Arts Integration: A fresh take on early years education

Transcend your limitations

Using dance classes as an entry point, but educational and life sufficiency as the end goal, Slum to stage is retaining and enhancing the interest of children in academic schools, by building safe communities for children and young adults, equipping them with the artistic, behavioural, and socio-emotional skills needed to make them better creative and holistic individuals in their communities.

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Overview

Information on this page is provided by the innovator and has not been evaluated by HundrED.

Web presence

2022

Established

149

Children

1

Countries

Target group

Students basic

Updated

April 2024

Through the use of my innovation, I hope to see and record that; 1. All government schools in Abuja, Nigeria and Africa, teach students life skills needed for real life situations, not just academic subjects needed to pursue a career. 2. Children in my community have access to artistic training, and are encouraged to follow their creative paths while excelling in academics.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

Most children in my community are often ridiculed or discouraged from following their artistic or creative paths. A few have low interest in classrooms. I created this innovation to;
1. Bridge the gap between arts and academics in our classrooms.
2. Develop the behavioural and socio-emotional skills, needed for life success in children in schools most especially in at-risk or underserved areas.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

My innovation uses a proprietary training curriculum.

We either take our campaign to academic schools to launch a club there, or we organise school tours and get interested students into our program in a dance studio.

In both situations, we use dance as an entry point to get the children interested in the activities. Following a proprietary curriculum that is centered on the well-being of body and mind of children and young adults, we teach these children socio-emotional skills like teamwork, self-esteem, discipline, empathy and creativity all using dance, as it helps them to work with each other to create a choreography or perform before an audience.

Using technology, we are able to track and record the progress of each child. The results gotten from this tracker enables us to evaluate and determine which child can be selected to represent their community as a student leader to campaign on education issues or which child is to be supported by the NGO to further their education

How has it been spreading?

To spread our innovation, we organise dance and education events where the children who have gone through the program can perform before education stakeholders and the general public. These events have been witnessed by representatives of the French embassy in Nigeria, and the Universal Basic education board. We also invite artistic experts and education advocates from other states in Nigeria to come take part in the event. These advocates have to go through a phrase where they learn about the innovation and the way it works. At the end of the training and event, each advocate or artists can decided to return to their state and begin to implement the arts integration and our method of teaching into their own community trainings. So far, my innovation is operational in 4 states in Nigeria.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

To try it, you can either go through our TRAIN THE TRAINER PROGRAM
OR
Send a mail to info@slumtostage.com or osahoremmanuel12@gmail.com
The teaching curriculum can be sent to you.

Implementation steps

RESEARCH

At this stage the team implementing should conduct a survey, to ensure that the innovation is needed in their community. the survey should answer - whether there is a gap between arts and academic skills in their community, whether students are interested in attended classrooms and engaging in activities, the urgency of wellness in schools in their community.

SCHOOL TOUR

The implementation team should organise a school tour at targeted schools, launching a campaign or advocacy on the role of arts in academics, how arts integration can help children solve class problems better, how dance can improve teamwork and self esteem of children in schools or(and) the urgency of wellness in schools. The team can also urge the school to create a school club where this curriculum can be taught and progress measured.

OREINTATION

At this stage the implementation team can gather the targeted students in the dance studio or school club, introduce the innovation , and to brief them on the program details, core values and vision.

TRAINING AND TRACKING

At this point the implementation team would have commenced the dance trainings, using dance to teach the socio-emotional skills, using examples and noticing the children who use and practice these skills. After each training session, the class instructor should grade the students on a scale of 1-6 on their skills sets and development. This grading should be done and recorded on a tracking device for ease of study and follow-up.

EVALUATION AND EVENT

After a period of 3 months, 8months or 1 year, depending on the choice of the implementation team, all the students in the program are accessed and evaluated. this can be done through an artistic event, to open its doors to the public, for the public to witness the artistic and behavioural growth of these children which will in turn translate to the way they relate to their peers and teachers in the classroom.