The aim of the YDP case study was to conduct an in-depth investigation of creative arts students’ experiences of WRL during a small-group collaborative project situated within the public sector.

The Sorrell Foundation’s Young Design Programme (YDP) “joins up pupils in primary and secondary schools with students at university and designers in industry” (Sorrell Foundation, 2007:2). The YDP is a 3-6 month annually-run project (since 2005) whereby a group of school pupils act as ‘clients’ by commissioning a school design project, and their ‘consultants’ are creative arts students at university who, in turn, are mentored by professional designers and architects.

The YDP has been developed and is run through a partnership between London-based Sorrell Foundation and the University of the Arts London. The Sorrell Foundation is a charitable organisation that was set up in 1999 to inspire creativity in young people and improve the quality of life through design. During the year 2007-8, six universities and colleges ran the programme: University of the Arts London; University College Falmouth; Leeds College of Art & Design; New College Nottingham; Kingston University and Plymouth College of Art & Design. In 2008-9 ten Universities and Colleges took part.

A central Sorrell Foundation/University of the Arts London YDP team directs and coordinates the programme nationally, while a programme manager in each University or College is responsible for local delivery.

Click on the link below for the case study report:

YDP Case Study

Publications  

Triantafyllaki, A. and Smith, C. (2009) 'It's almost like a medal that you wear afterwards': student experiences of work-related learning in the public and third sectors. Assessment, Learning and Teaching Journal , Issue 4.

Triantafyllaki, A. and Burnard, P. (2010) 'Situating creativity in relation to arts-based knowledge creation: lessons from two case studies involving culturally diverse educational partnership practices'. The UNESCO Observatory E-Journal, Special Issue: Making the case for the Arts, 1(5). 

Conference papers

Triantafyllaki, A. (2009) Real experience, real value: public and third sector work-related learning.  ‘The Future of the Student Learning Experience’. Ηigher Education Academy and University of Manchester.

Triantafyllaki, A. (2009) Work related learning and the development of creativity: finding one’s voice in small-group collaborative activity. ‘Learning for a Complex World: Learning to be a Professional through a Life-Wide Curriculum’. University of Surrey, Guildford.