At the Orpheus Centre, a specialist further education college for young disabled adults 18-25, we’ve always emphasised using the arts to build confidence and essential life skills. We also have a history of using projects in our teaching – an approach that lends itself well to the arts. However, it wasn’t until last year that a colleague and I discovered project-based learning (PBL) via a workshop with the Edge Foundation. Little did we know at the time how this teaching methodology would revolutionise our approach as a college.
Adapting to a project-based learning structure
As a college, Orpheus has a long-standing tradition of running small projects in theme-focused study weeks. However, when we discovered project-based learning and its associated pedagogies, we immediately saw how compatible it would be with our approach. While our past projects weren't always consistent or goal-focused, Edge’s workshop showed us the benefit of a solid structure. So we decided to conduct a six-week pilot using PBL and the driving question: ‘Who Am I?’
This initial project encouraged learners to explore their identity and its importance within the community. While it was our first foray into PBL, using it for the first six weeks of the academic year allowed us to quickly assess learners’ academic level, independent living and baseline skills. In fact, it was so successful that we’re planning to use it again at the start of the next academic year. But this was just the start.
'Where's Our Jobs?'
PBL’s structured nature and community focus perfectly resonate with Orpheus’s mission to foster communication, social interaction skills, and self-advocacy among our learners. The success of our initial pilot also really highlighted its value in a Special Educational Needs (SEN) setting, so we soon decided to roll it out in other curriculum areas.
The 'Where's Our Jobs?' project was a pivotal moment for us. It encouraged learners to explore what employers need to do to become more inclusive. While the teaching staff set the driving question, our learners led the project, interviewing a range of community organisations and creating a short feature film to capture their experiences. The project was so successful it was shortlisted for a Natspec (National Association of Specialist Colleges) Innovation Award.
Two-way community engagement
PBL has undoubtedly helped Orpheus and our learners collaborate more extensively with external organisations. Many of our learners want to become performing artists, so they chose to speak with disabled artists from the contemporary circus, Cirque Bijou, and the UK's foremost disabled-led theatre company, Graeae.
Interviewing these artists they learned about the barriers that they’ve faced finding work. They also spoke with representatives from Southern Gas Networks and even managed to squeeze in some questions about jobs when our local MP paid a visit!
A key aspect of PBL is having an outward focus, which has worked perfectly for Orpheus. It’s been fantastic for our learners to speak with such a wide variety of people and ask these probing questions. The community engagement aspect has enriched their understanding of the barriers that individuals with disabilities face when seeking employment, not to mention the challenges associated with living in a world that isn’t always aware of their needs. This has underscored the importance of self-advocacy and self-understanding, two core aspects of our curriculum.
Impact and outcomes
Beyond upfront learning outcomes, one remarkable impact of our project came directly from Southern Gas Networks. After engaging with them, they invited Orpheus’s Access Experts to conduct an audit on their premises. This has led to tangible changes to improve accessibility at their headquarters. The learners’ filmmaking efforts have also had an impact. Blending documentary and fictional elements, learners have deepened their understanding of the medical and social models of disability – both core learning outcomes for the project. Using PBL has given us a laser focus on using clearly defined goals and success criteria, which we didn’t always have in the past.
In the future, we plan to incorporate PBL into about 90% of the curriculum. We’ve already integrated it successfully into three out of five study days. While there are challenges integrating PBL into life skills development, we see potential to explore themes like independent living, accessibility, and environmental awareness. Crucially, our staff and learners are keen to make it work, and that’s what really counts.
Advice for other SEN providers
While I've read a lot about PBL, I've seen little about applying it in settings where learners have special educational needs. That’s why I wanted to share our story. It can be easy to think ‘this isn’t for us’ but I would like our success to encourage other SEN providers to give PBL a try. As long as you put a structure in place and ensure everyone is on board, it will work. It’s also vital to ensure any outcomes are differentiated enough that learners across a range of ability levels can get something out of it. This is where the upfront planning is really important.
Mostly, though, learner exploration must always come first – let learners lead a project, and they’ll get so much more out of it.
The proof is in what we’re doing at Orpheus. The ‘Where’s Our Jobs?’ film has been a two-term project and yet still sustains learners’ interest. And being shortlisted for an award in our first year of using this approach suggests that we’re doing something right! Everyone should give it a go.
Chris Lammin is Assistant Principal of Curriculum and Quality at The Orpheus Centre, an independent specialist arts college in Surrey.
