What is it about?
Many people think that being an artist is all about demonstrating skill and therefore it is the main aim of art education to teach people the skills they need to make art. This article explores how specialist thinking is also used in arts practice but isn't often taught in schools.
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Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Many students believe that in order to be successful in the visual arts you have to be born talented. This puts them off learning when the going gets tough. I believe that exposing the knowledge behind the subject will show students, and teachers, that becoming an artist doesn't have to be so mysterious.
Perspectives
I have been teaching in international schools for twenty years and have experience with both UK and international qualifications. As a teacher of art I sometimes worry that we are only teaching our students half the curriculum and we expect them to discover the rest by themselves. I think work needs to be done to ensure that art programmes in schools enable students to explore not only how but also why art is made.
Bridget Green
University of Bath
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Revisiting the Conceptual Domain: Educational Knowledge and the Visual Arts, International Journal of Art & Design Education, May 2021, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/jade.12355.
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