here - Manchester Metropolitan University

Case Study Title: "Oldham is for Everybody": Exploring identity and community
cohesion through creativity. Oldham, Greater Manchester, UK.
Summary: Creative practitioners use drama-based processes and techniques and
photography to support young people from three schools to explore their individual and
collective sense of identity and community. A values-based enquiry of public spaces in
the local urban environment.
Dates: 2009 - 2010
Case Study of interest to: All agencies concerned with Community Cohesion and/or
work relating to identity and community. Primary School Teachers. Secondary School
Teachers. Local Authority Commissioners.
Programme theme: Community Cohesion.
Developing skills in Communication/Language; Citizenship/PSHE; Photography; Drama
Supporting change and innovation in schools and communities.
Developing professionals to support the creativity and success of learners.
Disseminating practice regionally, nationally and internationally.
Linking research to practice and provide evidence to influence practice.
Commissioned/Funded by: Breeze Hill High School, Grange High School and South
Chadderton High School, Oldham, Greater Manchester, UK as part of The Centre for
Urban Education’s Creative Partnerships Change Schools Programme, UK.
Link to School Improvement Plan/School Evaluation Form:
The three participating schools had worked with Creative Partnerships in England’s North
West (delivered by the Centre for Urban Education) individually since 2008 as part of the
Change Schools programme, but were faced with many shared challenges which were
expected to result from an authority-wide school restructuring plan, featuring mergers and
relocation.
To a large extent "community cohesion" had originally been conceived by the Government
specifically as a response to the social problems which had, according to official reports
(Ritchie, 2001; Cantle, 2001 & 2006), given rise to the so-called "Oldham riots" of 2001
(as well as to similar events in other towns such as Burnley and Bradford).
Key factors in the outbreak of violence were notions of "parallel lives", a lack of social
mobility and self-segregation along ethnic lines and according to relative income. The
school restructuring programme would therefore seek to bring together White and Asian
children from the poorest districts of the town in newly-built schools which would be
located in such a way that more affluent (middle class?) parents may also consider
sending their children there.
The project which forms the focus of this Case Study originated in a shared belief
amongst the three schools that funding and other resources would best be used
collectively in the light of their shared challenges relating to "community
cohesion", and that our aim should be to help prepare their pupils for the
changes ahead.

Who was involved?
2 Creative Agents: Richard Shotton & Noah Rose
(research, planning, co-ordination, management)
3 Schools in the UK
Breeze Hill High School (12 pupils)
Grange High school (12 pupils)
South Chadderton High School (12 pupils)
One Cultural Organisation: Peshkar Theatre Ltd - design
and delivery of drama-based activities
Young People’s
Involvement
2 Evidence Gatherers:
David Eaton & team (photographer) - design and delivery of
photographic activities & Ray Baxter (Turning Tides Ltd) -
design and delivery of values-based reflective activities
Young people were initially consulted through three focus
group interviews (one in each school, with groups of four
pupils) to identify their personal geographies (places where
they go/don't go) to help identify locations for a photoshoot.
They then took part in a series of drama-activities (12 pupils
from each school) which aimed to explore notions of identity,
values and "place", and a photoshoot in Oldham town centre,
UK.
Finally some participants (four pupils from each school) met
up again to reflect on their photographs and experiences of
working together as a contribution to evaluating the work done
so far.
Teachers’ Involvement
Aims and objectives
Deputy-head teachers at each of the three schools took a
central role in planning throughout the project, setting
objectives, helping to shape activities, and taking key
decisions about numbers of pupils to be involved and time
questions (e.g. when? how long?).
[see above for long explanation of contextual background from
which this project emerged]
Perceived benefit (outcome requested by teachers) was for
pupils to spend enjoyable time with other young people who
they did not know. Further to this was the hope that pupils
might begin to develop a more complex understanding of
"identity" (their own and that of other people) as fluid and
plural rather than fixed and monolithic, and also that they
might begin to reflect on the idea of "community" as being
grounded in the sharing of values in a certain location (eg.
Oldham town centre).

Programme Description Pupils first met for three days in December 2009. Initial work
took place at the City Learning Centre at South Chadderton
High School, UK for drama activities and training in
photography techniques, and then again for editing and some
initial analysis of photographic outcomes and project impact.
Oldham town centre was the outside location for their
photoshoot.
The drama activities enabled pupils to explore their own reality
and other alternate possibilities from within their own
imagination or the experience and imagination of others.
The photography project enabled them to explore locations of
"inclusion" and "exclusion" of people from "different
backgrounds" (age, religion, gender, wealth etc), and to
stimulate discussion of what might constitute and encourage
or discourage "meaningful interaction" between "different"
people.
Impacts / outcomes /
milestones
Much of this latter phase of reflection and discussion took
place in an event which brought some of the original
participants together again in June 2010 for an evaluation
afternoon.
The impact of this programme includes:
For the pupils: To spend time together and form positive
relationship. Pupils spoke of how the need for teamwork in the
shared tasks (photography and drama) ensured that there
was "meaningful interaction".
Pupils also developed photo skills, through which they gained
a new awareness of Oldham, looking at the town in a "more
mature" way, no longer "like kids playing in the park", not
thinking about the world around them, but now curious about
what the park means and represents, why they like going
there, and why any of this matters.
The project saw the beginnings of an awareness amongst
pupils of the notion of "public space", a wider appreciation of
diversity (not only as an ethnic issue but also to include age,
gender, upbringing, and wealth). Through their own
photography and reflection pupils began to understand how
certain locations are more (or less) inclusive than others,
either welcoming everybody, just some or only a select few.
Pupils recognised that places they thought of as "public" (such
as the town centre shopping mall) are in fact private, set up
primarily to serve the private commercial interests of their
owners rather than the public. Pupils recognised this in the
mall's policy against the homeless (barred entry to the building
because they have no money to spend) and against the taking
of photographs (ownership of commercial rights).

Pupils also spent time discussing what makes for (or hinders)
"meaningful interaction" between diverse people, and showed
a strong understanding of their own fears (they would
generally only talk to unfamiliar young people if they could
"predict" how those people might react), and the problem of
who should take the first risky step forward to extend trust.
Resources
Created/Available
What’s next?
Main Contacts
For the professional practitioners: Learning through this
project that creativity (drama/photography) successfully
provides the freedom for young people to explore identity from
new/different perspectives, and developing confidence that
the approach works, based on sound research and
methodology. There are some challenges, however, hopefully
to resolve during the next project phases. Perhaps the most
important is the issue of scale: we have worked with just 36
pupils from three schools so far, compared to the thousands
who will experience either a school merger of relocation in the
near future. We want to scale up our successful project and
test delivery on a larger/wider scale.
Several thousand photographs, available in a range of edited
packages (computer-based or print format - photos were sent
to India to form part of an exhibition); events were captured on
video, available in a 5- and 10-minute edit – see contact
details below for further information.
The project will continue through 2010-11, with plans to
extend involvement to larger numbers of pupils and schools,
and to make greater use of new media and Information
Communication Technology through existing and additional
partners as we seek to engage with the wider community.
These ideas emerged from a consultation exercise with
teachers, potential creative partners and local authority
representatives in the UK in March 2010. A similar
consultation with young people is proposed for late 2010.
The project forms the focus of a PhD study being conducted
by Richard Shotton. The findings were presented at a Centre
for Urban Education event at The Lowry, UK on 8 July 2010,
and also at an international conference in Iran on
"Multiculturalism and diversity in an age of globalisation" in
late July 2010. It is likely to feature in further conference
presentations and published articles in 2011.
For further information and to commission Community
Cohesion programmes: Richard Shotton, Centre for Urban
Education, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
Tel: +44(0)161 921 8081 Mobile: +44(0)7786 328115 Email:
rsh@i-globe.org