Debates in Art and Design Education

Debates in Art and Design Education encourages student and practising teachers to engage with contemporary issues and developments in learning and teaching. It introduces key issues, concepts and tensions in order to help art educators develop a critical approach to their practice in response to the changing fields of education and visual culture.

Accessible, comprehensive chapters are designed to stimulate thinking and understanding in relation to theory and practice, and help art educators to make informed judgements by arguing from a position based on theoretical knowledge and understanding. Contributing artists, lecturers and teachers debate a wide range of issues including:



the latest policy and initiatives in secondary art education


the concepts, skills and dispositions that can be developed through art education


tensions inherent in developing the inclusive Art and Design classroom


partnerships across the visual arts sector


creativity in the Art and Design curriculum


visual art and globalisation


establishing the significance of ‘Design’


art practice as educational research.


Debates in Art and Design Education is for all student and practising teachers interested in furthering their understanding of an exciting, ever-changing field, and supports art educators in articulating how the subject is a vital, engaging and necessary part of the twenty-first century curriculum. Each chapter points to further reading and each section suggests reflective questions to help shape art educators’ teaching. In particular, Debates in Art and Design Education encourages art educators to engage in research by providing an essential introduction to critical thinking around contemporary debates.

Nicholas Addison is Visiting Fellow and PhD supervisor in Art, Design and Museology at the Institute of Education, University of London.
Lesley Burgess is Senior Lecturer in Art, Design and Museology, and PGCE Subject Leader in Art and Design, at the Institute of Education, University of London.

Acknowledgements List of figures Notes on contributors Introduction Nicholas Addison and Lesley Burgess PART 1 Cautionary Tales 1. Art and Design Education at the Crossroads John Steers 2. The Hijacking of Creativity: the dilemma of contemporary art education jan jagodinski PART 2 Debates within the Classroom 3. Questioning Creativity Olivia Gude 4. Critical Race, Multicultural Art Education Christine Ballangee Morris 5. Symbolic Representational Processes: a case for embodied practice Gemma Cozens Response To Cozens Yiannis Hayiannis 6. ‘Strangely delivered by pyrates’: illustration and the National Curriculum Pam Meecham PART 3 Debates Beyond the Classroom 7. Cultural Diversity, Creativity and Modernism Rasheed Araeen 8. From Trance-like Solipsism to Speculative Audacity? Young people’s learning in galleries today Emily Pringle 9. Critical about Design Helen Charman PART 4 Debates In-between 10. Art Practice as a Form of Research in Art Education: towards a teaching artist practice Panagiotis Dafiotis 11. Art, Academe and the Language of Knowledge Claire Robins PART 5 Forever Changes 12. Art Education ‘as if’ for Future Flourishing: three analogies between human beings and types of creative grammar Leslie Cunliffe 13. Learning, Truth and Self-Encounter Dennis Atkinson References