Continuing the Journey—the Artist‐Teacher MA as a Catalyst for Critical Reflection

Abstract

This article discusses the personal experience of reading an Artist-Teacher MA, both as a way of engaging with a course of study aimed specifically at art teachers and also as an attempt to explore and possibly reconcile the pedagogic issues related to the area of critical and contextual studies that had arisen within my own practice. Critical and contextual studies has grown to become an essential component of art education in schools, yet there would appear to be limited pedagogic approaches amongst art teachers or enthusiasm for alternative curriculum models other than those inferred from exemplar material provided by examination boards for assessment purposes. As a consequence of engaging with the Artist-Teacher MA, I confronted my pedagogic practice and reconsidered my personal position within the continuum of the role of teacher and that of artist. In turn this has led me to consider the notion of the pupil-artist and and to question the implications of this for my continuing classroom practice.