Increased confidence, self-esteem and social skills are some of the identified positive outcomes of creative interventions with children and young people experiencing disadvantage, according to a new evidence review published today by the Coram Institute for Children. However, the review concludes that much of the evidence is not rigorous enough to draw firm conclusions, and more robust studies are needed in this space.
The review*, supported by the Hadley Trust, explores the evidence of the impact of creative programmes** delivered outside of the national curriculum such as arts, music, theatre and multimedia. It specifically looks at children and young people with care experience and those experiencing more broader disadvantage and exclusion.
Findings relating to care-experienced young people and those facing broader disadvantage, were largely consistent:
- Most commonly, children and young people were observed to have grown in confidence, self-esteem, social skills and communications skills and to have forged strong relationships with peers and programme facilitators
- Other benefits relating to self-awareness, self-identify, wellbeing, resilience and empathy were also referenced
- In some cases, participants’ outward behaviour was understood to have improved: becoming less aggressive and disruptive
- There was less evidence about ‘hard outcomes’ relating to participants’ longer-term trajectories such as education or career attainment, although young people’s aspirations often developed.
In addition, the review found that creating a ‘safe space’, allowing young people the opportunity to exercise agency, and having the right facilitators were critical for success. Providing support or ‘after care’ after the close of a programme was found to be important. The review also found that whilst virtual programmes supported confidence and wellbeing, they were less effective at supporting the development of social skills.
Today’s report makes a number of important recommendations, based on the findings of the review.
Practice recommendations:
- Foster agency of young people through co-design
- Dedicate time and effort to recruiting the right professionals with the appropriate qualities, skills and experience
- Create a ‘safe space’ – beyond a safe physical setting, build supportive and inclusive environments
Policy recommendations:
- Decision-makers should boost support for and investment in creative interventions, embedding creative interventions in education and children’s social policy
- Focus policy on making arts accessible to young people experiencing disadvantages
- Foster partnerships between arts, community and educational institutions to increase opportunities for young people
Research recommendations:
- Future creative interventions should ensure funding is allocated to evaluation
- Develop research methods with, and tailored, to young people to increase engagement
- Further research is needed to explore ‘hard’ quantitative outcomes using validated measures and a control group where feasible
Dr Carol Homden, CEO of Coram, said: “Through our work leading the world’s largest youth drama festival with Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation and the Voices national creative writing competition for children in care, we have seen first-hand the power of creative interventions for children and young people, and their importance in building crucial life skills.
“The findings of our review reinforce this message whilst highlighting that more research in this area is needed to help us better understand the longer-term impact of creative programmes, particularly around education and employment outcomes. We’re also calling for greater investment and focus on creative interventions, with emphasis on reaching children and young people experiencing disadvantage who could be at risk of missing out, so that all are able to engage and reach their full potential.”
*The rapid evidence review builds upon an earlier body of work conducted by Coram (Peeran, 2016), which explored the impact of arts and cultural education on looked-after children and young people, but focuses on the UK specifically. The report summarises the findings from outcomes studies published in the UK since the previous review in 2016.
**Creative interventions have been defined as structured, non-therapeutic programmes, delivered outside of day-to-day service provision (e.g. statutory school lessons), which aim to address developmental and psychosocial needs through creative engagement. This review identified and focuses on 21 studies relating to mixed-arts (6), music (6), theatre (4) and art (3) interventions and to the Arts Award (2). A summary of these studies can be found in Appendix A of the report.