in-service education and training (inset)s for teachers

educational trust runs a variety of teachers' INSETs which are designed to promote and support systematic and sustainable high quality teaching and learning through effective school management and encouragement of the professional growth and development of teachers. Our INSETs cover all the arts (including; performing arts, visual arts,  literature, spoken word, music, film and media) as well as offering new creative approaches to teaching & learning. To discuss our INSET programmes, please contact: Rakhee Jasani, Arts Development Director  - Telephone: 020 7033 2380 or by email

inset objectives

• To facilitate and promote teamwork amongst all educational stakeholders, through interactive participation and collaboration.
• To encourage sustainable professional growth by conducting school-based and regional workshops based on teachers' needs.
• To extend teachers' knowledge of classroom management and organisation strategies to ensure that effective teaching  and learning takes place.
• To provide head teachers with on-going training in managerial skills in order to improve the quality of education in schools.
• To promote whole school development planning that allows effective professional growth and encourages responsibility for the running of the school by the whole staff team.
• To equip teachers with skills that will enable them to carry out diagnostic and reflective classroom research.
• To facilitate school-based support and enable teachers to used a variety of teaching and learning strategies to achieve high quality education.

arts apprenticeships

Eastside's Arts Apprenticeships is a 2-year development programme which challenges arts practitioners and teachers to re-examine and redefine the way in which they work together. The ‘apprentices’ include both artists and educators who want to broaden their practice to include other art forms or explore new methods of teaching. Each apprentice is paired with an arts mentor, an experienced and professional creative arts practitioner selected by Eastside to work in a supervisory and supportive role. The mentors’ role is to provide advice, observe class activities, evaluate the apprentices’ working relationship with the teacher / artist and to assess their overall professional development throughout the entirety of the programme. Each apprentice experiences working in a variety of different settings and has the opportunity to work in 6 different schools (a different school each term over 2 academic years). This ensures that all the apprentices work with a varied range of young people from different age groups, ability levels and geographic areas of London. Artists are placed in primary and secondary schools (including early years settings) and work alongside a number of different teachers, both in the classroom to co-deliver the curriculum as well as running after school clubs and out of school hours activities for mainstream pupils, gifted and talented students and students with special needs. The symbiotic nature of the co-delivery results in a kind of alchemy which benefits the teacher and artist equally, giving both confidence to try new things and ensuring sustainability beyond the period of the placement, but it can also be challenging and requires an investment of time and energy to work well. Each school placement is visited once a term by the project mentor who observes and feeds back to the apprentices and Eastside, as well as maintaining contact with the school's senior management. The programme also includes a number of formal training seminars, such as; How do we learn?- an exploration of different learning styles incorporating literature and creative writing techniques into visual arts workshops, Kaleidoscope - colour therapy and the impact space and environment has on early years children, and Heads and Hands - creative methods of teaching arts and sciences. As one of the artists on the programme reflected: " Arts Apprenticeships has been a seminal project for me helping to define how artists and schools can work together most effectively. I was able to work out what the aims for the children’s learning objectives were and both adapt and devise new drama methods to suit these needs. It was wonderful being able to offer teachers new ways of working and at the same time really observe other teachers closely over a sustained period of time allowing their skills at dealing with the children to affect my own methods. The mentoring was great in that it provided new verve and and forced me to continuously reflect on my practice. The most rewarding element had to be seeing the learning objectives really taking affect and being reinforced in the class room, it is clear that your work is valued when the teacher is ready with ideas each week and the children are rearing to go - all my schools asked me to come back, so I was chuffed to bits with that, it really boosted my confidence in my own skills as a practitioner - it has been an invaluable and rewarding experience." 

creative partnerships - associate schools programme

Creative Partnerships Associate Schools Programme grew and developed over 2 years. Eastside was initially commissioned by Creative Partnerships (CP) London East to increase the number of schools that CP were working with on the Associate Schools Programme and exploring ways in which schools could engage with creative teaching and learning in an intensive burst with a focus on continuous professional development. Following the merger between Creative Partnerships London East and London South, Eastside refined the programme and in total worked with 67 schools from across 8 London boroughs; Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Islington, Greenwich, Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark. All 67 schools were invited to explore what creativity meant to them and how children’s creativity can be harnessed to engage them in learning through an open application process. Successful schools then launched their own individual explorations into creativity, the curriculum and working in partnership with artists during a day-long INSET where teachers not only tapped into their own creativity but more importantly explored what creativity means in the classroom. The aim was to support teachers in developing a Creative Vision for their schools as a practical tool to take forward. Teachers were then able to embark on the programme which was aimed at changing the way in which teachers approach the curriculum either through INSETs or through a programme of artists' residencies in schools where teachers co-delivered the curriculum using a series of creative entry points and working alongside a creative practitioner. The programme was inspiring and gave teachers the opportunity to think about different ways to engage their students and explore which approaches would ensure that their students were being supported in their learning. In one school, teachers decided to combine an exploration of narrative and history through cartooning. Initially the teachers were confident at the grasp their students had of the topic and felt that this approach would offer an extension for students, but it rapidly became clear that many of the students had indeed taken on board the vocabulary used in the topic but had not understood key words and concepts. The topic under discussion was The Voyages of Discovery and ‘voyage’ was a word which the children used with confidence but when it came to illustrating Sir Francis Drake’s journey around the world, it soon became clear that their use of the word did not support their understanding. The INSET programme offered a familiar route to professional development although the practical workshops and discussions at each INSET were designed to challenge the participating teachers to find new ways to explore creativity. Each INSET day was specially tailored to meet the particular needs of each school and workshops ranged from Maths through Music and Performance Poetry meets Street Art, to exploring The Body and Mind Connection for a special school. The CP Associate Schools Programme which Eastside devised and delivered was featured in a Creative Partnerships case study and can be viewed online using the link below.

CP Associate Schools Programme - case study

manor park education action zone

Manor Park Education Action Zone (MPEAZ) in Newham commissioned Eastside to develop and deliver an ambitious year-long programme of continuous professional development (CPD) for teachers which would engage the whole staff teams from 8 local primary schools, located within the Manor Park EAZ and more than 500 of their pupils. Working in partnership with Newham’s Arts Adviser and Newham’s 9 Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs). Eastside developed a coherent and challenging programme which would support MPEAZ primary schools to define the place of creativity within their curriculum, to embed new creative strategies into their teaching practice and to support the educational achievements of the children within the MPEAZ which could be celebrated through an exhibition of their work. Newham's Arts Festival in 2008 (pictured right) offered an opportunity to enjoy and celebrate local creative arts, and showcase the talent of students and teachers in dance, drama, visual arts, media, music and poetry. Developing creative teaching and learning within the MPEAZ posed an interesting challenge, which was met through an exciting 2-stage programme, which launched with a series of Phase Group INSETs. The INSETs gave teachers an opportunity to meet with Advanced Skills Teachers who had each selected a special focus for their involvement and the keynote speaker was a former OFSTED Inspector, underlining just how important creativity is to the successful performance of schools. The INSET workshops included a wide variety of art forms; drama, dance, music, puppetry, story-telling, cartooning, performance poetry and visual art. Workshop themes were cross-curricular and areas that were explored included; mathematics, history, citizenship, literacy, geography and science. Groups then fed back their responses and discoveries from the day and discussed how they might apply their ideas in future lesson planning. The second phase of the MPEAZ programme involved interventions into schools from arts practitioners and ASTs to demonstarte how creative approaches to teaching can be used in the classroom and incorporated into lesson plans. Each AST / artist pairing was partnered with an MPEAZ school, according to their art form specialism, teaching strengths and personal interests. Projects took place in all year groups from Reception to Year 5 and covered a range of subject areas and a variety of learning aims including; information and communication technology (ICT), personal health and social education (PHSE), literacy, history art and music. Other curriculum areas covered across the EAZ included; creative development, social and emotional development, speaking and listening, sequencing and analysing, science and mathematics. Response to the programme was overwhelmingly positive and feedback strongly suggests that participating teachers are more confident in using new techniques in the classroom and in supporting other staff to embed creative approaches across the entire curriculum. As one teacher from the MPEAZ reflected: “I developed a confidence to ‘teach outside of the box’, although I had always thought of myself as capable of teaching creatively I realised there are no limits to being creative. I saw links being made with other curriculum areas that I would not have thought possible. This project allowed me to fully challenge myself and take 'risks', which I may not have taken without the support that this project has given to me.”