Deschooling Art Education
An arts-based research project in secondary school Art & Design education
Double exposure photograph of the Art classroom, more here.
“much school art education appears to be caught in a time-warp, and a failure to mourn past/traditional practices”
What is this project?
This is a research project focused on a curriculum intervention at a state school in Suffolk, England. A curriculum intervention refers to hijacking part of the school’s current Year 9 Art curriculum, updating it and experimenting to explore new possibilities for Art education.
This involves three main phases:
- curriculum co-design (ongoing);
- putting the curriculum into action (from January 2025);
- curriculum evaluation & refinement (from April 2025).
Why is research in school Art education needed?
Schools teach “school art” — a phenomenon first discussed by Arthur Efland. There has long been a need to address the fact that “school art” differs greatly from artistic practice in the broader world and gives students an alarmingly narrow understanding of art.
A focus on traditional drawing skills and accurate copying of set outcomes are defining features of “school art”. Scope for creative freedom and art forms which might be considered more experimental (e.g. conceptual and non-representational art) are often missing. This way of teaching Art has barely changed since the 1970s — “school art” is long due an update.
The typical Art curriculum is, if anything, only becoming narrower as school funding and time allocation for Art reduces and pressure on student performance in assessments increases.
Whilst these concerns have been shared by many, the “school art” approach remains well established. It is the safe option, seen by some a necessary compromise; if Art is to have a place in schools, it must be made to fit in with expectations of the school system; if it is to be taken seriously, it can’t risk being experimental… or can it?
What is this project aiming to do?
• Investigate the benefits and limitations of moving beyond “school art” by testing a curriculum which provides scope for more pedagogical and experimental art practice;
• consider how a more experimental curriculum can prove its viability and satisfy expectations of the school system;
• add momentum to a campaign to make school Art education a little less procrustean.*
* Procrustean means ‘enforcing uniformity or conformity without regard to natural variation or individuality’ (Oxford English Dictionary). It derives from Procrustes, a bandit in Greek mythology, who tortured victims by making them fit into a frame by stretching or cutting off their limbs.
The project ultimately intends to function as a case study which sets an example of a possible alternative approach to “school art”. Students, Art teachers, education specialists, and artists will be consulted throughout the project to provide a range of perspectives on how the experimental curriculum can be developed and it is experienced.
How is this research?
• A review of existing experimental practices in Art education and consultations with an advisory group of experts and students are guiding the curriculum design process (phase 1).
• During the curriculum intervention, informal interviews, observations, field notes, photographs, and art-making processes will be used to capture how the curriculum is experienced (phase 2).
• Following this, interviews and analysis of student work will be used to evaluate and identify any challenges (phase 3).
This research is necessary for testing and proving the pedagogical value and feasibility of a more varied approach to Art education. Gathering information on how the curriculum is experienced is needed to evaluate and refine it. A free-to-use adaptable curriculum model and associated teaching resources will be created as a product of the research.
The project does not claim to be radically new or radically disruptive to the status quo. Rather it celebrates that existing efforts to move away from “school art” are occurring, it seeks to learn from and build on them.
It also seeks to be feasible. For a new curriculum approach to be adopted by schools, a certain level of compromise and meeting expectations of the school system is still necessary. This follows the assumption that what is needed is bottom-up, grass-roots change in school Art education — empowerment of Art teachers and their students to recognise themselves as the source of change.
How is this arts-based research?
Arts-based research (ABR) is the methodology this project uses. A methodology is the guiding approach to conducting the research, like the flavour or mode of the research. This means that art-making itself will be a way of collecting insight and recording the project. Art and research blur, the project itself is an art project whilst also being a research project.
