A Partner project

Partner Projects represent a collaborative undertaking for my design practice. Months of interdependent co-creation develops the conversation from a safe and enabling environment to form initiatives of real transformation.

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Context

In 2013-14 only 1.2% of pupils at PRUs gained 5 or more GCSEs compared with 53.4% in mainstream schools. One in four pupils at PRU’s leave with no qualifications, 68% of those excluded from school find their way to prison.

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Design as a conversation 

Design is a conversation across space, time and culture, one that takes place between all who occupy the problem space, and a conversation that is about failure and innovation. As a society in the UK we do not have the healthiest of relationships with failure. It's a crucial element in the design process, indeed in our lives. If we are unable to learn from our mistakes, we can never truly progress.

 

Design for Failure

In my process of "Design as a conversation", failure becomes an ally, indeed it's imperative to make failure a good friend. My personal reflections remind me on countless occasions where I have been encouraged to avoid failure, so much so that I grew up forgetting that I need to be responsible for it. Owning it allows us to move forward with confidence. 

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safe & enabling spaces 

EOTO works with young people who have a cruel relationship with failure. They are punished for it and the consequences are hefty. Co-creating the space for change and fostering innovation, for EOTO is providing the safe space for children to fail. In music, failure happen to be part of learning, and learning is part of experimenting, it's just that experimenting in music is fun, which makes failure, viewed through this particular lens, also fun. Music also contains aspiration and ambition.  

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self expression 

The EOTO music programme was co designed to focus on the discovery of music and self-expression, through failure, offering pupils the opportunity to express their feelings in a non-academic environment whilst simultaneously developing their creative talents. An educational Trojan Horse. 

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