The art of Art & Design

Encouraging creativity within the constraints of the curriculum

In my short time as a teaching professional, I’ve found a number of differing methodologies in the pedagogical practice of teaching the subject of Art & Design. As educators, it is often the case that we are required to assume and expect pupils to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives at a very early age. I remember from my own school days the difficult decisions that had to be made were confusing. The attitudes of the teaching and careers staff at my school in the 1970s and 1980s was very different to the supportive practices of today’s schools and they didn’t really use the word “stress” in those days, but with hindsight it was indeed quite stressful.

I had no idea what I wanted to be when I was 14, apart from maybe an astronaut or some sort of dinosaur zookeeper (this was long before Jurassic Park, either film or book). Given neither of those options were available, I opted for a technical curriculum focus, rather than art, because the advice was that “you’ll get a better job” – despite my love for and growing talents in art. My own decisions aside, there is a lot of pressure on the students we nurture to make those literal life-changing decisions.

As students hurtle towards their options, I believe it is essential that art subjects are taught in a way that demonstrates the strengths of the next generation of creatives and encourages individual styles and practices. In my short tenure as a student teacher, I have noticed that some of the teaching of art carried out in years seven through nine is proscriptive. Yes, it is important that we ensure that potential future creatives are armed with the technical skills they will need to communicate their ideas, but it should be done in such a way as to encourage independent, creative thought rather than by rote.

These key years in the run-up to the options decision are so important in deciding the relevance of creativity. I believe that the curriculum should absolutely reflect this, focussing on practice and practical lessons to find where the skills of our students lie. This will not only allow pupils to experiment with a variety of new processes (limited only by the resources of the institution) but make the subject of art one of the “cool” subjects – surely a vital cog in the machine for ensuring the longevity of our subject and the resources allocated to it.

My own personal philosophy for art education is centred firmly around the tenet that “you can’t get art wrong” and that pupils need to find their own style. However, I have noticed that some schools, and some teachers, do not feel quite the same way. Practices are simplified, quantified, and taught like more “academic” subjects – and it feels like all the joy and freedom is being sucked out of the subject. Clearly, there are some expectations laid down in the national curriculum that mean teaching professionals need to adhere to some sort of compliant architecture and meet moderation requirements… but this should never be at the expense of allowing students to experiment and develop in their own artistic direction.

Formalising the practice of art, critical analysis, and self-reflection are all essential parts of obtaining a qualification, either at GCSE or A-level, so I am not saying that an academic approach to artistic practice is a bad thing, I just think it’s a bad thing for pupils who haven’t decided to take art seriously as a future arena for study.

I think we should absolutely encourage pupils who have not yet selected art as one of their specialist subjects to play around, do the “fun bits” of art, and see where their creativity lies long before we start to formalise the process and allocate grades to their imaginations. Everyone can “do” art, but not everyone is going to be the sort of artist who can create detailed and accurate still life oil paintings, or anatomically correct marble statues. Some of our charges might be the next Pollock or Kusama, full of energy or whimsy without the rigid formality of classicists… but we might never find out if we make them spend five lessons copying a monochrome photographs of brutalist sculptures with an HB pencil using the grid method - and expecting the finished product to be accurate.

Let the years leading up to options be a haven of experimentation, new media, and joy. Once they realise that they do have a place as a creative, we can absolutely engage the more academic side of creativity and ensure their future practice and processes can be assessed more “seriously”. By then, we’ve got them hooked, and they’ll be much happier with appropriate criticism and academic guidance than a Year 9 who “doesn’t see the point” of sitting in an art lesson trying to work out whether the subject is relevant for them or not…