A teacher who takes on the provision of alternative curricula has to approach it with the right mood says Tina Stockman, be it calm altruism, or blind rage!

Tina Stockman

Some years ago, I presented my headteacher with ideas for sustainable alternatives to school exclusion for disaffected or disruptive pupils. The ideas were reinforced by my professional interests in both pastoral care and the visual and performing arts. I am now involved with two school initiatives offering alternative curricular provision. The first, ABS (Arts Based Support) is offered to S2 pupils and involves them in the lively local arts scene. The second, The Enhanced Curriculum (affectionately known as the enchanted curriculum), is offered to S4 pupils.

Both sets of activities demand appropriate social interaction between the youngsters and their teachers or tutors, be it making polite conversation over a cup of tea or everyone rolling up their sleeves and clearing up after a gloriously messy activity.

Creating and implementing a school initiative is rather like doing some home baking but with the threat of instant arrest if you eat the ingredients. Here are some pointers for success, which possibly apply to both endeavours.

You have to be in the right mood for undertaking such a heavy commitment. This could be a mood of calm altruism, or - as in my own case - blind rage. I found that my job as a guidance teacher was changing. The concentrated work I had formerly done with a small number of needy pupils was being replaced by a broader, paper-intensive, less individualistic approach to guidance. I missed that intense contact, indeed I felt somewhat de-skilled. Rather than remain passive and watch a much-loved job fade into nothingness, I decided to act. Fully expecting the headteacher to throw me and my ideas out, I decided that the best approach was in the custard-pie style. I lobbed every idea I had at him without stopping.

Another pointer for success both in the cake making and educational world is the matter of timing. For an educational initiative to be successful the time has to be right and the underpinning theory has to be in favour. By chance, certainly not through calculation, I had hit upon a time when schools were being positively encouraged to seek alternatives to exclusion and reward enterprise. Once the head managed to get a word in, he indicated his approval and support. Surprised and elated, I felt like the educational equivalent of the perfect jam sponge.

Any undertaking needs adequately-resourced preparation time. An initiative such as this involves the appropriate selection of pupils; setting up a steering committee; networking furiously to set up contacts, tutors, venues, etc; preparing and printing off the programme; contacting parents and arranging meetings (usually in the evenings); winning colleague support by involving as many of them as possible in aspects of the initiative. I did some of this over the summer term when my teaching commitments were lighter, made use of school-based development time and sacrificed a chunk of my summer holiday. Everything was in place at least until Christmas.

You are always living somewhat on the edge with this kind of activity as so many things can go wrong - tutors fall ill, venues fall down, activities fall flat. However, over time, you develop resilience tougher than a week-old rock cake! A good cake depends on good ingredients used imaginatively. A successful school development depends on much the same thing. Although the initiative seemed on the surface quite simple, it required careful organisation, skilful economic juggling and, essentially, the support of staff, parents and pupils. Of course I would have liked to have been a lonesome pioneer struggling bravely in the face of adversity, a sort of Jamie Oliver of the alternative curriculum. However, even Jamie Oliver had a team behind him making his initiative possible, and so did I. The headteacher assumed the role of chief accountant or, to put it more simply, he found the money and I spent it. Senior management, the guidance team, our educational psychologist and support for learning staff recommended suitable pupils. The idea of a naughty boys' group was to be avoided as this had failed in the past. Our current formula for the selection of pupils has proved successful and ensures there is an even-handed range of pupils in terms of needs and gender. An auxiliary member of staff accompanies me, as does an S6 pupil. This provides both back-up for me and alternative sources of communication for the pupils. Stories of failed school arts initiatives abound, the common factors being the lack of a teacher presence, and the feelings of rejection this begets in tutors and pupils alike. We (the adults) almost outnumber the pupils but I want to ensure that we are welcomed tutors who, though gifted in their subject, are not necessarily experienced teachers.

Over the years I have made contact with local practitioners in the fields of the visual arts, film and video making, music, dance, story telling, archaeology (yes, archaeology), and have formed mutually valuable and productive professional partnerships. I continue to be the co-ordinator of ABS and to contribute to the "enchanted curriculum". There is only one rule, "keep me happy"' and in five years no pupil has broken this rule. I have certainly found myself in interesting and sometimes positively weird situations. In our first year, ABS won the New Ideas in Education section at the first Scottish Education Award ceremony. As I stepped up simpering to receive the award I realised I was not alone. My whole entourage had followed me onto the stage and I suspect were making less than sporting gestures at the losers! (Just as an aside, I would recommend to the organisers that in future they do not have large numbers of balloons scattered about. You cannot cram eight passengers, a driver, and sixty stolen balloons into the average mini-bus.)

One decision that has lead to a fair amount of personal embarrassment and humiliation was my decision that everyone, including myself, participates in all the activities. I have therefore attempted: to mix decks (unsuccessfully) under the tutelage of a local DJ, follow a complicated hip hop dance sequence, play drums, make and edit films, develop and print photographs, sculpt in clay, paper and glass. Never have I been made so aware of the deterioration with age of hand/eye co-ordination, as well as hand/legs, hand/head, hand/mouth, hand/hand, etc. The children are of course expert at everything and possess far more physical courage than I do. I remember smiling encouragingly (while inwardly quaking) at a poor mite having a cast taken of her whole head using dental alginate and three drinking straws (don't even begin to ask).

Our recent leap into the unknown has, among other things, found us being paired with archaeologists excavating on a local dig. An enduring image is a child rushing enthusiastically towards me clutching what she assumed to be a chicken bone - a discarded medieval Kentucky Fried Chicken, no doubt. She dropped it like a Bovril ice cream on being told it was a human toe (although it did make us very sceptical about the ingredients of medieval KFC). This same project had the pupils taking part in a crime scene simulation in the university forensic department. They were duly kitted out with white paper suits and rubber gloves. It was all terribly Silent Witness! To their delight, they were allowed to keep the paper suits. Nobody had actually said they should keep the suits on and I was obliged to walk through town with five human meringues looking as if they had just escaped a kidnap attempt or were about to be lobotomised.

In my school, we have seen the benefits to disaffected pupils in terms of behaviour modification, improved attendance, as well as enhanced practical and social skills. Parents, who felt criticism of their children was a covert criticism of them, have relaxed and are prepared to communicate their concerns rather than leap onto the defensive - and occasionally offensive! The initiative has been observed, audited, and researched by outside agencies with positive results, and this year we have frequently appeared in the national and local press. From a personal point of view, I have never enjoyed teaching so much and this has had a positive effect on my self confidence and health.

In conclusion, I would thoroughly recommend the alternative curriculum scene, although it is not for the faint-hearted. It has been rather like engaging in extreme sports - only with the arts. So if you feel that you cannot undertake surreal, high adrenalin, risk-taking initiatives, stick to home baking.

• Tina Stockman is the co-ordinator of Arts Based Activities at Harlaw Academy, Aberdeen

Key points

In order to support and maintain innovative educational initiatives:

1 The educational climate has to be right

2 Support, not only in terms of finance, needs to be forthcoming from senior management

3 A realistic time allocation for preparation is required

4 The underlying structure has to be tightly planned, yet implemented flexibly

5 Appreciation, encouragement and feedback are needed to enhance the performance of all those involved