Great Partnerships
Planning Tool #11
Hairy Questions - Good topics for avoiding
problems
Hairy Questions - Good topics for avoiding
problems
Who will lead?
Who among the project team will take leadership and drive:
the creation of plans and timelines
making time for planning conversations
talking about and reaching agreements
communicating out to others (parents, other teachers, students)
Who will do these specific tasks?
Be accountable for finances? (manage the budget, keep receipts etc)
Take care of logistics? (book rooms, equipment and buses etc)
Do the day to day jobs ? (set up rooms and clean up afterwards)
Have creative control? (choose acts/songs, decide what to edit/keep)
Communicate? (write newsletter articles, do blog updates, email minutes)
Document the process? (take photos, record workshop plans)
It doesn’t have to be one person taking control over a whole area. Just make sure you are clear
how you are sharing tasks, who is responsible for what and that everyone feels it is equitable.
What are the expectations of working in a school?
Teachers and school leaders need to communicate to artists about the specific rules and policies
of working in a school environment such as:
Duty of care: what legal obligations do teachers have to protect and care for students?
Working with Children Check: what is the school policy? Do artists need one?
Safety and Special Needs: are there students who have particular needs or circumstances
that should be communicated to the artist?
Privacy: are there students who should not be photographed for safety or privacy
reasons?
Behaviour in the classroom/workshops
One person’s idea of ‘disruption’ may be another’s idea of ‘expression’. Teachers have agreed
methods of managing student’s behaviour that are often part of school policy. The artist and
teacher may discuss agreed exceptions for certain activities or for the duration of the project.
These could include:
Practicing taking turns to speak rather than raising a hand
Being given some freedom to experiment rather than follow the steps
Working as co-creators on the same level, rather than there being a ‘leader’ or ‘expert’.
1
It is important to talk these ideas through before introducing them to an environment where
there is an understood hierarchy and set of rules and to be clear who is taking or sharing the lead
when it comes to managing student’s behaviour.
Who owns the work?
Do the students, teachers or artist have copyright of work produced?
Who can use creative material produced from the project after the project has finished?
Does the artist need copies of parental permission to share images or video of children
performing or participating in the project?
Other questions to resolve before starting
What is the agreed fee for the artist? How and when will they be paid?
Is the artist covered by school insurance or do they need their own?
How will we bring up issues and who should be involved in resolving them? (Remember, if
your project is funded by Creative Victoria, they have staff on hand who are experienced
in helping with issues)
How many students can participate? It isn’t reasonable to expect the whole school to
work with the artist unless you have secured additional funds and resources to support
the project.
Do parents understand the educational value (learning outcomes) of the project and how
much time their children will be devoting to the project?
2