David Leat, Ulrike Thomas and other members of CfLaT (Centre for Learning and Teaching, Newcastle University) have been researching and supporting Project-Based Learning (PBL) in schools for some time, supported by Impact Acceleration and widening participation funds.

We now have further significant funding from the Edge Foundation which addresses important university and local school agendas:

•Widening participation;

•The Place and Engagement strategy;

•Outreach and Impact;

•Transition into HE and FE;

•Closing the attainment gap and social justice;

•University-based teacher education;

•Gatsby Good Career Guidance Benchmarks (important for schools in terms of careers information and guidance).

The CfLaT approach to PBL involves a process termed ‘Community Curriculum Making’ (CCM), in which schools draw upon ‘community’ resources and plan projects with a community partner. The potential benefits include student engagement, authenticity, providing service to wider society, meeting role models, widening horizons and developing ‘human capability’.

We use the tagline ‘Going Places, Meeting People and Doing and Making Things’. There are some inspiring exemplar projects demonstrating the impact of Community Curriculum Making on young people.