Risky choices: the dilemmas of introducing contemporary art practices into schools

Author: Jeff Adams

Institution: Faculty of Education and Children’s Services, University of Chester

Full reference: Adams, J. (2010) ‘Risky choices: the dilemmas of introducing contemporary art practices into schools’, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 31: 6, 683 — 701

Summary of key findings

This paper discusses issues around incorporating contemporary art practices into the school curriculum. The author observes that these practices are still rare in schools.

He argues that the many difficulties that arise from attempts to introduce them are indicative of their socially contingent character, which threatens to disrupt the ideological underpinnings of orthodox school practices.

The study focuses on school art projects ‘Room 13’ and ‘Teaching through contemporary art’ as examples of contemporary art practices that support a relatively high degree of learner autonomy within state education. Through these projects the paper explores the dilemmas that the participants face, which include questions of learner agency, choice and creative risk, and the effects of regulatory assessment systems upon collaboration, experiment, play and ephemeral learning outcomes. The paper cites research (Hall, C., Thomson, P. and Russell, L. 2007. Teaching like an artist: The pedagogic identities and practices of artists in schools. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28, no. 5: 605–19.) looking at the impact of Creative Partnerships on a school’s pedagogy, which analyses some difficulties encountered by creative practitioners in introducing aspects of their approach into education.

The paper concludes by examining the possibilities of encouraging more ‘risky’ contemporary art practices in schools.

Research Questions & Methodology

Critical Analysis

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