Reflective creative partnerships as ‘meddling in the middle’: developing practice

Abstract

This paper explores research-focused reflective creative partnership at the heart of Dance Partners for Creativity (DPC), a qualitative, participatory research project located in secondary school creative partnership initiatives in England. It researched how dance artists and teachers partnered as ‘external’ and ‘school’ partners respectively, to nurture creativity in students aged 11–14. The wider educational context to the research was characterised by tension between striving for excellence harnessed to performativity as characterised by Ball on the one hand, and expanding opportunities for creativity in schools on the other; the two in tension with one another as discussed by the authors of the present article elsewhere. DPC sought to open space between creativity and performativity, enabling partners to co-research and to co-lead learning in the arts. The paper explores emergent practice applying McWilliam’s concept of ‘meddling in the middle’ originally proposed in relation to pedagogy in schools. The paper suggests research-focused partnerships in DPC were characterised by ‘meddling’. It discusses stretches and challenges documented in the study, revealing ways in which partnerships were dynamic and sometimes uncomfortable, whilst offering exciting potential for change. It suggests the retrogressive current policy frame in England may benefit from leaps made possible where partners in creative learning are curiosity-driven ‘meddlers in the middle’: a productive form of reflective practice.