Reflection of Research Undertaken in the Project Thus Far
(Reflection of Module 1 Proposal/Presentation related research)
Reflecting on my work is an important part of evaluating what I have done and the direction I need to take next. In this essay, it is my intention to go through my body of work and reflect on each aspect critically. This will inform my main aims for the next phase of the project, as well as aspects that I want to research further as my initial lines of investigation becomes clearer and focused. This reflection will be formulated as a summary of themes, ideas and findings I have collated through the first section of my research.
My initial research for my project has been centred around arts education in the UK curriculum due to my interests in becoming an art teacher. I wanted to look specifically at how artists can be more involved in delivering meaningful arts education to young people, and why they have not been used enough within conventional schooling. Although this is a broad subject that can take you down an array of different angles, I wanted to try and cover some of the important aspects to begin to develop a well rounded understanding of the subject. From the outset I expected there to be no clear cut answer to what I intended to research, which is why I kept my lines of research open to going down different angles and reasonings for the lack the current issues in the curriculum and where artists could be used in an effective manner. All of the research I intended to collate was done in order to produce a presentation of my findings, as well as a proposal essay of what I wanted to create in terms of a body of work. My intention for the project was, and continues to be, to build online workshop content aimed at secondary school students that looks to enrich and expand their arts education, specifically through teaching fundamental practical skills in drawing. Therefore, my understanding of where my project sits in the context of the curriculum, and more broadly how an artist can fit into mainstream education was very important to form the basis of this work.
With this in mind, it was my intention to look at four areas of education that I deemed to be important when discussing the curriculum, its issues and where artists can be placed in order to enrich and expand what secondary school students are learning:
The Status of Arts Education in the UK
Artists as Educators (Not necessarily teachers)
Relevant Case Study examples: Examples of instances where artists have had a prominent role in the education of young people within a school or site for learning
How Artists can/are being used in Schools
These four areas of investigation were the most important because they became continuous themes throughout my researching phase. Although there are many other areas of education that I could have investigated, I found these to be the most important four areas because they all had clear connections to each other, and that of my own interests and project. As part of reflecting on module one, and how I intend to move into module three and four, I will go through each section that I covered within my research and summaries what I have learnt.
The Status of Arts Education in the UK
The status of Arts education in the UK was one of the areas I did the most research on because I believe that through establishing an understanding of the system, I will then be able to identify where my practice, and my project, fits in such contexts. I found out a range of interesting and insightful elements about the education system, and sadly many of the downfalls that are linked to Arts education. This was really important to look at in a number of ways because the lack of meaningful, creative education in the curriculum is alarming. Looking at how creative subject are delivered to students is a big part of understanding where my project and practice sits within the context of the curriculum because it tests whether artists involvement in the learning of young people is beneficial, or not. There has been a decline in both time, funding and uptake in creative subjects which has caused the arts to be minimised significantly. Less time for the arts was a really interesting aspect of my research because I found out that the arts have been used, in some cases, as playtime and not in a meaningful capacity. This results in children not learning key creative skills enough or at all, which has a direct impact on how they view art based subjects later in their educational careers. It shows that even at a young age, the devaluation of art subjects is apparent.
Similarly, a lack of funding was a consistent theme that was raised throughout this section of my research. Funding is vital for the arts because this allows schools to bring artists into schools, allows them to offer creative trips and provides materials for students to express their creativity with. Having a lack of funding causes the quality of education to be lower than that of what is expected, therefore putting many off taking creative subjects through to GCSE and A-Level. It has a direct impact on the student’s experience of the subject because they will become limited in what they can learn, depending on what the school has to offer. A lack of engaging trips, opportunities or guest speakers that are part of creative industries can also make a potential career in the arts unattainable, or simply undesirable because they have not been able to see a creative professional in their years of learning. I feel this is where my research linked to my practice the most because a lack of funding stops artists such as myself going in to schools to teach them valuable fundamental skills in drawing and painting, because there is simply no budget to employ such a professional for the required time. My research showed me that much of the art lessons offered students do not teach students ‘how’ to do something creative, but rather the emphasis was to pass the examinations they were required to take. This limits students understanding and the likelihood that they pressure creative subjects in the future.
Value is another area that ties directly to the status of arts education in the curriculum. Much of the lacking areas of arts education are due to a lack of value attributed to the subjects. This also has links to the informant of the Ebacc, and its lack of requirement for a creative subject within its performance measure. The Ebacc has become an integral part of my research because it has become the catalyst for the demise of creative subjects in many ways. Due to this quality assurance scheme, subjects have become decided into ‘core’ and ‘non-core’ creating a hierarchy of subject to choose at GCSE and A-Level. This has resulted in many being force to choose between creative subjects, or opting for a solely academic approach when embarking on their GCSE and A-Level qualifications. I feel this has caused a narrowing of the education system, and shows how academia driven it has become due to the lack of balance that the curriculum holds. Through my research, similar feelings are echoed, with statistics showing that uptake on creative subjects has decreased across the board.
Discussion about the Ebacc is something I want to research further, as I believe it is an important part of understanding why the arts are heavily undervalued in the curriculum. My research focused around what the Ebacc is, what it does and how it affects student’s subject choices. I also looked at the public perception of the this quality assurance measure and found that many in creative industries see this as a risk to the future of the arts, and that children are not getting a well rounded education as a result of it. Many feel that value is placed on how it is viewed and included within the education system, and as a subject that is not even on a part with STEM subjects, one can only assume that the arts are being devalued and left behind due to the assumed lack of academia required to flourish in such subjects. It is my intention to research further into this area to generate a more rounded opinion of the education system as a whole.
To summarise this area of my research, I have found that the Ebacc’s introduction is one of the catalysts for the devaluation of creative subjects. In many regard they have become undesirable to learn because they are categorised lower than the core subjects. Although it is important to remember that Maths and English are important subjects to learn while at school to a competent level, not having a well rounded education that stops you being creative and culturally aware can be equally as damaging to a child’s development. As well as this, underfunding and devaluing the importance of the arts is a key theme that I want to investigate further to really understand the overall impact that it has had upon young people. Although it is important to mention I did look into other areas of the education system, I have summarised the areas most of interest.
Artists As Educators
Artists as educators is a concept that is important for my research because it firmly places my project in the context it was intended for. As it is my intention to create workshop content that is aimed at secondary school students in an effort to teach them fundamental drawing skills, researching how artists adapt to the position of educator or teacher is important. With this in mind, I found two studies that discussed the role of artist educator from the point of view of the artist. I found this early on in my research, and it became a valuable part of what I decided to research from it because it explained how artists approach teaching others, the environments in which they do it, and what they think their purpose is. I found that artists believe it is not their job to ‘teach’ but rather give the student the tools to investigate, explore and problem solve for themselves. As well as this, allowing the student to create from their own decision making and unlock their own understanding without the interference of others. As these studies looked at education mostly in the gallery environment, the pressure of passing exams was not there, but rather the want to improve on their skills, understanding and engage in a creative medium became the important factors. It showed me that in conventional schooling there is far too much emphasis one cam success, rather than encouraging a student to pursue their interest or talents. I also found it particularly interesting when many of the artists in the study suggested that they were learning along with the students and therefore the relationship between artist and student was not the same to that of student and teacher. It showed me that the learning relationship was reciprocal rather than the teacher filling a student full of information, therefore expecting them to regurgitate it in an exam.
This lead me on to researching types of teaching methods, such as the banking method whereby information is given to a student and they are expected to retain and regurgitate it in an exam environment. The banking method is themes common method of teaching, but does not necessarily apply when learning artistic techniques. When being educated by an artist educator the teaching approach alters to a ‘learning through doing’ process. Learning through doing benefits visual learners and those who may find it hard academically to achieve. However, it also benefits those who flourish with the banking method of learning. It is a universal way of learning that promotes application of technique rather than academic ability. Looking into teaching techniques such as this showed me where the gap in education truly lies. Many students struggle with leading in the ‘banking method’ format, and find it hard to retain in academic lessons, whereas they may flourish in creative subjects. Having other methods of teaching from those who do not consider themselves to be teachers, such as artist educators, would enrich the learning of many students because the approach to learning would be different. It would be hands on and more about developing them as people, rather than their ability to pass an exam. This area of my research gave weight to other areas of my research that the lack of funding and value put on the arts is limiting the learning of young people, and they are not being exposed to other ways of learning and being limited in their development as well-rounded people.
To summarise, this area of my research was particularly important because it gave me insight into other artist practitioners who do similar things to what I envisage doing, their opinions of their role as artist educators and has helped me create clear links to the downfalls in the curriculum and what artists can provide as a solution. However, I would like to research further in this area of my project, as I feel I could collate more opinions of artists and make further links to the curriculum in its current state.
Relevant Case Study examples: Examples of instances where artists have had a prominent role in the education of young people within a school or site for learning /How Artists can/are being used in Schools
The final two areas of my research were areas that linked very closely together because often the case studies I found about artists creating partnerships between schools offered direct examples of how they were useful in the site for learning and what they offered to the students. Splitting these areas up made it clearer for my from the outset of my research to make sure I was researching both aspects of artist’s involvement in education to it’s fullest capacity.
Finding relevant case study examples of artists being involved in education was a challenge, because many of the schemes run to include artists in this way are often small and locally run. However, I found two examples of how artists formed partnerships with schools from different periods of time. Firstly ‘Artists in Wigan Schools’ (scheme documented in a book) was a scheme ran by a local arts group in the 1980s in Wigan. This put an artist in every school in one local authority to help enrich and expand the education of the students while giving the artist a consistent residence for a year. It accounted the thoughts, feelings and perceptions of both artist, teachers and students throughout the process. Although this was an earlier example, I found it to be really insightful because you were immersed in the process of having artists within the school environment, teaching students vital creative skills. It showed how the process can be beneficial for both sides, and crucially help student attainment across all of their studies. This example had many layers to it, and I feel I could continue analysing this piece to achieve a greater understanding of its impact. However, it did highlight one major thing; many of the things it discussed, namely the issues faced when undertaking the scheme, very little has changed between then and now, highlighting that little progress has been made in promoting meaningful arts education in schools countrywide.
My second case study example was from Arts Council England and their study into how artists and schools can form meaningful partnerships. This was important because it gave direct examples from students about how beneficial it was to have artist involvement in their learning and how it impacted them. The study also included how schools should approach creating such partnerships and the quality measures should follow to insure that the partnership is beneficial for all involved. Such suggestions and direct examples from Arts Council England showed me that the discussion of bringing in artists into schools is very much alive, it's about how it is executed that is the crucial aspect. Making sure that students, staff and artists all benefit from the inclusion is vital to it’s success, and the fact that Arts Council England are investigating and publishing their findings on such matters shows validity in the inclusion of creative professionals in schools. This is something I wish to research further to gain a greater understanding and further examples of such partnership to push my project further in this area.
In light of embarking on such a wide range of research, my intention is to continue to refine my areas of interest to develop more clarity on specific areas of education that I deem to be closest to the basis of my project. I think what I have looked at in module one ties direct to my specialism and my project because my body of work is about creating workshops that meet a need that is apparent in the education system. Defining this need will be done throughout my research, and will influence how I continue to formulate the workshops I am producing. As there are clear needs for working professionals within arts education in the curriculum, the need for meaningful workshop content is apparent. It is my intention to outline where I will direct my research next going into Module three and four below:
Further critical analysis on the Ebacc
Thoughts and opinions of others about the Ebacc and its specific impact on Arts education
Further examples of arts schemes that get artists into sites for learning
Making further links to between my research and my project: how does one influence the other
Finding out more opinions and instances of artist educators and the benefits of their teaching methods.
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