A reflection on dialogic diving boards and decolonising school art: The African mask project

Grant, Will; Richards, Malcolm; Steward, Ros; Whelan, Jamie

Abstract

In this presentation, four colleagues working in teacher education reflect on a conversation. The conversation in question was a tangible discussion documented through frequent and purposeful email exchange, exploring traditionalist school art curricula through reference to lived experience, academic theory, and professional anecdote. The primary objective of this Freirean dialogue was informal critical analysis of the cultural diversity and positioning of art objects that populate classroom curricula in English schools, starting with the ‘African mask’.

Curricula development in art departments can be slow, and the discipline has historically tended towards reproductive formalist orthodoxies (Cary 2011; Gude 2013; Grant 2020) – despite the potential benefits and possibility of diversifying the content taught in and through art. The secondary objective of this conversation was exploration of how complex talk on culture and curriculum might be modelled for teachers yet to consider why, and how, an inclusive subject curriculum might benefit them and their pupils.

Given current interest in curriculum content (Spielman 2017; Ofsted 2022), now is the moment for art teachers to exercise their autonomy and ensure the discipline transcends the melancholia of modernist projects (Atkinson 2011; Cary 2011), and instead takes agentic leadership in promoting contemporary cultural understanding and appreciation in English schools.

Atkinson, D. (2011) Art, Equality and Learning: Pedagogies Against the State. Sense: Rotterdam.

Cary, R. (2011) Critical Art Pedagogy: Foundations for Postmodern Art Education. Routledge: Abingdon.

Grant, W. (2020) Liberal ideals, postmodern practice: a working paradox for the future of secondary school art education in England, in International Journal of Art and Design Education, vol. 39, no. 1, pp.56-68.

Gude, O. (2013) Questioning creativity, in N. Addison (ed.) Debates in Art and Design Education. Routledge: Abingdon.

Ofsted (2022) Education Inspection Framework. Ofsted, London.

Spielman, A. (2017) Amanda Spielman's speech at the Festival of Education, online resource available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/amanda-spielmans-speech-at-the-festival-of-education [last accessed September 2022].

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: iJADE 2022: Belonging: Dialogues for culturally responsive art & design education
• Start Date: Nov 11, 2022
• End Date: Nov 13, 2022
• Deposit Date: Nov 12, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 14, 2022
• Keywords: Dialogic diving boards, Decolonising school art, Decolonising, Decolonisation, The African mask project
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10137749
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/pb-assets/assets/14768070/iJADE-2022-Belonging-Call-for-Papers-DIGITAL-1657179648887.pdf
• Related Public URLs: https://www.nsead.org/courses-advice/ijade-conference-2022/; ; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14768070