Countering dull pedagogies: the power of teachers and artists working together

Abstract

Neoliberal education policies, with their press for audit friendly checkpoints, produce dull pedagogies. In schools, the monotony of three-part lessons, shallow knowledges and multiple-choice testing produces underachievement and undermines the quality of teaching and learning. We describe the ways in which artists can work with teachers to resist the default practice of dullness. We focus in particular on the ontological, epistemological, ethical and redistributive underpinnings of arts-based pedagogies, arguing that it is these, rather than any particular techniques, that counter the underwhelming and inequitable effects of bland, rule-driven schooling.