Subversive Teaching, Resolving the Artist Teacher Dilemma : A Study of the Merging Practices of an Artist Teacher

Radley, Emma (2011) Subversive Teaching, Resolving the Artist Teacher Dilemma : A Study of the Merging Practices of an Artist Teacher. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

There is an established orthodoxy within secondary art education in the United Kingdom of the present ‘art teacher’ model of practice (Steers, 2005). This practice- led inquiry investigates ways a teacher can successfully merge her practices as an artist and a teacher using new and adapted practical and theoretical approaches.
By comparing and evaluating models of practice of the ‘artist teacher’ working within the context of a postmodern secondary art curriculum the ‘art teacher’ model of practice is challenged. The study focuses on the development of the Artist Teacher Scheme (ATS), which supports those teachers wishing to re-engage with their creative art practice (Adams, 2003). The ATS attempts to reconcile the sometimes harmonised, though often polarised, domains of art and education (Adams, 2007)

The practical submission, offered alongside this thesis, investigates learning as a form of dialogue. This thesis begins by articulating the dilemma often described by artist teachers between their dual roles of artist and teacher. (Parker, 2009; Parks, 1992; Adams, 2005; Ball, 1990). This is followed by an examination of the current state of art in schools or ‘school art’ (Steers, 2005). A comparison is made in the following chapter between the historical backgrounds of art pedagogy in secondary and higher education. The theoretical framework of the thesis is then explored with an examination of areas of synthesis between theory contextualising both pedagogic and art practices. This leads into an investigation of the artist teacher model of practice in secondary art education, its precedence, definition and development. Action research methodology (Lewin, 1946; McNiff, 2002; McNiff, and Whitehead, 2005; Sullivan, 2005) has been applied to an experimental body of practical work, illustrating the merging of art and pedagogic practices. The thesis concludes with a discussion and evaluation of the merged practices.

This thesis offers a model towards a better understanding of the way an artist teacher can integrate both her art and classroom practices. In this way, conditions are offered on potential future models of practice for the artist teacher. This investigation will be primarily of interest to artist teachers, art educators, those participating on the ATS and their tutors.

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