I don’t often talk about my “Other Life” on my blog… my teaching life that is. I teach art to ks2 in a primary school, but I also teach art to training primary teachers. It’s great teaching both ends of the art-in-school spectrum. Each informs the other.
But adults don’t half come with some baggage about art and teaching art.
Over the past couple of years I’ve heard the same phrases over and over again:
“I can’t draw”
“Well you’ve either got it or you haven’t”
“It’s a gift”
“I don’t know why we’re doing this, you can’t teach drawing”
“I’m not in the least bit creative”
“I can’t see the point in ME doing ANY of this”
“I’ve got an essay I could be writing”
“I’m not using charcoal it’s filthy”
“The school I’m in, they don’t allow painting in the classrooms” (They had a bit of space in a corridor, where a classroom assistant was allowed to take 4 children at a time, once a week, but only the “Good” children)
And overheard as they went out of the door “I’m not coming next week if we’re doing clay”
And these are people who in a couple of years time WILL be expected to teach art in some way or another.
I only get 3 sessions with them. It’s hard to start undoing all that negativity in 7 hours.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some people in these groups who love art, and will be great in the classroom. And most of them will be perfectly fine with a bit of experience under their belts.
But what has our art education system done to these people when they were children?
