The medthods are rooted in a view of significance as dependent on social context, and fulfilling the social and communicative interests of both producers of textual production and use contingent upon digital formats will also be a determining content of the analytical method.
FURTHER PUBLICATIONS
Throughout my career, I’ve worked on many research projects and have been fortunate to be involved with work published in a variety of different journals and with internationally respected academics.
Parker, D. (2015) Cambridge Journal of Education, The Arts, Creativity and Student Well-Being: Theories and Applications, v.45. I.3 pp 396-400
Parker, D (2013) Creative Partnerships in Practice, Bloomsbury
Parker, D & Ruthra-Rajan, N. (2011) The challenges of developing system-wide indicators of creativity reform, in The Routledge International Handbook of Creative Learning pp. 448-458
Parker, D and Sefton-Green, J. Eds (2007-2011) Creativity Culture and Education Literature Review series (see below)
Whole School Change ( Pat Thomson – Nottingham University)
Childhood Culture and Creativity (Jackie Marsh – The University of Sheffield)
Consulting Young People (Sara Bragg – The Open University)
The Cultural and Creative Industries (Justin O'Connor – Queensland University of Technology)
Rhetorics of Creativity (Shakuntula Banaji and Andrew Burn – Institute of Education)
Arts in Education and Creativity (Mike Fleming – Durham University)
Culture and Creative Learning (Ken Jones – Keele University)
Art Works: Culture Labour Markets (Kate Oakley)
The Visual in Learning and Creativity (Carey Jewitt, Institute of Education)
CONTACT ME
Thanks for your interest in my research. Get in touch with any questions or comments regarding my work and publications. I’d love to hear from you.
