Being Other: the effectiveness of arts-based approaches in engaging with disaffected young people

Too many young people find themselves on the margins of education or excluded from school. Secondary schools, in particular, report that many of their pupils struggle to cope with the twin demands of a results-driven education system and the difficult transitions that they have to negotiate in their personal and social lives.

Much of the research suggests that marginalisation in education has negative long-term consequences for young people in terms of social engagement in the wider world, academic attainment, emotional development, and future employment (e.g. Ball, 2006; Duckworth & Schoon, 2012; Lumby, 2013; Stamou et al., 2014). Arguably many of these young people have become estranged from forms of schooling that they find difficult to navigate. Within schools the remedy offered to those who struggle to engage with an academic curriculum has traditionally been to offer more of what has failed in the first place.

This publication from Oxford University with support from Artswork examines the impact of work led and delivered by Pegasus and by OYAP and the effectiveness of arts-based approaches in engaging with disaffected young people.

This resource includes themes around mental health and wellbeing.

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Arts Award Mental Health and Wellbeing South East Bridge