The Industrialisation of Arts Education Edited by Samantha Broadhead The Industrialisation of Arts Education “In what ways have the demands of industry helped to shape the course of arts education to date, and has industrialisation of the arts been beneficial towards the student experience as we march through the fourth industrial revolution? Broadhead has curated and contributed this anthology of perspectives, in which academics and practitioners offer important insight into relationships between arts education and the creative industries through discussion of the past, the present and the potential futures. This book opens a dialogue which could help to define a new concord between arts education and industry for the fifth industrial revolution.” —Matthew Clark, Lecturer in Digital Media, Sheffield Hallam University “We need a timely reminder that arts education has much to contribute to society and industry - perhaps now more than ever. We need to be able to take notice, to highlight the wider good that can come from arts education while acknowledging its positive social and economic impact. This book brings to light important debates surrounding arts education as it stands in today’s society that need to be examined and discussed more widely in order to help shape a better future for arts education and its role for future generations.” —Alistair Smith, Lecturer, School of Art and Design, Lincoln College “A rigorous yet holistic approach to arts education is needed now more than ever. Young people are leaving school without their creative and critical thinking skills being developed, and often without any sense that this is missing from their lives or that to invest in those skills and ways of thinking can be worthwhile. They miss out, and we miss out; we're poorer for it as human beings and as a society. We need to sit up, be brave, and radically transform our approach to education as a way to be truly transformative. This is an important book as part of that process.” —Paula Briggs, CEO and Creative Director of AccessArt, Cambridge Samantha Broadhead Editor The Industrialisation of Arts Education Editor Samantha Broadhead Leeds Arts University Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK ISBN 978-3-031-05016-9 ISBN 978-3-031-05017-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05017-6 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover pattern © Melisa Hasan This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To the compassionate Paul Whiteley and his furry or feathered friends: Candy; Felix and Fifi; White Spot; Ivy and Mary; Single and Double; Amelia and the two Honchos; Little Grey; Limper; Emu and Little Titch. F oreword The Creative Industries are an important part of the UK economy and in 2018 it was reported that 1 in 11 jobs was within them (BEIS 2018). Their success is linked to the way that we spend our leisure time, the advancement of technologies and the influence of media streams of com- munication. The skills needed to be effective as part of the workforce are the skills that our current education system does not promote, because it operates on an outdated curriculum model, which is built around politi- cally driven ideology, leading to a hierarchy of subjects which devalue the arts, despite what consecutive governments say. Creative subjects have been side-lined in favour of the so-called core subjects that emphasise Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) rather than Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM), and the development of a workforce which will be compliant. Although early years’ curriculum models value creativity, children then move into a school system which uses testing from a very early age and which values numeracy and literacy above other subjects, meaning that time for foundation subjects, including the arts, is squeezed out in many schools. Primary schools often teach ‘to’ the Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) in key stage 2 (the legal term for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 of schooling maintained in schools in England and Wales). Secondary schools reduce option choices because the UK government and the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) are pushing the EBacc (English Baccalaureate) as a measurement of success. Some schools have become exam factories (Coffield & Williamson 2011) and the disappearance of centralised local authority support and being replaced by the academy system has damaged vii viii FOREWORD shared-subject specialist pedagogy, quality assurance and the vision and philosophy needed for a contemporary and progressive arts education. Fewer children study the arts post-14, with subsequent impact on study and career pathways after 16. Many schools encourage the knowledge-rich curriculum which does not emphasise how knowledge is used, but it is about rote learning of factual information. The Department for Education (England) cherry picks the research that it wants to use for curriculum models. The govern- ment also measures the value of degrees by the amount of money that a graduate earns a few years into their career, taking no account that many of those in the arts are self-employed or freelancers, and does not measure job satisfaction or the value to oneself of doing what you love to do. It now even refers to some higher education courses as ‘low value’. The value, of course, being purely fiscal. What happens in schools has a domino effect on the number of people studying creative subjects in further and higher education. Ultimately the talent pool is narrowing and this will have an impact on the cultural sector, where there currently is a lack of diversity in its workforce. The danger is that only those who can afford an arts education will be able to access highly skilled careers in the Creative Industries. This book argues for the importance of arts education at all levels for the future growth and flour- ishing of the sector. To be successful and world-leading the Creative Industries need young people and adults to become creative, articulate, problem-solvers and innovators who can think critically and collaborate. Our current education system with its misplaced values is not creating the diverse thinkers and innovators that will be needed to help the Creative Industries thrive in the post-pandemic world. The current government has deliberately sought to silence creative thinking and actions through a toxic ‘one-solution-fits-all’ pedagogy. This book looks at the various relationships arts education and its stu- dents have with the industry and how those relationships are influenced by various neoliberal policies. It also explores how educators have to recon- cile their professional values about what constitutes a good education with the various demands on their curricula, including the need to prepare their students in an ethical way for creative careers. Coffield, F. & Williamson, B. (2011). From exam factories to communi- ties of discovery: The democratic route. London: Institute of Education, University of London. FOREWORD ix Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). (2018). Industrial strategy: Creative industries sector deal. https://assets. publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/695097/creative-i ndustries-s ector-d eal-p rint.pdf Accessed 08 March 2022. Visiting Professor for Education Through Art Susan Coles University of Sunderland Sunderland, UK Secretary to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Art, Craft, Design in Education, London, UK P reFace The origins of this book began with a symposium, ‘Aspiration and Constraint in the Post-COVID Post-Compulsory Crisis’, on 5 October 2020 organised by the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Special Interest Group for Post-Compulsory and Lifelong Learning. This event opened up conversations between researchers interested in work- place learning, vocational and higher education and arts educators. The ensuing dialogue led to a collaborative symposium between the University of Derby and Leeds Arts University, ‘The Industrialisation of Arts Education’, held 16 March 2021. The multi-discipline programme included perspectives from specialists in animation, creative writing, fash- ion branding, music, education and employment. The contributors came from research, practitioner and educational backgrounds and their work is underpinned by close-to-practice research and scholarship that interro- gates the policies and practices related to arts education and the creative industries. The debates have now been developed as part of this publication. It seems that within the context of UK higher education the language and practices of the arts have been industrialised. Within the cultural or creative industries artists, designers and makers are described as producers. Furthermore, due to research assessment, such as the Research Excellent Framework, paintings, drawings, exhibitions, musical performances, film and designs are perceived as outputs. Each chapter of this book brings with it a particular orientation of industry to arts education, such as teaching and learning for industry, the impact of industry-focused policies and industrialised systemic influences. xi xii PREFACE The extent to which arts pedagogies have been informed by the agendas of the cultural industries as well as wider neoliberal ideologies is consid- ered. This leads to fundamental questions about, firstly, the many, contra- dictory functions of arts education and, secondly, the ways teaching and learning practices have evolved. This book would be of interest to students, researchers and academics who are interested in arts further and higher education as well as post-16 technical and vocational education. acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to thank Christopher Graham, Dr Jill Fernie-Clarke, Henry Gonnet, Frances Norton, Kate O’Donnell and Leeds Arts University for the support they have given me and the chapter authors in writing this book. Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Samantha Broadhead