Abstract
The arts are under threat in English schools. But some schools and teachers work against the trend. To understand how they continue to offer rich arts experiences to students, we bring Bourdieusian thinking to arts teacher practices that were common across the 30 secondary schools we studied for three years. In addition to a flexible approach to the curriculum which encouraged independence, intellectual challenge and risk-taking, teachers also engaged in arts brokerage – embodiment of arts engagement, ensuring students regularly visit cultural events/institutions, using local cultural resources, organising visits from artists/cultural organisations, enabling students to exhibit and perform for wider audiences, connecting students with arts workplaces and enhancing community arts participation. We approach this as a logic of practice associated with arts broker dis/positions drawn from teachers simultaneously occupying two chiasmatic fields – art and education.
Highlights
The arts are under threat in English schools
How do teachers and schools maintain practices that go against the grain of current policy? Where do their oppositional ideas come from and how are they maintained? These questions sit at the heart of this paper, which brings Bourdieusian thinking to a study of arts education
We consider the implications of dual positionality for logics of practice and agent disposition through an exploration of data drawn from a three year study of arts education in thirty English secondary schools
Summary
In interviews students studying the arts routinely told us that they chose the arts because of what it offered them in the future – not a job but rather a way of being in and making a worthwhile life They told us that the arts were different from their other subjects; choosing an arts subject meant they undertook long term ambitious projects, worked independently, had more positive relationships with their arts teachers, experienced the sense of well-being and self-belief that results from hard work and meeting intellectual and practical challenges (Thomson et al 2019). Despite the diversity of schools and students, it was apparent from our thematised analysis that a particular pedagogical approach was in play across our sites This is congruent with the notion of the arts rich school as a position – the arts could be expected to share common pedagogical practices. We go on to describe two key shared practices, followed by a discussion of these as dispositional, the result of dual field occupancy
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
