The Leonardo Effect: Motivating Children To Achieve Through Interdisciplinary Learning

Ivor Hickey, Deirdre Robson, Ivor Hickey, Deirdre Robson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136732485
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

'Children learned more in a week than they normally would in a term' Fiona Loudon, Head Teacher 'The pupils were captivated by the excitement, a captivation that in turn led to an increase in literacy levels, self-motivation and cooperative learning' Emer Vance, Teacher and Scott Vance, Head Teacher The Leonardo Effect ties together the whole prima

PART 1
Overview

CHAPTER 1
Art Education at the Heart of Learning

Maryann Flanagan

This chapter will present the opportunities that exist in education today for art to play an instrumental role in children’s learning and development, against a backdrop of the traditionally peripheral role it has occupied. The reasons for this are explored and a 21st-century vision is presented.

‘Art is part of the human condition’ (Barnes 2001: 7). This is evident even in very young children who relish mark-making, not just with standard art tools, but in spilt food, on steamed-up windows or in wet sand, even before the development of spoken language, and certainly before the acquisition of reading and writing skills. The desire or need to communicate and express visually continues into adulthood across all cultures, and is evidenced by galleries and museums around the globe, pointing to ‘a fundamental need in us to make visual expression of who and what we are’ (Barnes 2001: 7). But how is this basic and deep-seated human instinct acknowledged and developed in primary school education?

Drawing Together: Art, Craft and Design in Schools (Ofsted 2009) evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of art, craft and design in a sample of primary and secondary schools in England. It found that while standards in art and design in primary schools were good in one-third of the schools inspected, in the other two-thirds ‘some work was of good quality but standards and provision were too variable’ (Ofsted 2009: 4). Although it may be unclear how standards were judged or what constitutes ‘good quality’ artwork in primary schools, it is worth noting that ‘[many] pupils had only a limited understanding of the subject and its importance’ (2009: 4). This notion has been upheld recently in the Cambridge Primary Review, which reported that ‘Some [contributors] felt that, generally speaking, art was not well handled in the primary curriculum’ (Alexander 2010: 227).

Similar findings have been reported in other countries. In the USA, The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) began its 2011 report by stressing that education in the arts is more important than ever. However, the report goes on to illustrate a decline in the provision of meaningful access to the arts for children (2011: 30), despite numerous studies indicating the benefits of arts education in ‘producing better attendance and fewer discipline problems, increased graduation rates, and improved test scores; motivating students who were difficult to reach otherwise; and providing challenges to more academically successful students’ (2011: 19).

Challenges within art education

What are the challenges facing art education in the 21st century? When finances are under pressure, or time is short, it is invariably art, music or drama that is axed. Moreover, increasing emphasis on literacy and numeracy has pushed the arts further down the list of priorities for primary school teachers and ‘the status of the subject has been reduced by lack of attention and diversion of resources’ (Herne 2009: 122). In addition to this, the nature and role of art in primary education is widely misunderstood. Consequences resulting from this misunderstanding are highlighted here. It is imperative that we begin to address the situation by eliciting the true nature of art and putting forward the case for raising its profile in primary school education.

Firstly, there is a cyclical impact within a school context, leading to poor and ineffective practice. This results in a devaluation of the subject, and generates indifference and disregard among school staff, parents and indeed the pupils, thereby perpetuating the misunderstanding. If the nature and role of art in primary education are not fully appreciated, the legitimacy and worth of art activities taking place in the classroom can be dubious at best. When art is not grounded in or does not involve genuine learning experiences, it can be regarded as inessential, useful merely in creating an attractive learning environment, but not important in the business of the school and superfluous to the education of children. Art, in this scenario, is understandably not valued.

Art in primary school is sometimes simply regarded as decoration, and art lessons are used to create displays. Often teachers plan their art lessons with the intention of covering a display board; neither children’s learning nor their development feature in the planning or preparation. Although it is very important to create a stimulating learning environment that includes prominent display of children’s art, a problem occurs when art is produced solely for display. Not only does learning take a backseat in such a situation, but because the purpose is to decorate the classroom, teachers take ownership of the activity. This can mean that neatness, order, symmetry and uniformity are used as criteria for assessing the suitability of the work for display, representing an adult’s rather than a child’s perspective on the artwork. Tragically, where teachers neither appreciate children’s artistic efforts nor value the learning involved, the end result is often the use of templates or colouring-in activities in the name of art.

A second effect of this misunderstanding is teachers’ lack of confidence in both their own artistic ability and their competence teaching art. ‘I’m no good at art, I can’t teach it’ is an expression that is often heard. If it is accepted that teaching art requires the teacher to have the ‘arty’ ideas, then naturally the teacher will assess his or her own artistic talent and capability to do so. I would strenuously argue that teachers do not need to be technically skilful at art in order to teach the subject effectively in the primary school.

A further manifestation of the failure to acknowledge the value of art in the learning and development of children is found when art is offered as a treat for good behaviour on Friday afternoon, or withheld as punishment for misbehaviour. The implicit message to the children is that art is not important; it is a disposable part of the timetable and it is therefore not really about learning or education. We are saying to children that their artwork is not valued, that art is not a serious activity and that children who show talent or interest in art are not as important as those who excel in other areas of the curriculum. What provision is made for children in our classrooms whose talents, passion and future lie in art?

Art is very often delivered in primary schools as an add-on, where it is simply attached to lessons and used to illustrate learning in other curricular areas. Drawing pictures of characters from literature or making Neolithic houses in history is less concerned with learning in art and more about giving children an enjoyable interlude in a topic being covered elsewhere. Generally speaking, this type of activity in the primary classroom pays only lip service to art education. Art, like all subjects and learning areas of the primary curriculum should first and foremost be about children’s learning and development. The starting point in the planning of any lesson is to identify the learning that the pupils should achieve. Why should planning for art be any different?

It seems that the only way to change these erroneous perceptions of primary art education, which result in many of our children being short-changed by missing out on an intrinsic element of their education, is to identify the fundamental principles of successful art education in the primary school.

The nature of art

In order to gain an understanding of education in art, we must first consider the nature of art itself. It is of course extremely difficult to define art in any emphatic or succinct way, and I do not intend to espouse any new theoretical points of view, but simply accept that art is a ‘multifaceted, complex and contested phenomenon’ (Hickman 2010: 7). Consideration of this may shed light on the discussion of art in education and inform our perspective. Some argue that art and any explanations of it are subjective, while others highlight the ever-changing nature of the discipline and insist that it is the developmental, progressive and even controversial aspects of art that define it. In light of possible ambiguity, and for the purposes of this chapter, it is useful to focus on the way artists work, the processes, procedures and methods they employ throughout their creative journey, from the initial inception of ideas, through to the final realisation of artwork. Artists progress through a series of common stages, whether working on a fine art piece such as a painting, sculpture, installation, video or conceptual piece; or a work of design, in areas such as textiles, fashion, graphics, furniture or architecture. In order to get the most from ideas and to ensure the optimum development after the initial motivation, artists carry out research and gather an array of information; they explore and experiment; they develop their ideas; and they engage in critical reflection and creation. This has major relevance for teaching and learning experiences in primary school art; Hetland et al. draw an interesting and valuable parallel with teaching and learning in mathematics, science, history and linguistics to point out that children should be given the opportunity to ‘think like artists’ (2007: 4).

Accepting this view of the processes of art, what are the implications for art education, and in particular teaching art in the primary school, and what does this mean for the primary school teacher? To answer these questions it is necessary to consider:

• the characteristics of valid artistic learning experiences;

• the role of the teacher in the learning processes of art;

• the part that the child plays in his or her artistic learning and development; and

• the learning context.

Learning in art

How we view the nature of learning in art is fundamental to how we teach the subject. Effective teaching in art and design reflects a situated perspective of learning, where the very nature of the subject is aligned with a socio-cultural view of mind. The artist, including the child artist, is always active or agentive in the creative process and invariably learns from mistakes and from finding solutions to problems and dilemmas that arise naturally as part of the creative process. It seems reasonable to conclude that learning in art therefore is synonymous with engagement in practical activity. Facilitating and enabling progressive learning in art depends on an emphasis being directed on the processes, experiences and opportunities provided for the children. An example of good practice in this area is shown in Figure 1.1. This enables them to explore the visual elements, experiment with materials, tools and processes, and to investigate and respond to sensory experiences of the world around them. Unfortunately, it could be argued that much classroom practice in primary school art and design reflects a product-oriented approach, which features adults directing children through a series of actions to achieve a pre-designed outcome. Furthermore, this results in assessment that focuses on an adult’s perspective on the success of the final product without consideration given to learning processes, the child’s intentions and ideas or his or her reflection and evaluation.

Figure 1.1 Drawing in space: exploring line in three dimensions

(Photo: Paul Conlon)

Conversely, through valuable and valid art experiences, children learn how to look and see, and to understand what they are looking at. Engagement with art teaches about the visual and tactile elements; how to appreciate and use colour, pattern, shape, space, line, tone and texture. In addition to aesthetic awareness and understanding, important skills using materials, tools and processes are developed. Learning in art is also promoted through opportunities to respond to artworks, although Hickman (2010: 57) maintains that recent emphasis on a subject-centred approach to art education has seen this aspect take prominence, to the detriment of actual art making. He argues for a return to a learner-centred approach and a re-focus on art making if there is to be development in acquiring, developing and refining practical studio skills (2010: 144). It is imperative for children’s learning that we have an effective art curriculum that is relevant, contemporary and is not based on outdated notions of art education. Pupils should have access to contemporary art as well as the ‘old masters’. My experience indicates that children respond very positively to conceptual and abstract art; it is often teachers and other adults who are reluctant to engage with it. A contemporary art gallery provides children with a stimulating and challenging context for the development of analytical and critical thinking skills, concept formation and communication and perceptual and aesthetic awareness.

This century is perhaps the most visually stimulating ever. We are constantly absorbing imagery via advertisements, movies, websites, video games, music videos and product packaging; we encounter these in an increasing range of immediate and powerful contexts such as television, personal computers, mobile telephones, cinemas and billboards. Children must develop an understanding and appreciation of their visual experiences. They need to learn how to read, interpret and respond to the abundance of literal, symbolic and abstract imagery, which they encounter as part of everyday life in the ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Contributors
• Introduction
• PART ONE: Overview
• PART TWO: Case Studies
• Appendix
• Glossary
• Index