Primary Education Students Take Art Trip to Northern Spain

A group of BA ITT Primary Education Art Elective students at St Mary’s University, Twickenham recently visited Northern Spain as part of a partnership with the University of Navarra.

The third years were given the opportunity to work with Navarra’s education students in a variety of gallery settings. They visited the University’s museum of modern art, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Museo Jorge Oteiza in Pamplona.

The visit gave the students the chance to experience teaching and learning in a different culture and build relationships with their peers in Spain. It also offered them the opportunity to further deepen their understanding of the possibilities of using art as a vehicle for learning across the curriculum.

It was the first trip organised for the students since St Mary’s partnership with Navarra began in January 2017. The partnership was instigated by Director of Development at the University of Navarra Marie Ann Reynell, and has since been developed with Head of Art for Primary Education at St Mary’s Jo Woodbridge, with Jo visiting the Spanish institution in March 2017.

Victoria Harman, one of the students who went on the trip, said, “I absolutely loved the trip to Pamplona and learned so much about how to incorporate art into the primary classroom, especially through the use of museums and galleries.

“My favourite part of the week was meeting the international students at Navarra and exploring the Guggenheim. This trip definitely developed my subject knowledge and confidence in teaching children about art.”

Jo Woodbridge said, “It was a fantastic and enjoyable trip for everyone involved and is helping us build some really strong links with the University of Navarra. We got to share best practice with our Spanish partners and it helped support the development of our training teachers and hope their future teaching will have art and creativity at its centre.

“I’d like to say a big thank you to Higher Education exchange programme Erasmus for allowing this trip to happen and we hope that, considering how well this first ever visit seemed to go, it’s the first of many as we look to further develop our relationship with Navarra.”