Work packages

This WP aims to establish a common conceptual, theoretical and methodological basis for the research project. It provides a detailed outline for the research theoretical and methodological approach and logic of work to answer the given research questions, but also to ensure that all partners and stakeholders involved in research share the same research principles and criteria. The research design therefore includes a description of the operational implementation of the project key conceptual approach (YPAR & co-creation, pedagogies of care, more-than-human) for the research partners as well as for the stakeholders involved, the data to be collected, method of data collection, tools used to collect data, how the tools are used and how the results are interpreted. This WP is linked to WP2, WP3, WP4 and WP7.

Specific objectives of WP1:

• To make an extensive review of the research literature and existing data on arts-based education theory and the impact (instrumental outcomes) of arts-based education.
• To conduct a comprehensive review of
  • current data analysis and reporting processes
  • existing tools, technologies, and methodologies in use
  • evaluation criteria and impact indicators used in previous research on the impacts of arts-based education
  • strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) of the current state.
• To build a theoretical and methodological toolkit
  • For research partners
  • For stakeholders (e.g. children and young people, teachers, educators, policy makers)
  • For research pilot actions’ participants

WP2 focuses on assessing what value is attributed to art and arts-based education by means of a mixed-methods, cross comparison of existing art educational attitudes, practices and needs in partner countries. The data collected through qualitative (interviews and focus groups) and quantitative (e-questionnaire survey) tools will provide a large-scale evidence-based assessment of the situation and needs in arts-based education across the countries of the consortium as well as attitudes towards the value of the arts and arts-based education. Moreover, it will gather information on existing successful arts-based YPAR grassroot initiatives. This WP is linked to WP1, WP3, WP4 and WP5.

Specific objectives of WP2:

• To assess participation in culture and the arts
• To assess where, how and by whom arts are taught in different spaces of learning
• To assess attitudes towards arts-based education on behalf of a variety of stakeholders
• To map existing arts-based YPAR grassroot initiatives

The core objective of this Work Package (WP) is to systematically map and analyze existing exemplary practices that ensure universal access to arts and art education for children and young individuals. Additionally, this WP seeks to craft a comprehensive training program tailored for teachers and educators, focusing on the seamless integration of arts-based education into formal curricula. This research initiative holds significant importance as it serves as a foundational step towards the identification and dissemination of best practices. The ultimate aim is to equip educators with the necessary tools and strategies to foster inclusivity within arts education. By elevating these practices from local experiments to a consistent European Union (EU) educational policy, the research endeavours to contribute substantially to the advancement of arts-based education on a broader scale. By co-creating and sharing recommendations with national bodies and the EU Commission, the research aspires to contribute substantially to the formulation of coherent and inclusive educational policies across the European Union, so no child is left behind.

Specific objectives of WP3:

• To map effective actions aimed at ensuring that no child is left behind / against educational poverty;
• Teacher/educator training to include arts in teaching;
• Development and dissemination of best practices and recommendations to policy agents.

The main aim of this WP is to examine, carry out and evaluate how participation in arts-based education can have a transformative effect in disadvantaged communities on sense of self across time, the relationship to different artistic forms in formal and informal learning spaces, and the relationship between human and more-than-human worlds. This WP is linked with WP1, WP2 and WP6.

The objectives are:

• To examine local stakeholders (children, young people, connected adults) subjective understandings of artistic forms and their role in their lives and to what extent these change through participation in the research.
• To examine the role of different formal and informal learning spaces and community places in facilitating a sense of belonging in relation to the artistic practices.
• To counter different forms of arts educational poverty across a variety of intersectionalities, using co-creative participatory approaches.
• To examine the transformative impact on the self and cultural awareness when different forms of artistic practices are co-created and community-led.
• To develop empirically-informed theoretical insights bridging between participatory co-creation and theories of love, care and enchantment with both the human and more-than-human world through the arts-based practices.

The overall objective of WP5 is to facilitate a synergetic exchange from practice to policy by creating spaces for discussing and disseminating co-constructed knowledge and projects results between research teams (children, young people, teachers/educators, researchers) in ALPHABETICA and decision-makers on a European/ national/ regional/ local level. WP5 will be devoted to providing materials for the development of policy recommendations and improving the link between research and policy, starting from the local level. Through training activities, the project teams involved will be prepared to:

• organize focus groups with different target groups (young people, teachers, educators, policy makers);
• manage the guidelines for conducting focus groups to gather input on the main objectives of the project;
• define the list of participants;
• involve young people in the transnational labs: these tools will be a key event to give participants the opportunity to exchange ideas and points of view and propose concrete solutions for civic participation. The goal is to build on these ideas some contributions that will be discussed in the national stakeholder meetings

Specific objectives of WP5:

• Co-create purpose-built activities to foster civic engagement
• Raise awareness on civic engagement and cultural involvement
• Promote participation of migrants at local levels
• Link to New European Bauhaus (workshops)
• Youth-led dissemination events
• Living Labs with stakeholders and policy makers

The collected materials will be brought together and discussed at the national stakeholder meetings (the leader of WP5 will prepare a list of public and private organizations to be involved). At these meetings, the projects can share interim results and gather feedback for the preparation of a blue paper/brochure that can be distributed among all the project audience and discussed at the EU level in a workshop during the European Regional week. WP5 will work in parallel with WP3 and WP4 and they will interact by means of synergy meetings aimed at collecting inputs from the pilot actions and share information from the focus groups to reflect on the unfolding of the pilot actions.

The overall aim of this WP is ensuring that the implementation of data collection methods is in compliance with the project methodological strategy to contribute to the efficiency, accuracy, and accessibility of data analysis and reporting as well as the upgrading of existing tools, the implementation of new methodologies, and the establishment of streamlined processes to ensure timely and insightful reporting for informed policy decision-making.

Specific objectives of WP6:

• Monitoring of data collection process
• Cross-synthesis of research activities
• Monitoring of policy recommendations

The overall objective of the communication and dissemination WP is to establish and carry out activities in all the necessary channels with the tools needed for making the project and its results and outcomes to the targeted audiences.

It pursues the following specific objectives:

• Ensure effective communication and knowledge transfer, by setting up, updating and feeding the channels and tools needed for that;
• Create “public relations” in terms of building up and maintaining contacts with target groups and key stakeholders with the intention of engaging stakeholders and the public in all core aspects of the project;
• Raise public knowledge about the impact of arts-based education and promote general interest towards it;
• Contribute to civic engagement for the activities to be carried out in other WPs;
• Spread and disseminate the knowledge generated and the results obtained among scholars, policymakers and other specialised stakeholders, as well as promote networking and collaboration with projects working in the same field.

The overall objective of the coordination and management WP is the smooth implementation of the project and consists in the achievement of the following specific objectives:

• Coordinate and supervise the project research and innovation activities according to the work plan, also by monitoring and ensuring quality and timing of project deliverables
• Carry out the overall administrative and financial management and reporting of the project
• Manage contacts with the Commission and establish effective internal and external communication
• Resolve possible conflicts
• Manage the data generated by the project (DMP)
• Manage the IPR related to the achieved results.