Teachernet, Promoting community cohesion through Arts, Culture and Sports

Promoting community cohesion through Arts, Culture and Sports

"Arts have a major part to play in helping to galvanise community engagement and participation in planning, and in creating a sense of identity and pride" (Arts Council, England)

Arts, culture and sport are important vehicles in promoting community cohesion within schools. It is well-recognised how creative and sporting activities can offer pathways to success and achievement for young people who may not feel confident with other types of learning. They can also provide 'safe and shared spaces' that bridge community/ school divisions. Special days and 'one-off' events can motivate and energise mixed groups of young people to interact in new ways. More sustained impact can be achieved through establishing partnerships beyond the school and working more strategically to ensure that opportunities involving a variety of local community resources are a part of the experience for all learners.

Benefits
Dance, music, theatre, visual arts, poetry, story telling, sports, and other leisure and culture activities have the capacity to develop individual pride and community spirit. They also help to reverse the spiral of decline in disadvantaged areas by fostering a new sense of community and civic pride amongst residents and helping them recognise and celebrate cultural diversity to the cultural benefit of the whole community.

A £25 million 'Find Your Talent' scheme, part of the Government's ambition to give young people in England the chance to experience high quality arts and culture, offering five hours of cultural activities per week through schemes such as 'Creative Partnerships' (see below), was announced in February 2008 by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls.

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The arts and cohesion
Many schools have used arts and culture to develop understanding of cultural/religious practices and the histories of different communities. These projects can be especially valuable when they celebrate the school's local communities. Such work offers opportunities for young people to research family history, beliefs and heritage. It also provides creative opportunities for young people to express their own identities and explore issues of identity, divisions and deep seated prejudice in a safe and controlled context.

Arts projects can enable dialogue to take place between different groups and create opportunities for young people to understand difficult issues in memorable and enjoyable ways. This learning can take place through their own participation and leadership or through their experiencing and responding to effective performances by others. Some schools recognise the potential of such events and plan carefully for all students to benefit. The value of such experiences can be enhanced if links are created with local arts and sports groups and facilities so that the work can be developed and sustained.

Community engagement
Many schools use the arts to reach out and engage with local community members by inviting them into the classroom to share their arts skills and experiences with young people and by supporting their pupils in putting on public presentations including plays/musicals, dance shows and exhibitions that bring different communities into the school setting.

Examples of effective work exploring issues of diversity, division and cohesion include 'From On Extreme to Another', a play and workshop commissioned for schools and young people in Oldham that explored issues of extremism and a DVD made by young people in Gateshead called 'A Trip Down Coatsworth Road' in which they discovered different religions.

Creative Partnerships
Creative Partnerships brings school children and staff together with creative organisations and individuals to work in partnership on creative projects. Dervish Arts is a training and education provider that promotes dialogue on identity and faith issues through the medium of creative art

The 'Renaissance in the regions' programme provides a resource for schools to visit museums in order to help young people find their place in history. 81 per cent of teachers thought it either 'likely' or 'very likely' that their pupils had learned more about other people and communities as a result of their visit to museums of the Renaissance in the regions Hubs.

Sport
"Sport has the power to change the world. The power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way little else can". (Nelson Mandela)

Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, announced in July 2007 new investment to ensure that all young people could experience five hours of sports every week. He said: "There has been a quiet revolution in school sport in the past few years. This new package of measures builds on the hugely successful national strategy for PE and school sport and aims to deliver a world class system for PE and school sport for all our young people."

Sport has been identified as an area of 'safe ground' which has the potential to inspire, raise achievement and bring together people from all sections of the community. Sports can change peoples' lives, the perspective of whole communities and develop their sense of belonging.

2012 Olympics
The promotion and celebration of cultural diversity was central to Britain's successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. Hosting the Games provides Britain with the opportunity to increase participation and representation rates of all its communities within sport. Importantly it also provides a unique opportunity to promote community relations across the country and to develop them 'for the young people of the World.'

Sport and Cohesion
Within schools, sport is an important vehicle for developing personal, social, emotional and cultural skills in young people. Gang culture, territorial tensions, racism, health and well-being within schools can be tackled through participation in sport. Sport can also be misused to reflect and accentuate society's divisions.

Schools have a role in using the educational opportunities that appear when young people become aware of prejudice in sport. These can be from national and international sporting events, where discussion of news items reporting racism or violence can be an excellent opportunity to reinforce cohesive values.

Initiatives
On occasions, school sports events can produce inappropriate and divisive behaviour that should be dealt with effectively to leave no doubt as to the school's values and standards. National initiatives which have been successful in using sports to tackle community cohesion issues include 'Kick it Out' and 'Show Racism the Red Card'.

The Space for Sports and Arts scheme has provided new facilities and modernised existing facilities for sports and arts in primary schools in deprived areas across the UK. This has given pupils and the wider community more opportunities to get involved in arts-based and sporting activities than ever before; helping improve educational standards, build communities and ensure community cohesion.

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Last updated: 29 September 2008