Educators have many roles to fill in and one among them is that of a learner. Since educators spend a lot of time interacting with students, they need to explore and enhance their knowledge to be able to deliver information, resources that will shape their students’ experiences.
Started in 2017, the British Council’s Rivers of the World project continues to be a learning opportunity for not just students but also educators. Through the project, schools from different countries are matched with the schools in the UK to work together on an art project based on their rivers. Prior to producing a high-quality digital artwork as an output of the project, the participating school teachers and students are given a workshop.
The British Council in Nepal, recently in February 2021 conducted a workshop for educators from six schools in Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts. During the workshop, the (Artist) facilitator and educators discussed visual arts and ways of engaging students in art-making. Post-workshop, the schools will involve their students to create a final art based on river themes – river culture, resourceful river, rivers of life, river city, polluted river, and working river. The output is expected to be ready by June 2021.
Besides, the educators who were part of the workshop are also trying to integrate their learnings into their school curriculum so that more students can learn and practice creative ways of connecting arts with different subjects. The educators are positive that art can be a career path for their students.
Experiences shared by the educators:
The workshop was insightful. We talked about innovation, creativity, and acknowledged arts-based pedagogy and how it can be embedded in our education system. – Kathmandu Euro School.
Not just educators but also students can equally benefit from this workshop. This will help them to enhance their imagination, develop their understanding of culture, society and share their learnings. – Little Flowers Public School.
Collaborative and informative way of introducing art to our surroundings. – Arunima Secondary School.
