The research focuses on schools in the Nottingham Creative Partnership, one of 16 partnerships funded nationally through the new £40 million Creative Partnerships initiative funded by Government which has an overall aim to create new ways of including young people of school age in the cultural life of their communities. In Nottingham, 23 inner-city schools are participating including nursery, primary, secondary and special schools. As they were being established, individual Creative Partnerships were asked to develop themes which would give them a more specific identity, and provide research questions of local or regional interest, within broad categories suggested by the Arts Council of England's Research Department. One of these categories is arts practice, and the role of the artist. The theme of apprenticeship, identified by the Nottingham Creative Partnership, fits into this area of research, as it allows exploration of how the role of the artist should be characterised and how it changes and modifies as participants become more independent and more creatively autonomous. An Apprenticeship Model of learning has been developed and disseminated within the partnership. It proposes four phases in a learning cycle, and identifies the learning of each participant (teacher, pupil, artist) in each phase. The theme of apprenticeship in arts education is being explored in a research programme of four linked projects. The overall research focus of the programme is: 'To explore and test the appropriateness of an apprenticeship model in arts, creative and cultural education, and its impact on the learning of all participants in the Creative Partnerships programme in Nottingham (i.e. teachers, pupils, creative practitioners and creative development workers).' The particular project described in this paper focuses on the research question: 'How appropriate is the Nottingham Apprenticeship Model as a tool to understand learning from creative practitioners?' In particular: (1) How far does the Nottingham Apprenticeship model of learning characterise learning from or with a creative practitioner? (2) What evidence is there of performance by learners at the four different phases of the apprenticeship model? (3) What commonalities and differences are there in the experiences of different schools as they implement the programme? (4) Are there differences in the model for participants depending on race, gender, social class and (dis)ability?Phenomenological research approaches are used to investigate the perspectives and understandings of the participants in the 23 project schools including headteachers, teachers, pupils, parents, co-ordinators and creative workers. Methods include: interviews, questionnaires, observational and documentary evidence. The different meanings made by the participants are analysed and themed in order to determine the extent of the uptake and understanding of the Apprenticeship Model by creative practitioners, co-ordinators, teachers and pupils and other stakeholders. It is hoped that it will also be possible to map the activities of all learners (pupils, school staff, co-ordinators and creative practitioners) against the different phases of the Apprenticeship Model. Finally commonalities and differences in the experience of the participants, especially in relation to cultural differences and to organisational differences between schools will be explored.