Navigating Futures: arts education as a route to youth empowerment and pedagogical innovation

该项目力求加强与全球挑战研究基金资助的前一个项目(题为‘从流离失所到发展：作为提高马绍尔群岛文化复原力和社区主导的艺术创作手段的艺术教育)所产生的研究和资源的接触和影响。它回应了马绍尔群岛共和国在教育、自我表达和青年福祉方面的特殊发展挑战。RMI拥有太平洋地区第二年轻的人口，40%的人口在16岁以下，但尽管其人均教育支出水平是该地区最高的之一，但辍学率、青年失业率和自杀率都很高。我们的项目回应了当前政府的政策，即通过开发更多与文化相关的教学资源，提高英语和马绍尔语的识字能力，以及更好地利用信息技术进行创新教学，来提高学生的教育参与度和成就(PSS 2016-17年度报告)。它还响应太平洋地区的国家和区域青年政策，努力让被边缘化的青年参与进来并赋予他们权力，特别是在城市环境中的青年(《太平洋青年发展框架2014-23年；太平洋地区青年发展战略计划，2015-17年》)。此外，它还涉及联合国的几个可持续发展目标，重点是教育、平等和促进发展伙伴关系。该项目将包括：(1)在2019年4月/5月期间与马绍尔群岛四所小学、初中和高中的学校教师举办一系列讲习班，并于2019年6月/7月举办另外四个讲习班。这些将涉及提高教师在创新教学方法方面的技能，以提高儿童的识字能力和艺术表达和解释的技能，使用一套与文化相关的创造性作品，以及从项目组以前的GCRF项目中制作的配套教学资料包。项目团队将利用参与教师的反馈，以及我们的项目合作伙伴太平洋教育与学习资源(PREL)和马绍尔群岛教育部课程司的建议，使教学资源包与马绍尔群岛国家课程更紧密地结合起来(2019年10月完成修订，并在2019年11月至2020年1月进行进一步试验)。(2)一系列工作坊(也在2019年4月/5月期间举办)，重点是创作动画、电影制作和应用传统航海知识，马绍尔岛上的年轻人将参加，包括那些从正规教育系统退学和/或失业的人。这些讲习班是应项目合作伙伴Jambo Art(一个青年非政府组织)和其他RMI利益攸关方的要求举办的，将制作Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner的诗《历史项目》的动画以及青年参与者的各种短片和反思作品，将上载到非政府组织网站(2019年10月之前)，报名参加竞赛(如RMI电影竞赛和AHRC电影研究奖)，并由项目组通过我们的网站(map.llc.ed.ac.uk，将于2018年8月推出)和社交媒体进一步推广，这些活动带来的潜在好处不仅与马绍尔群岛青年政策产生共鸣，而且与马绍尔群岛国家战略计划(2017)中概述的更广泛的国家可持续发展目标产生共鸣，其重点是(A)通过改善教育机会和机会创造创新型人口，以及(B)调动当地和传统知识，以应对人民、社区和政府面临的新挑战。我们的项目将使教师和年轻人不仅能够利用艺术教育发展识字和技能，而且还能够利用传统文化知识来应对当前的发展挑战。

This project seeks to enhance engagement with, and impacts from, research and resources produced from a previous project funded under the Global Challenges Research Fund (entitled 'From displacement to development: arts education as a means to build cultural resilience and community-led arts production in the Marshall Islands). It responds to particular development challenges in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) concerning the education, self-expression and wellbeing of young people. The RMI has the second youngest population in the Pacific, with 40% of the population under 16 years of age, but in spite of having one of the highest levels of per capita spending on education in the region, school dropout rates, and youth unemployment and suicide rates, are high. Our project responds to current government policy on improving student participation and attainment in education through developing more culturally relevant teaching resources, improving literacy in both English and Marshallese, and making better use of Information Technology for innovative teaching (PSS annual report 2016-17). It also responds to national and regional Pacific policies on young people, by seeking to engage and empower marginalised young people, particularly those in urban settings (SPC Pacific Youth Development Framework 2014-23; RMI National Strategic Plan, 2015-17). Further, it addresses several of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals focused around education, equality, and fostering partnerships for development. The project will involve:(1) A series of workshops with schoolteachers in four RMI elementary, middle and high schools during April/May 2019, with a further four workshops undertaken in June/July 2019. These will involve upskilling teachers in innovative pedagogical approaches to improving children's literacy and skills in artistic expression and interpretation, using a set of culturally relevant creative works, and accompanying teaching resource packs, produced from the project team's previous GCRF project. The project team will use feedback from participating teachers, and advice from our project partner Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) and the Curriculum Division of the RMI Ministry of Education, to align the teaching resource packs more closely with the RMI National Curriculum (completing revisions by October 2019, and undertaking further trials from November 2019-January 2020).(2) A series of workshops (also undertaken during April/May 2019) focused around creating animations, film-making, and implementing traditional navigational knowledge, to be attended by young Marshall Islanders, including those who have dropped out of the formal education system and/or are unemployed. These workshops have been requested by project partner Jambo Arts (a youth NGO) and various other RMI stakeholders, and will result in an animation of Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner's poem 'History Project' and various short films and reflective pieces by youth participants that will be uploaded to NGO websites (by October 2019), entered for competitions (such as the RMI film competition and AHRC Research in Film Awards) and further promoted by the project team via our website (map.llc.ed.ac.uk, to be launched August 2018) and social media, during the final stages of the project (and post-award).These activities bring potential benefits that resonate not just with RMI youth policy, but also with wider national sustainable development goals, outlined in the RMI National Strategic Plan (2017), focused around (a) creating an innovative population by improving education access and opportunities, and (b) mobilising local and traditional knowledge to address emerging challenges facing people communities and governments. Our project will empower teachers and young people to use arts education not only to develop literacy and technical skills, but also to enlist traditional cultural knowledge to address current development challenges.