Abstract
What do artists do when they work in schools? Can teachers do the same? These were the questions at the heart of our recent research, investigating the work of 12 artists working in primary and secondary schools in England. Funded by Creativity, Culture and Education as a ‘legacy’ project of Creative Partnerships (2003–2011) our intention was to develop a theorisation of artists’ practice that could inform the work that teachers do. In this paper, we report on a key aspect of the Signature Pedagogies project (www.signaturepedagogies.org.uk) the way in which artists approached the issue of inclusion. Through an examination of the work of three story-makers in primary and nursery schools, documented through observation, film and interview, we show that the democratic participatory practices they adopted were based on a fundamental belief that: every child was capable of having ideas; every child could contribute meaningfully to discussions; and every child was integral to a collective ‘performance’. We conclude that these artists’ democratic orientations may well be difficult for teachers to adopt in the current moment, but that this artistic work in schools may still provide a welcome relief for all involved, as well as maintaining an exemplar of alternative pedagogical practice that might be expanded in a changed policy environment.
Highlights
What do artists do when they work in schools? Can teachers do the same? These were the questions at the heart of our recent research, investigating the work of twelve artists working in primary and secondary schools in England
Our interest is in practices and pedagogies that allow all children, regardless of who they are, where they were born and their apparent physical, cognitive and emotional capabilities, to participate in and benefit from their school experiences
The combination of knowing, doing and being that are found in signature pedagogies is not separable into distinctive chunks which can be planned for, and learned/taught separately
Summary
We would add to these specific arts based examples – for example, the workshop in creative writing, the studio ‘crit’ in contemporary art, the vocal warm-up in singing and so on These distinctive practices are intended to do more than inculcate knowledge, they set out deliberately to teach ‘habits of mind’, the ways of thinking about geography/architecture, doing geography/architecture and being a geographer/architect. The creative practitioners we have observed have a particular axiological commitment – that is they value collaborative and cooperative ways of working This is integral to their pedagogical approaches. The combination of knowing, doing and being that are found in signature pedagogies is not separable into distinctive chunks which can be planned for, and learned/taught separately Both epistemological and ontological learnings progress together, at the same time, and through one pedagogical practice, as we will show
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