The Shock of the New

Abstract

Since 2017 I have examined the impact of shifting professional practices demonstrated by students of an Artist Teacher MA programme at an English university. Students repeatedly discuss the transformative nature of the course, and through an impact case study I have interrogated the conditions which enable profound changes to occur. Emerging findings indicate that pedagogies of uncertainty enacted within an inclusive community foster students' experiences of visibility, being heard and valued professionally. This resulting pedagogic context encourages students to take risks in a safe environment and supports them to build sustainable practices applicable to educational and artistic communities alike. In this article I argue that pedagogic conditions which enable these ways of being are just as crucial now, as we live through an extraordinary global crisis. I engaged in an autoethnographic analysis of how findings from the artist teacher impact case study can inform my current working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through reflexive journaling and art practice I documented my experiences of transferring face-to-face content to remote learning platforms. In the process I consider what can be learnt from established artist teacher practices, communities and the values that underpin them whilst I support an online teaching and learning community. Crucially I am concerned with how the opportunities and challenges afforded through remote learning shape my professional practices, and the extent to which pedagogies of uncertainty evident in the artist teacher impact case study are borne out through remote working.

Challenges and Opportunities: Creative Approaches to Museum and Gallery Learning during the Pandemic

“…Falk & Dierking’s description of how museums connect to ‘the larger lives and realities of individuals, groups and communities’ resonates even more powerfully with me in the light of our experiences designing remote learning resources over the last eighteen months. I sympathise with artist teacher Rachel Payne’s reflections and how lockdown initially felt like ‘a new beginning forced on my world’, but like her I have come to an understanding that the process has been more of ‘a continual becoming of self and community’ (Payne 2020, 736–7) Museums are about people and we found that this vital personal context could be supported and sustained remotely while museums were closed. These experiences are not unique – museum professionals across the globe have been developing this work in the most innovative and inspiring ways.…”

E-Learning Canvases: Navigating the Confluence of Online Arts Education and Sustainable Pedagogies in Teacher Education

“…Dewey argued that education is itself a living and should connect students with a democratic society where they can participate in social change and innovation [45]. In progressive education, as well as in arts education, the focus is placed on learning by doing, encouraging participants to explore and discover concepts through hands-on activities and projects [46]. How these essential features can be present when training future teachers in Higher Education Institutions by distance or blended modes of delivery is a crucial question that needs to be answered.…”

A systematic literature review of cognitive exchange in higher degree visual art education

“…Researchers need to inquire into each, to deduce how individual cognitive exchange occurs. Such action would help raise cognitive research contributions in art education, whilst assisting subject protection from neoliberal regime (Payne, 2020). Mukhametzyanova (2021) identified that attitudinal and emotional exchanges co-exist with the cognitive in intercultural and interdisciplinary interactions.…”

“…This has enabled pedagogic transformation and student experience emphasis. Thus, understanding cognitive exchange capacities and their influence in higher education becomes advantageous to educational stakeholders because all parties can develop knowledge of social and political issues beyond subject boundaries (Payne, 2020).…”