Proposal for an article to be published in the International Journal of Art and Design Education
ABSTRACT
Why do Scottish teachers believe the curriculum allows little time for students' individual
creativity? Why is there a greater need for art in Scotland compared to England?
How have these differing curricula affected school and teachers' interpretations of art?
These questions formed the basis of research conducted in a comparative study of selected
Scottish and English Secondary Schools' Heads of Art, with responses by questionnaire.
This article explores the differences between the two curricula's control and shaping of art
by the guidelines it proposes art teachers follow. The article is structured into
sections. Initially, it analyses the questionnaires returned. It then assesses,
through a discussion of some of the respondents' comments, how art is hindered by art
and design governing policies. Finally, it compares how the respective curricula of
England and Scotland work hand-in-hand with teachers' interpretations thereof to restrict
creativity in art education.
PROPOSAL
The International Journal of Art and Design Education ("IJADE"), published by Blackwell
Publishing Ltd, Oxford, is tailored for research findings in art education. IJADE is a
periodical, usually available quarterly, interested in disseminating current research
about developments in education at all levels. It is a scholarly inquiry associated with
the NSEAD
1.
through which professors, researchers or experts report their research to their
peer community. IJADE is not intended for the general public's interests, as is suggested
by its academic approach in content and purpose.
IJADE specifies its area of interests as a debate of "social and cultural values which inform art and design education,
analyse and exemplify specific art, craft and design practices in all sectors of education, and critically engage with
the past, present and future of art and design education." 2.
It is interested in publications to create a forum of art and design educational research findings and circulates
the results for its audience. It looks at a broad scope of research that might have an impact on the perception of
art education from drawing, ICT, assessment and photography to the diversity of social implications. For example,
the editorial calls for papers of how "Lesbian and Gay factors affect art and design education." 3
A submission on the differences between how English and Scottish art teachers value their subject would benefit from
IJADE's practise of drawing attention to areas that have little coverage.
The journal publishes in-depth articles, indicated by the required word count for submission. The "Notes for
Contributors ", for instance, state "the text should be between 2000 and 5000 words,
but preferably c.3500 words."
4
This demonstrates IJADE is adaptable for the module requirements of 3000-4000 words. The articles appear to be
an ongoing dialogue across the journal's publications. For instance, Mary Ann Stankiewicz critique 5
includes references to articles previously published in
IJADE, so her work participates in this reader/author dialogue.
The contribution is timely in
relation to past articles as she refers to past manuscripts of "Teaching Visual
Literacy - some reflections on the term " 6
and " Visual Literacy and the Art Curriculum " 7
, and adds new ideas in her article to continue this dialogue.
Interviews are used as other submissions where
the entire conversation is reported, as in Mariam Sharp's " Gallery Education " 8 .
The journal also accepts extracts of interviews as in Coutts and Dougall's article 9
in the form of selected quotes.
The journal also publishes book reviews.
For instance, Roy Osborne's " Colour in influencing form " 10
is reviewed by a research fellow, Tony Howe.
The review is a brief critical evaluation of this current book on
the market. As with the articles, the book reviews are purposely picked for their educational niche.
The choice of books embodies IJADE's intentions to provide an arena for educationists, and the clear format of the
descriptions is of interest to the audience. This is exemplified by Howe's suggestion that "the book includes all the
basic information needed to support an art school colour theory module", 11
thus establishing what the book is and the sort
of audience it will appeal to. By way of further example,
the review " Critical studies in Art and Design Education " 12
attaches itself to the teaching profession just by its title.
The editorial has a similar approach in describing and introducing the content of the journal. The editorial outlines
the information discussed in the journal concerning art and design education. It addresses the articles'
procedure, practical understanding and researchers' reflection by their impact on art education.
The assertion that IJADE "reflects a wide range of theoretical and practical approaches" 13
is supported by contributors referring to the likes of Foucault 14
and Lyotard 15 . It is a journal dedicated to an audience consisting of teachers,
lecturers, local authorities and
art practitioners who could eventually be interested in reading research on the range
of topics IJADE publishes. Contributions from the likes of Teresa Torres 16
and Dick Downing 17 are demonstrative of this range. Whilst both are academics
and focus on education in specific fields,
Torres focuses on the narrow topic of how
"museum and gallery learning" 18 relates to the experience of art education, whereas Downing
is less specific as he effectively asks the general question "what is art?" 19
IJADE is one of the few publications where specific research can be published, as illustrated with the research
for Coutts and Dougall's report being conducted only in Scotland 20 . This suggests that IJADE is
a potential outlet for my article. In addition, it has an international readership, shown by research contributions
from Portugal 21 , Turkey 22 , Scotland 23 and
Uganda 24 .
IJADE is intended for a professional audience. Inevitably, this affects the nature of the texts submitted, with the
writing style being for an informed audience such as lecturers and institutes of research. The manuscript styles
all have a specific focus, enabling the author to write in-depth
about the target topic. IJADE's reference and
style sheet 25 provides factors with which contributors must comply when submitting work.
According to Stankiewicz, work representing the writing styles of contributors like herself have "generally been
accepted with minimal revisions. Thus, I assume that my writing style is appropriate for the journal, with the
exception perhaps of my American spelling." 26 Nick Stanley commented his style is
"clear and simple" and he "always tries to write with secondary art teachers and PGCE students
in mind." 27 Again, these comments characterise not only the journal's preferred style
but perhaps the average author who regularly writes for IJADE.
All writers have their own style and approach to the task of writing. Even so, there are conventions that must be
observed, from the substance of the manuscript to the organisation and to the basic style rule. The articles all follow
the same structural rules as they all state the topic of the manuscript and the questions they will address.
They all contain a report of the methods used and align these with their abstract. For example, enough detail is given
for the reader to replicate the study, as shown in Coutts and Dougall's "research method." 28
Articles describe their results as
succinctly as possible and support the conclusions stated in the abstract.
The results flow logically in their layout and the most important results are comprehensible.
The writing style employed is a source for high quality references and is not, for example, journalistic
like Artnews 29 . There is no selecting of odd sentences in IJADE and generally little
advertising, graphics or glossy, catchy phrases. The writing style in IJADE is formal and factual,
for instance, "all the teachers were in permanent, full time posts in schools with between
1,000 and 1,800 pupils" 30 , rather than conversational. Illustrations are generally printed in
black and white and conform to the specified guidelines 31 . This is demonstrated by its
methodological layout by subheadings of Abstract, Introduction, Results, Conclusions and Bibliography.
The journal uses the listing devices of bullets points and numbering. Keith Walker asserted this is an accepted method
of writing up research findings as it "reflects established codes and conventions associated with
case study practice." 32 By using these clear methods, the results are far more accessible.
Walker's intention was to draw extensively on trainee teachers' responses, so the writing
style "had to be accessible." 33 This shows IJADE's writing style is appropriate to my
research as I need to draw from teachers' responses.
However, the style guide provided by IJADE does not refer to the writer's voice but generally
dictates the use of language and grammar. The journal's guidelines provide House style 34 as the
preferred style, and this would be familiar to the contributors as it is principally used by academia
and publishers. Coutts and Dougall's article follows the basic style rules by avoiding the
passive voice,
for example "one of the respondents told ushh" rather than "it was said by one of the respondents..." 35
It appears the authors generally only have the Notes for Contributors 36 to refer to
and the author has to contact the editorial board for further queries.
The notes, for instance, do not discuss
how long it typically takes to review an article.
IJADE welcomes material intended to develop the
understanding of art education. The proposed
article reflects IJADE's intentions, approaches and methods as
it aims to promote and defend art
and design education in the UK. By publishing this article, IJADE would address
current concerns
over how Scottish and English teachers' interpretations of educational policies are devaluing art
in schools and restricting students' understanding of the creative world surrounding them.
FOOTNOTES
1 National Society for Education in art and design (www.nsead.org)
2 NSEAD International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) p.110
3 Atkinson, D International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) p.112
4 NSEAD International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) pp.225-256
5 Stankiewicz, M.A, International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 22, No.3 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, October 2003) pp.316-326 'Between Technology
and Literacy'
6 Allen, D International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 13, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 1994) pp.113-143
7 Raney, K International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 18, No.1 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, February 1999) pp.41-47
8 Sharp, M International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 22, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2003) p. 225
9 Couttes, G & Dougall, P International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) pp.143-147 This paper takes the form
of a conversation about gallery education between Carmen Moersch and Mariam Sharp.
10 Book Reviews (Osborne, R) International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) p. 220
11 Book Reviews (Osborne, R) International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) p. 220
12 Book Reviews (Hickman, R) International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.3 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, october 2005) p. 345
13 NSEAD International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) p.110
14 Robins, C NSEAD International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) p. 158 In References
15 Thornton, A International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) p. 174 In References
16 Torres, T International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) pp. 209-219 'Using portfolios for
external assessment: an experiment in Potugal' Maria Teresa Torres Pereira de Eca
17 Downing, D International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.3 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, October 2005) pp. 269-276 'School art- What's
in that?' Undertook a study of the content the art curriculum in secondary schools in England.
18 Torres, T International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) pp. 209-219
19 Downing, D International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.3 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, October 2005) pp. 269-276 'School art- What's
in that?'
20 Couttes, G & Dougall, P International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) pp. 138-149 Drawing in perspective:
Scottish art and design teachers discuss drawing.'
21 Torres, T International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) pp. 209-219
22 Ayse, I International Journal of Art and Design Education , Volume 24, No. 3
(Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford, October 2005) pp. 254-260 'Educating Turkish Primary school teachers in
Visual Arts: the Past and the Future.'
23 Couttes, G & Dougall, P International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) pp. 138-149 Drawing in perspective:
Scottish art and design teachers discuss drawing.'
24 Gombe, C ,U> International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 21, No.1 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, February 2002) pp. 44-51 'Indigenous Pottery as economic empowerment in Uganda'. The paper compares the
income derived from pottery making craftsman with that of Government salaries for graduate teachers.
25 See Appendice 1: Notes for Contributors
Appendix
26 See Appendice 2: Email form Mary Ann Stankiewicz
Appendix
27 See Appendice 3: Email from Nick Stanley, Editorial team member for IJADE
and Director of Research
Appendix
28 Couttes, G & Dougall, P International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) p. 140 Drawing in perspective:
Scottish art and design teachers discuss drawing.'
29 Artnews September 2005 issue, Volume 104, No.8
30 Couttes, G & Dougall, P International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) p. 143 Drawing in perspective:
Scottish art and design teachers discuss drawing.'
31 See Appendice 1: Notes for Contributors
Appendix
32 See Appendice 4: Email from Keith Walker
Appendix
33 See Appendice 4: Email from Keith Walker
Appendix
34 See Appendice 1: Notes for Contributors
Appendix
35 Couttes, G & Dougall, P International Journal of Art and Design Education ,
Volume 24, No.2 (Blackwell publishing LTD, oxford, May 2005) p. 143 Drawing in perspective:
Scottish art and design teachers discuss drawing.'
36 See Appendice 1: Notes for Contributors
Appendix
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX
WEBSITE link:
National society of education for art and design
Who forgot about art? (article)
Naomi Clarke
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