The Art and Craft of Pedagogy: Portraits of Effective Teachers

Description

Richard Hickman considers effective teaching across the curriculum, examining the notion that successful teachers of art and design are amongst the best teachers of any subject with much to offer outside their discipline in terms of pedagogy. The case study approach focuses on adolescent learning, although much of what is considered is applicable to all ages and phases of education, to consider the following questions: What are the characteristics of successful art teaching? How do individual life experiences inform art teachers' teaching? How in turn might others benefit from their pedagogical practices? Using self-portraiture, autoethnography and autobiography, Hickman draws together the varied experiences of a group of art teachers to explore a range of issues, including identity, learning environment and the nature of the teacher/learner relationship, which are discussed with clarity and imagination.

Richard Hickman is Reader in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK, and a Fellow of Homerton College.

A book that can be used in so many ways. It is honest, open and amusing and every educator could relate to at least one part of these teachers' educational experience. The lives exposed are as visual as any canvas could portray and it provides the voice art teachers have needed for years. -- Ian Brown, Senior Associate Dean, University of Wollongong NSW Australia, and Art Education Australia Executive A fascinating investigation of teaching artistry, the subject of education is presented in a lucid manner that is poignant and revealing. Hickman contextualizes his study with a deep analysis that we have come to expect from the distinguished scholar and reveals the aesthetic and intellectual crossroads of teachers that are engaging, encouraging, and ripe for further discussion. -- G. James Daichendt, Professor of Art, Azusa Pacific University, California, USA, and Principal Editor of Visual Inquiry: Learning and Teaching Art The Art and Craft of Pedagogy confirms the intrinsic pedagogical character of art practice. By bringing together the stories of an array of art practitioners working within different settings and environments, Richard Hickman helps his readers to better understand the relationship between art and teaching. In so doing he also dispels the mechanistic fallacy of "art as an instrument of education" where artists are expected to remain accountable to a schooled establishment that reduces art education into a functionalist machine. -- John Baldacchino, Associate Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University, USA Hickman states clearly that practical imaginative activity is not confined to the subject area of art, asserting that all areas of study could be enhanced through adopting some of the practices that are commonly associated with that subject. The author writes with verve and lucidity, guiding the reader, apparently effortlessly, through some quite difficult concepts...[The narratives] offer valuable material for the reader to reflect upon, giving remarkable insights into the lives of creative people and the possible effects that life experiences have on their pedagogical approaches... Of particular value is his consideration of the nature of wisdom in a practical studio-based context; using the term "practical sagacity" he refers to teachers who 'through their practice and through their practical engagement with various materials and media', use their own wisdom to facilitate wisdom amongst their learners... a very useful addition to the field, providing some original material put together in an enlightened, readable and informed way. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in exploring the contours of teacher wisdom through the eyes of those who live it. -- Allan David Walker, Joseph Lau Chair Professor of International Educational Leadership and Head of the Department of Education Policy and Leadership, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong