Seven-country map
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02 — COUNTRIES & PARTNERS
Seven countries. Shared purpose. Locally responsive action.
Enter through a national context, then follow its youth priorities, partners, pedagogical responses, ITE learning and emerging impact.
Choose a country
A shared international inquiry
Each country works within its own policy, curriculum, standards and accountability context. The common architecture makes comparison possible without flattening local difference.
Youth participation sessions
Young people used arts-based, multimodal activities to identify challenges, recommendations and catalysts for teacher education. Across the documented sessions, recurring concerns included meaningful voice, inclusive and respectful relationships, emotional safety, creative and collaborative learning, learner agency and responsive teaching.
Policy and professional connections
The consortium connects university and creative partners with Arts Council of Wales, the Department for Education and Skills and wider Welsh Government colleagues, OECD and the Chartered College of Teaching. Country pages will identify local policy contexts and trace where activity influences dialogue, curriculum or programme decisions.
INTERNATIONAL TEAM
Dr Lisa Stephenson
Principal Investigator · Leeds Beckett University
Lisa is Reader in Creative Pedagogies and founding Director of the Story Makers Creative Pedagogies Research Centre. Her research uses dramatic inquiry, Drama Worldbuilding and co-participatory methods to advance learner agency, wellbeing, social-emotional learning and sustained change in teacher education.
Sian James
Programme Manager, Creative Learning through the Arts · Arts Council of Wales
Sian is an arts and education leader with more than a decade of experience across creativity, culture and learning. She leads national delivery of Creative Learning through the Arts, developed with Welsh Government, and co-authored Creative Thinking in Schools: A Leadership Playbook.
Karen Dell’Armi
Project Lead · Arts Council of Wales
Karen leads Creative Learning Cymru’s EXTEND programme, creative leadership development, school-to-school partnerships and strategic partnerships. Her work spans arts, education, leadership and governance, with a focus on creativity, wellbeing and educational change.
Dr Helen Lewis
Professor of Education · Swansea University
Helen is Professor of Education and Education Lead for the School of Social Sciences at Swansea University. Her research explores creative and critical thinking, metacognition and human-animal education, and she has led undergraduate, postgraduate and teacher-education programmes.
Dr Navan Govender
Lecturer in Applied Language and Literacy Studies · University of Strathclyde
Navan is a scholar-activist whose research and teaching explore critical literacies, multimodal meaning-making, power, identity and ideology. Working through critical, queer and decolonial approaches, they connect theory, research and practice in support of social justice, equity and inclusion.
Jóna Guðrún Jónsdóttir
Adjunct Professor in Drama and Theatre Education · University of Iceland
Jóna has more than 20 years of teaching experience across all school levels. Her work focuses on drama and theatre education, artistic approaches to teaching and learning, and collaborative research into democracy, citizenship and creative pedagogy.
Professor Rannveig Björk Þorkelsdóttir
Professor in Drama and Theatre Education · University of Iceland
Rannveig specialises in drama education, the professional development of drama teachers and creative practice in pedagogy. She leads interdisciplinary research into higher education, democracy and citizenship, applied theatre and arts-based approaches to teaching and learning.
Ms Lesley Emerson
Lecturer in Education · Queen’s University Belfast
Lesley’s research focuses on citizenship and human-rights education, young people’s political participation and the educational experiences of children and young people affected by conflict. Her work connects youth voice, democratic learning and education policy.
Dr Deirdre McGillicuddy
Assistant Professor in Education · University College Dublin
Deirdre’s research examines equality and social justice in education, with particular attention to children and young people’s voice, participation and lived experience. Her work explores how educational structures and relationships shape inclusion, belonging and agency.
Associate Professor Sonja Kuzich
Associate Professor, School of Education · Curtin University
Living and working on Whadjuk Noongar Country, Sonja researches education for sustainability, regenerative education and transformative learning. She leads Curtin’s Transformative and Intersectional Learning Environments research cluster, bringing together sustainability, inclusion, community co-design and place-based education.
Dr Paul Gardner
Senior Lecturer in Primary English · Curtin University
Paul researches writing, writer identity and compositional processes, and has published widely on Primary English. Drawing on process drama, anti-racist education and critical literacy, he is committed to democratic pedagogies that strengthen social justice, student agency and empowerment.
Associate Professor Carol Carter
Coordinator, Performing Arts for Educators · Curtin University
Carol has more than 30 years’ experience in creative arts pedagogies, particularly drama, and culturally and linguistically diverse teacher education. Her research spans drama pedagogy, social justice, research-based theatre, early childhood, inclusive practice and alternative approaches to teaching and research.
Mark Ford
Policy Leadership · Welsh Government
Mark provides policy leadership for the project, connecting emerging evidence with Welsh Government priorities for initial teacher education, curriculum, professional learning and wider educational change.
Naomi Lord
Lead Creative Consultant · Creatives Now
Naomi is an artist-educator and creative learning leader specialising in youth voice, participatory practice and cultural education. She develops partnerships, curricula and co-designed learning that connect young people, educators and creative practitioners, with a focus on agency, inclusion and democratic participation.