Fieldwork and Activities Report
Image: Fieldwork with The Push - Jagua Jonze
The Vital Arts research project aims to break down barriers to accessible education and skill development in Australia through arts-based learning. As the demand for alternative education pathways increases, micro-credentials have become a popular way for young people to gain relevant skills in shorter, more flexible formats. However, our research highlights that existing micro-credentials in Australia often present significant barriers – financial, geographic, technological, and learning-style related – that exclude many learners from participating. This report outlines the key fieldwork and activities undertaken by the Vital Arts project so far, including a detailed analysis of the micro-credential landscape, fieldwork observations of youth arts learning, and our ongoing collaboration with industry partners.
1. Policy, Literature, and Product Analysis of Micro-Credentials in Australia
The Vital Arts project has been informed by, and taken a lead from, the World Economic Forums’ (WEF 2016) identification of the 21st century skills that it and other government, business and international agencies and organisations have indicated young people need to develop to participate actively in new worlds of work.
Researchers in the Vital Arts project have also completed a comprehensive policy, literature, and product analysis of micro-credentials available in Australia. Micro-credentials, designed to offer flexible, short courses for specific skills, have become prominent as an alternative to traditional higher education pathways. However, through the research process we have identified key barriers to inclusion within these short courses:
● Financial Barriers: Many micro-credentials in Australia are costly, especially for individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, which limits accessibility to those who can afford them.
● Geographic and Internet Barriers: Particularly in remote and rural regions, limited access to high-speed internet can restrict learners’ ability to engage in online learning opportunities.
● Technology Barriers: Many micro-credentials rely heavily on access to digital infrastructure, excluding learners without regular access to computers.
● Learning Style Barriers: Existing micro-credentials often cater to online learning models, which may not suit diverse learners, particularly those who benefit from the more practical, hands-on approaches that are familiar in youth arts contexts.
To address these challenges, the Vital Arts project has partnered with Clock Your Skills, a UK-based organisation that specialises in developing short courses that make invisible skills visible and valuable (https://clockyourskills.com/). Through this partnership we will engage in a collaborative co-design process to develop Australia’s first truly accessible micro-credentials. This partnership aims to overcome the barriers identified above by creating a micro-credential that is more affordable, provides an accessible workshop-style learning model, with in-person options, and works effectively in the hands-on youth arts based context. The Vital Arts collaboration with Clock Your Skills will allow us to create Australia’s first micro-credentials that reflect and accredit the real-world skills that young people develop through participation in youth arts programs.
2. Observation and Analysis of Diverse Young People Learning through Arts Practice
Fieldwork has been conducted in youth arts programs across Australia to understand how young people from diverse backgrounds engage in learning through arts practices. The organisations involved in this process are:
● Australian Theatre for Young People (New South Wales)
● Centre for Multicultural Youth (Victoria)
● The Push (Victoria)
● Future Foundations (Victoria)
● L2R Dance (Victoria)
● Carclew - consultation phase (South Australia)
● RANT Arts - consultation phase (Tasmania)
Through this fieldwork, we have observed how youth arts foster 21st-century skills development. At The Push, for example, Professor Anna Hickey-Moody and Dr Alexia Cameron attended a series of All-Ages Tour preparation workshops where young people planned the logistics of the All Ages Tour performances they were organising, and the researchers then attended the All Ages Tour shows put on by FReeZA members. The researchers took observational field notes, photos and videos of the events. There is no doubt the events were of professional standard, with high levels of organisational skill development.
Based on our fieldwork observations, we have provisionally clustered two key sets of 21st-century skills to accredit through our micro-credentials:
● Cluster 1: Communication, Teamwork, Personal Social Skills, Collaboration, Social and Cultural Awareness.
● Cluster 2: Critical Thinking, Creativity, Problem Solving, Innovation, Resilience, and Adaptability.
Our micro-credentials will support young people to identify and articulate how they have developed these skills in youth arts programs.
3. Action Research Industry Group (ARIG)
The Vital Arts project has also engaged with industry to understand how micro-credentials can address the needs of employers. This has been conducted through the Action Research Industry Group, which allows the research team to consult with partners across various industries to ensure that the skills developed align with employer demands.
During this process, we conducted interviews with key members of the following partners and stakeholders:
● ACMI (Victoria)
● Australian Film Television and Radio School (New South Wales)
● Australian Theatre for Young People (New South Wales)
● Carclew (South Australia)
● Corrugated Iron (Northern Territory)
● Future Foundations (Victoria)
● The Push (Victoria)
The interviews were structured by the following questions:
● If we understand micro-creds in terms of the WEF model, which of these skills does your program currently develop, but not recognise or accredit?
● Can you list the program activities that develop these skills, and explain how these activities develop these skills?
● What evidence could be readily gathered and captured to show that young people have developed these skills?
● What changes in your program would need to be made to capture and accredit these? Is this a do-able task given various constraints?
Briefly, the main themes that emerged from this stakeholder engagement process, include:
● That the micro-credentials should demonstrate the value of youth arts
● That the language of 21st century skills can provide a new and beneficial framework for youth arts programs
● That skills are context-specific to particular youth arts programs and crafts
● That the micro-credentials need to complement and integrate effectively into existing youth arts programs
The industry engagement process continues to shape the development of micro-credentials that are meaningful for both learners and employers, ensuring that young people who participate in the Vital Arts micro-credentials gain real employment benefits.
Conclusion
The Vital Arts project has made significant progress in addressing the key barriers to accessible education throughout the research process. By engaging in a thorough review of the micro-cred landscape, observing learning in diverse youth arts-based environments, and aligning micro-credential offerings with industry needs, we have built a strong foundation to develop our micro-credentials. We also benefit greatly from our collaboration with Clock Your Skills, who have a strong track-record in designing and building effective micro-credentials, particularly in creative contexts. By building micro-credentials that focus on 21st-century skills in a youth arts context, we will ensure that young people are equipped with practical, real-world skills that empower them to succeed.
