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Mar 20, 2019 · Published on 20 March 2019. Britain’s reputation as a creative country is at risk, as threats mount to the education pathway that leads potential artists from school to university to professional life. Sam Phillips reports on the political challenges facing higher education.
- Sonia Boyce
In 2007, Boyce was awarded an MBE in The Queen’s Birthday...
- Bob and Roberta Smith
2009 Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK, British Council...
- Art Education
The Royal Academy of Arts, located in the heart of London,...
- RA Schools 250th Anniversary
Read features from RA Magazine’s art education special...
- Royal Academy of Arts
The solution lies in art education.” As art-making is ebbed...
- Friends of The RA
Hear first about ticket releases and get a regular dose of...
- RA Magazine Spring 2019
RA Magazine Spring 2019. Artists > 3 years ago. In the...
- Sonia Boyce
- Introduction
- Context
- Curriculum
- Pedagogy
- Assessment
- Systems, Culture and Policies
- Conclusion
The study of art enables pupils to understand, appreciate and contribute to a dimension of life that taps into and expresses human innovation, imagination and thought.[footnote 1]In this review, we use the term ‘art’ to include the traditions of art, craft and design. At an individual level, a high-quality art education can build pupils’ ability to...
The nature of art, craft and design
Art is a rich and varied set of practices central to human civilisation. Art itself is not static, and its purposes, materials and methods are always evolving. Historically, it has served a range of purposes, including representing nature, expressing feelings, embodying formal beauty, and preserving or criticising social norms. Major art forms include painting, sculpture, drawing and printmaking. Since the early 20th century, art has broadened to include photography, performance, installation...
The national context
Art makes an important contribution to pupils’ overall education. Schools must offer a broad and balanced curriculum, according to the law.[footnote 10] This expectation is reflected in the national curriculum and is at the heart of our education inspection framework, which states that a high-quality education consists of pupils being taught ‘a full range of subjects for as long as possible’.[footnote 11]
The national curriculum and the school art curriculum
There is an important distinction between the national curriculum and the school subject curriculum in art. The national curriculum sets out the aims of the subject and an outline of the content pupils should study. Our discussion of quality in art education uses these aims and considers what pupils need to learn, over time, to achieve them. However, the national curriculum does not set out the exact range and depth of the content, concepts and practices that pupils need to learn. This means...
Domains of knowledge
There are many ways of ‘carving up’ domains of knowledge in art education. The subject literature uses a range of terms for the domains. In this review, we suggest 3 domains: 1. ‘practical knowledge’, which is about developing technical proficiency 2. ‘theoretical knowledge’, which is the cultural and contextual content that pupils learn about artists and artwork[footnote 33] 3. ‘disciplinary knowledge’, which is what pupils learn about how art is studied, discussed and judged These terms are...
Practical knowledge
Pupils develop practical knowledge through the art and design curriculum. This knowledge is necessary for when they make and create art. Practical knowledge allows pupils to make choices based on what they know about the limits and possibilities of materials and media. This practical knowledge is specific to ways of creating art. The National Society for Education in Art and Design recognises 12 different ‘areas of making’.[footnote 47]These include: 1. drawing 2. painting 3. printmaking 4. s...
Teaching the curriculum
In this section on pedagogy, we explore teaching methods, approaches and means of teaching art and design. We consider which principles help pupils to learn and to remember the art and design curriculum. Research on art and design education often blends the areas of curriculum (what pupils learn) and pedagogy (how the curriculum is taught). For instance, some literature discusses curriculum and pedagogy as a single integrated learning process.[footnote 105] Our education inspection framework...
Pedagogical considerations when teaching practical knowledge
When teachers make pedagogical decisions, they should be clear about what they want pupils to learn (the curriculum object). They should also make sure that pupils practise the building blocks of subject knowledge along the way. Just as pupils need to have sufficient repeated encounters with concepts, they also need sufficient practice ‘in the moment’ when learning practical knowledge. Teachers can support this through their pedagogical choices, drawing on insights from cognitive science abou...
Pedagogical considerations when teaching theoretical knowledge
The theoretical knowledge that pupils learn in the subject (including the history of art, craft and design) is vast, abstract and nuanced. This means that when teachers design and plan activities, they need to be clear about the knowledge want pupils to learn. Teachers should use the teaching methods that will best enable pupils to know and remember this content in the long term. Teachers need to consider which approaches will focus pupils’ attention on the ideas, concepts and principles they...
Assessment in art and design
Assessment can be a contentious issue for art educators.[footnote 134] Many have found that the nature of art and design presents unique challenges.[footnote 135] For example, if assessment is based on aesthetic judgement, this raises questions about the basis of those judgements (how valid the assessment judgement is) and the extent to which those judgements reflect the likes or dislikes of an individual (how reliable the assessment judgement is). It is important that teachers design assessm...
Formative assessment
Formative assessment, sometimes known as assessment for learning, plays an important role in providing feedback to pupils and teachers.[footnote 138] It helps teachers to assess whether pupils know what has been taught, and tells pupils what they could improve. Formative assessment approaches that are based around dialogue between teachers and pupils is particularly beneficial when pupils learn practical knowledge.[footnote 139] This type of feedback focuses on improvement in the immediate ta...
Summative assessment
Assessment can be used for summative purposes (assessment of learning) in art, craft and design. This serves a different purpose from formative assessment.[footnote 144] The purpose of summative assessment, broadly, is for teachers to determine how well pupils have learned, over time, what teachers have planned for them to learn. When pupils have learned the expanding ‘domain’ of the curriculum, they have made progress. This is what we mean by ‘the curriculum is the progression model’.[footno...
Do leaders’ actions support art and design through subject-specificity?
The school’s systems and policies can have a negative effect on art and design education if they do not take into account the aspects of subject education that are specific to art and design. For example, whole-school teaching strategies or assessment practices are likely to be too generic to capture the forms of knowledge that pupils build through the art and design curriculum. In some cases, the models underpinning these approaches are based on core subjects. They use pedagogical or assessm...
Do leaders prioritise art and design sufficiently?
School leaders who want to develop an ambitious art, craft and design curriculum need to consider whether they have allowed enough time for the subject. This is important if pupils are to learn a school curriculum that at least meets the high-level outcomes of the national curriculum. Concerns about the amount of curriculum time given to art, craft and design are not unwarranted. Research has found that a majority of primary school teachers think there is insufficient emphasis on the arts.[fo...
Do leaders ensure that there is sufficient support for teachers, including non-specialists?
Subject knowledge is important. Research has explored the development of teachers’ subject knowledge about art, craft and design, particularly in primary education.[footnote 152] Many art and design teachers may be practising artists. This enriches and supports their work as teachers and continually promotes their own learning. However, school leaders need to ensure that they give teachers and subject leaders enough time and support to develop their subject content knowledge and pedagogical c...
In this review, we have shown that the content of the curriculum really matters, just as much as the pedagogical approaches to teaching it and the experiences of pupils learning it. The content of the curriculum affects the quality of art, craft and design education. By making sure the art, craft and design curriculum has sufficient scope, coherenc...
Nov 1, 2019 · Following a series of amends last September, the DfE’s statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance has now been updated for 2019. While there aren’t a huge number of changes, there are new references to a number of important safeguarding issues, including upskirting – now a criminal offence – and serious violence.
Jun 13, 2019 · As art-making is ebbed out of schools across the country, we overlook the skills it delivers – strengths that should be the envy of "proper" academic education, says Michael Craig-Martin. From the Spring 2019 issue of RA Magazine, issued quarterly to Friends of the RA.
Sep 11, 2013 · Attainment targets. By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study. Schools are not...
Feb 22, 2023 · Today’s report explores the factors that contribute to a high-quality art education. It sets out a broad conception of curriculum quality that draws on the education inspection framework as...
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Visualise examines the current state of race and inclusion in art education in England. We confirm what educators have been saying for years: that art education is at crisis point.
