SHKOZA
Shkoza is an area, part of the municipal unit no.1 of Tirana with a high concentration of population, and numerous socio-economic problems. In Shkoza, there is social housing, in which the most marginalized groups of our city find housing, both the Roma and Egyptian communities.
Uzina is located in this neighborhood, so the majority of our interactions and events have been either catered or related towards the local community there.
Observations
1. Lack of creative activities after completion of the learning process at school
2. Lack of stimulating facilities for children in school and outside in their locality
3. Teaching team and parents do not have the opportunity to engage in fun and social time with children
4. Lack of mentors
5. Lack of advocacy in the development of partnerships with the community at the local level
THE NEED
The majority of the people who frequent Uzina daily are kids ten to fourteen years old. Through frequent interaction, the volunteers of the space found out that this was the only place in the neighborhood to go to after school. Thus we began a local investigation in the school ‘Marie Logoreci’ through surveys and group discussions to identify what is lacking in the current curriculum and what it is that the students want to learn. The results indicated that the activity that was practiced the least was “drawing,” and simultaneously it also was one of the activities that the students were interested in practicing more.
In suburban neighborhoods such as Shkoza, where the schools do not provide any co-curricular activities, and there is no park or field for the kids to play, these children have limited access to partaking in social events or subject- courses of their choice.
The need for providing support for creativity and art education is now more necessary than ever, especially within our continuously changing societies, where individuals need to find new solutions for different challenges that the future brings (Robinson, 2011). The role played by art is central to bridging ideas coming from different disciplines and creating an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge.
However, In the current National Curriculum, art classes take place only once a week for forty five minutes (Ministry of Education and Science).
Currently creativity and creative thinking is not formally or explicitly included in the Albanian educational system. Creative ideas are often regarded as challenging the status quo. Art classes teach art technique and vocabulary, but are not centered around creative thinking and exploration.
The importance of the role played by the arts in educational settings has been widely neglected and ignored when it comes to considering other subjects such as maths, reading and writing, which seem to be preponderant on standard school curriculums. The Albanian curriculum favors sciences and math above all subjects. Even though art education has received appraisal for its educational benefits and a considerable number of teachers and parents would like to include art in children’s education, when it comes to budget priorities, art barely receives any attention and promotion.
This poses a big challenge and gap in today’s education as a lot of students do not have the opportunity to engage in any co-curriculars, and yet the school doesn’t offer the art education that is needed.