Fine Art in Higher Education in England

National Art Education Association

Fine Art in Higher Education in EnglandAuthor(s): Brian AllisonSource: Art Education, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan., 1989), pp. 20-24+53-54Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193184 .

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Fine Art in Higher

Education in England

Brian Allison

Fine art studios at Leicester Polytechnic, Fall 1988.

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T he firm place enjoyed by Art Education at all levels is an enduring characteristic of the English education system.

From pre-school, through primary and secondary schools and further education colleges to institutions of higher education, art occupies a recognized, although rarely central, place in the curriculum. At primary and secondary education levels, art is increasingly being linked with design as part of a broad, general and holistic concept of art and design' but, nevertheless, importance continues to be attached to the particular contribution which art is perceived to make to the general educational development of individual pupils and students and, consequently, to the well-being of society. Legislation currently being proposed by the British government includes art as part of the foundation curriculum for all children up to the age of sixteen years. At the further education level, art is offered alongside a wide range of design-related vocational courses, as an element in other vocational courses or as continued general education.

Higher education in art and design is provided in four main areas - Fine Art, Graphic Design, Textiles/Fashion, and Three Dimensional Design. Each area includes a range of related subject specializations with greater or lesser degrees of vocational or professional applications. Some of the main subjects,

such as, for example, Footwear Design or Ceramics, have strong industrial links, and, increasingly, graduates from these courses take up direct employment in industry either in the United Kingdom or abroad. Fine Art, however, has a rather different configuration to the other fields of study in higher education.

Traditionally, Fine Art has been considered by many to be the core of all art and design studies and, partly because it is relatively free from the constraints of economic and industrial applications, has been seen as a source of imagination and creativity which nurtures and feeds the other disciplines. In reality, Fine Art in many colleges has tended to have little direct contact with, or make significant contributions to, the teaching of other design courses, although, in a number of colleges, it is customary for the Fine Art departments to provide drawing courses for students from all art and design disciplines. However, for the most part, it is the very presence of a Fine Art department and the ethos which Fine Art projects that has been considered to exert the most valuable influence on the other disciplines.

At earlier stages, particularly at late secondary and further education, it is increasingly becoming a national requirement for the aims and objectives for art to be clearly specified and for the curricular justifications to be related to observable outcomes. In some contrast, although each degree level Fine Art course is required to be supported by a stated rationale as a condition of approval, the arguments put forward to justify Fine Art in higher education are extremely diverse and, overall, tend to lack coherence and consistency. In some ways this may be considered to be a strength rather than a weakness, and it

may be the case, which is argued by some, that Fine Art does not need justifying as its worth to society is self- evident. At a time when the country is increasingly steered by monetarist policies, the system continues to cherish Fine Art - even the most philistine monetarist would be cautious about making any proposal to withdraw support for Fine Art! Nevertheless, there is increasing pressure from a number of quarters to broaden the base of studies in Fine Art and, particularly, to identify what can be described as 'transferable skills'.

Fine Art continues to be based principally in Painting and Sculpture but extends into printmaking, media studies, film and television and, increasingly, into computing. It is interesting to note that the potential of computers for image generation was being explored in Fine Art departments long before the design departments and, indeed, before many science and technology departments.

Fine Art is essentially concerned with the production of images, and a primary function of Fine Art departments is to provide opportunities for students to develop their image- making potentials. Although no two

Art Education/January 1989 21



courses are identical, an overall characteristic of Fine Art courses in the last fifteen years has been the almost singular emphasis on the student's individual artistic development, which has been seen as best being achieved through the acquisition of a personal style or idiom of expression. That these 'personal styles' can be identified as variants of the work of prominent contemporary artists is neither sur- prising nor regrettable. There is, almost inevitably, a remarkable predictability in the kinds of images created by students, but it would be to trivialize the seriousness of the intent if their work was considered to be only an effect of the pendulum of fashion. The current return to figurative representation evident in the work of some contemporary artists, for example, is reflected very strongly in many students' work, but this has also been an outcome of the strong emphasis on drawing which characterises many Fine Art courses at the present time. In many ways, the students' work also reflects the influence of the teaching staff, particularly the part-time staff who, as they spend part of their time working as artists and the remainder as teachers, represent a realistic model on which many students base their aspirations.

Fine Art is considered, by many staff teaching in Fine Art departments, to be a 'process' within which the student comes to recognise and realize a personal view which finds its expression through a particular visual medium. The acquisition of particular skills and particular knowledge is essentially in relation to the needs and aspirations of the individual student and it follows that, within this conception, there can be no common or agreed range of skills or body of knowledge that, a priori, is essential to all students'

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Students whose work was included in the "Germinations 4" exhibition - an exhibit of work by students from England, France, Germany, and Holland, shown earlier this year in each of the countries.

Art Education/January 1989 23

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FINE ART EDUCATION IN ENGLAND: FIRST DEGREE COURSES APPLICATIONS AND ACCEPTANCES 1983-86

(Source: Art and Design Admissions Registry)

1983 1984 1985

Applications: Total Art & Design* 12045 12781 13412 13149

Fine Art 3475 3534 3569 3634 % of total (29%) (28%) (27%) (28%)

Acceptances: Total Art & Design* 5724 5440 5639 5840

Fine Art 1910 1727 1851 1805 % of total (33%) (32%) (33%) (31%)

* Fine Art; Graphic Design; Textiles/Fashion; 3D-Design.

understanding and development. Crucial to the process of individual development in Fine Art is the interaction between the students and the teaching staff on a personal level through critical discourse about the students' work, which can be roughly described as a 'process-feedback' form of evaluation. Because of the focus on individual development, ostensibly independent of an agreed body of knowledge, the pattern of undergraduate courses in Fine Art is more like what would be expected of postgraduate courses in other disciplines. The small number of postgraduate courses in Fine Art in the country are, for the most part, contin- uations of undergraduate study both in

form and concept except, of course, that there is an expectation of a higher level of sophistication of image and execu- tion. The philosophical basis for the Fine Art 'process', which provides the model for both undergraduate and postgraduate student learning, is pre- eminently western-European, and one of the consequences is that it tends to diminish the possibility of access by students who have their origins in non- European cultures and who wish to

retain their cultures as vehicles for their artistic development. This is a very problematic issue, particularly because the United Kingdom is a multiracial society, which is currently receiving some considerable attention at a national level.

Although the focus in Fine Art is essentially on practical work, theoretical studies are a required part of all undergraduate Fine Art courses, and, although these studies tend to be largely concerned with the history of art, opportunities are provided for students to pursue related topics of personal interest. As well as providing a vehicle for the acquisition of enquiry methods, these studies are designed to encourage oral and written articulation and fluency. In some colleges, lecture courses are offered to extend the students' knowledge and understanding of such fields as perception, colour theory, and artistic development. Latterly there has been an increased interest in introducing the students to some of the exigencies of professional practice with particular reference to such matters as organizing exhibitions, sources of funding, and contributing to community arts projects.

Given the particular orientation and character of the English Fine Art degree course, the selection of students is a matter of critical importance. A large proportion of applicants undertake a one-year 'Foundation' or vocational art course prior to degree studies which, apart from extending their art experience, acts as a diagnostic measure

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Continuedfrom p. 24

to identify particular individual interests and aptitudes. These courses often act as a'bridge' between art practices in general education and the approach to studio work in higher education. Ap- plicants are expected to have achieved a basic level of general education and to have demonstrated some artistic com- petence and ability, but a primary emphasis is placed on the applicant's at- titude and commitment as well as latent energy and artistic potential. In general, selection is based on an intensive inter- view in which the applicant is expected to exhibit and talk about his or her art work. Typically, there are about twice as many applicants as there are places available on Fine Art courses.

Except for a small number of places on Fine Art courses in eight universities, higher education in art and design is provided entirely within what is defined as the 'maintained sector', by which is meant institutions administered by local education authorities. These institutions, which include polytechnics, colleges of higher education, and art colleges, offer a total of thirty-eight first degree courses in Fine Art. Under new legislation currently being proposed, many of these 'maintained sector' institutions will be taken out of local authority control and be given a high degree of autonomy, similar to that of universities, with direct funding from central government. Despite cutbacks in the education system as a whole and a decline in the birthrate which is now affecting all entries to higher education, the number of applicants to Fine Art courses in the maintained sector, and the number of places available has remained fairly constant in recent years, as shown in the Table. Places on Fine Art courses constitute about one third of all places available in higher education for art and design undergraduate courses.

The large majority of students accepted onto degree courses in England receive a grant to cover their fees, maintenance, and general living costs, travel, books, and materials. The amount of the grant varies depending upon parental income, but the maximum grant awarded is about ?2,000 per year. Most students find the grant barely adequate, but Fine Art students often have particular finan- cial difficulties. Because of the almost singular concentration in Fine Art on practical work, which typically culminates for degree assessment in an exhibition which is open to the public, the costs of materials to the student are often extremely high. It would not be unusual, for example, for the costs of a student's 'degree show' alone to amount to well over ?300. Fine Art students often have to raise money to supple- ment their grants by such means as tak- ing on part-time employment, getting extra funds from parents, or raising loans from banks.

Few students completing a degree course in Fine Art become self- supporting as professional artists, and, indeed, that so few do is a matter of frequent debate. It is argued that it is unrealistic to expect that society could or would want to sustain the number of artists completing degree courses. However, research has shown that, on the one hand, a substantial proportion of the artists who eventually achieve prominence are Fine Art graduates and, on the other, that a Fine Art training equips students to contribute to a wide

variety of professional concerns. A small number of graduates each year are accepted onto postgraduate courses in Fine Art which are offered by three maintained sector institutions and four universities, including the Royal College of Art. Another small number of graduates are accepted onto other postgraduate courses in art and design.

Up to about a decade ago, almost sixty per cent of Fine Art graduates entered the teaching profession after completing a one-year, Postgraduate Certificate in Education course in one of the small number of national centres for specialist art and design teacher training. Since that time, the proportion of graduates who pursue a teaching career has diminished considerably, partly because of reductions in the number of places available on the courses due to falling rolls in schools, which is a further outcome of the decline in the birthrate, and partly because, for some, continuing difficulties in schools have made teaching a less attractive career. Nevertheless, Fine Art students continue to constitute almost half of the 450 or so entrants to the twelve postgraduate art and design specialist teacher training courses each year. Very many of them have the flexibility to build upon their undergraduate experiences in Fine Art and extend their skills and understanding across a range of art and design disciplines, including design technology. As specialist teachers of art and design they subsequently take up appointments in a wide variety of schools and colleges, some of them in overseas countries. However, a small number of Fine Art

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graduates each year enter directly into some form of teaching, such as in Further Education colleges, for which a teaching qualification is not required, or in community arts or adult education projects.

Although teaching is the single most common career outlet for Fine Art graduates, there is a marked increase in the variety of professional pursuits for which a Fine Art education appears to be a desirable and valuable preparation. Many of these are in art-related fields such as photography, film, and television, as well as in the theatre and in art galleries or museums, whereas others are in a wide range of industrial and commercial fields including management and computing. Whatever their career directions, however, a high proportion of graduates continue their own artistic activities and exhibit their work regularly. Despite the argument noted earlier about Fine Art education and its questioned relevance to professional directions, it is of more than a little significance to note that a substantial number of Fine Art graduates, either immediately on graduation or subsequently, pursue careers which contribute directly and substantially to the wealth-producing sectors of the economy. In the current climate of world affairs, it is evident that there is a considerable importance to present and future roles which Fine Art education is able to play. D]

Brian Allison is Emeritus Professor of Education, Leicester Polytechnic, United Kingdom.

This paper was orginally prepared in connection with the exhibition GERMINATIONS 4 Biennale of Colleges of Art, 1987/88 Marseille, Breda, London, Bonn.




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