Virtually There:
Action Research
and Report
Virtually There was a long-running collaborative arts education project in primary schools in Northern Ireland, managed by Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership.
Kids’ Own commissioned Bryonie to undertake a two-year period of independent action research on the framing and outworking of the project in eight Northern Irish schools, and to write an in-depth research report from her findings. This was published as Open Space in February 2020, and can be accessed here.
Virtually There was about collaboration, with artists and teachers forming
close partnerships to
co-design and co-deliver arts education
Bryonie carried out the research through observation of project sessions, conversation with participants and stakeholders, and reading of and reflection on relevant academic literature.
At its core, Virtually There was about collaboration, with artists and teachers forming close partnerships to co-design and co-deliver arts education within the project, and working with Kids’ Own to co-develop the project itself.
Bryonie’s action research report foregrounds the key role of relationship and collaboration in the artists’ and teachers’ practices, and how it was done effectively and across the long term in Virtually There.