The tools
Nine tools for turning insight into action
Every chapter of Unlocking the Arts ends with a tool to complete in your own school. All nine are free here for everyone who buys the book, to use online or print.
The tools
Every chapter of Unlocking the Arts ends with a tool to complete in your own school. All nine are free here for everyone who buys the book, to use online or print.
Free with the book
Everyone who buys Unlocking the Arts gets the full tools online, interactive and printable, including their complete strategy map. Enter the code from your copy to unlock them:
Capitals, spaces and dashes don’t matter.
Don’t have the book yet?
The code is printed inside every copy.
Where are you now?
A factual snapshot of your school’s current arts participation: not a score, a starting point you return to each year.
Chapter 1 · 15 minutes
What story is your school telling?
Compare what your mission, vision and founding documents claim to value with what today’s practice actually does.
Chapter 2 · 30–45 minutes
Which barriers shape choice in your school?
Rate how active each of the 12 barriers is in your school and get a shortlist of the strategies to start with.
Chapter 3 · 20 minutes
Visibility, allies and evidence
Take stock of your department’s visibility, the relationships already available to you and the evidence behind your case.
Chapter 4 · 30 minutes
From identifying the barrier to agreeing what happens next
Work through the barrier, the change you want, who can grant it, the evidence and the ask, before you walk into the room.
Chapter 5 · 30–40 minutes
What to bring, and what to ask for
Prepare for a meeting with a guidance or university counsellor around the one change you want it to achieve.
Chapter 6 · 15–20 minutes
Stop guessing. Ask them directly.
An anonymous survey for students before subject choices are finalised, plus a guide to reading what they tell you.
Chapter 7 · 10 minutes for students, an hour for you
For the whole arts department, together
A department session that moves from student evidence to one shared priority and the smallest next step.
Chapter 8 · A meeting to a full day
A closing reflection and personal commitment
A one-time reflection on what the book changed in how you read your school, and what you will commit to.
Chapter 9 · 20–30 minutes