The Value of Art and Design in the National Curriculum by Faith Nelson

The Value of Art and Design in the National Curriculum

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity.â&#x20AC;? (Department for Education, 2013) BA(Hons) Graphic Design Faith Nelson February 2015

Candidate Declaration

This dissertation is submitted to Falmouth University towards the degree of Bachelor of Arts by undergraduate study in Graphic Design. I understand and accept the implications of the notion of plagiarism. I declare that all the material in this dissertation which is not my own work has been clearly identified as such and no material is included for which a degree has been conferred on me. I understand that any breach of the fair practice conventions with regard to the work of others may result in a mark of zero for this dissertation and that it could also involve other repercussions. I also understand that too great a reliance on the work of others may lead to a low mark.

Signature

Faith Nelson 05/02/2015

Contents

Table of Figures ................................................................................................................ 2

Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3

Chapter One: Art & Design History .......................................................................... 5

Chapter Two: Child Psychology and the Arts ....................................................... 10

Chapter Three: Gender Based ................................................................................... 17

Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 24

Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 26

Table of Figures

Figure 1. The number of gcse exam entries between 2003 and 2013. (Cairns, 2013) ................................................................................................................ 8 Figure 2. The total number of art gcse’s attained between 2003 and 2013. (Cairns, 2013) ................................................................................................................ 8 Figure 3. Visual aid to show the zone of proximal development. (Mcleod, 2007) ............................................................................................................12 Figure 4. The drawings of a child to show how visual aids can negatively affect creativity. (Malchiodi, 1998)......................................................................................13 Figure 5. Showing key gender differences within vocational subjects choices within secondary schools. (Golden et al. 2004) .....................................................18 Figure 6. Art and design o-level/gcse time series: attainment by gender. (Dfes, 2007) .................................................................................................................19 Figure 7. The percentage of students obtaining undergraduate degrees in 2011-12. (The Guardian, 2014) ...............................................................................................20 Figure 8. The dinner party. (Chicago, 2015) ..........................................................................................................22

Introduction Creativity surrounds us. Everything has been created. Creativity through art and design subjects should be encouraged at school, as it is this creativity that allows the world to develop. Arts are key for a child’s development and not only evolve their art and design skills, but also life skills that will benefit the child in any path that they choose to take. “Everyone has an interest in education.” (Robinson, 2006) Most people have experienced an educational system and therefore are probably aware that “…every education system on earth has the same hierarchy of subjects… At the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and the bottom are the arts.” (Robinson, 2006) Chapter One of this dissertation will look at the history and the current position of Art and Design in schools today, and the need for Art and Design within the school curriculum. It will also explore how different political groups occasionally challenge the arts for their worth against more academic subjects such as English, Maths and Science. Chapter Two focuses on child psychology and how Art and Design within the school curriculum allows children to think more imaginatively and develop a higher level of creativity. Understanding the benefits of creative thinkers and how these benefits lead to more rounded individuals. Individuals, who can help shape a better society by using their creativity to solve issues such as, develop a higher level of communication within the world. “Education provides a route to liberation from these imposed constraints. Education allows individuals to choose a fulfilling job, to shape the society around them, to enrich their inner life. It allows us to become authors of our own life stories.” (Gove, 2010) This chapter will study child psychologists Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky to gain a theoretical understanding of how children develop, to understand how Art and Design in the curriculum has advanced in recent years.

Chapter Three will look at gender, how masculinity and femininity are culturally constructed within society to create gender roles. It will examine the ratio of males to females who chose to study Art and Design subjects within secondary schools in the UK, analyzing how the arts have been directed more towards females, “…art education has become more feminine.” (Dalton, 2001) This chapter will also study gender separation and how cultural capital, a sociological concept, has affected the choice of many professions which people pursue, exploring how semiotics can influence the career one takes and how certain professions have been feminized. Finally, this chapter will examine successful women in the art world and how some practitioners have used their crafts to highlight feminism and gender inequality.

Chapter One: Art & Design History The Art and Crafts movement in 1880-1910, led by William Morris was “one of the most influential, profound and far reaching design movements of modern times.” (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2014) The movement showed a concern for the effects of industrialization on Art and Design, “They all came into being to meet the needs of industrialism.” (Robinson, 2006) The writings of John Ruskin inspired William Morris “especially the dehumanizing effects of the industrialization.” (BBC) This movement gave many professionals a voice and on ‘Art Education Day’ in September 1901 “…a demand was made for the principle to be accepted that Art should permeate all education ‘from the nursery to the university.’” (Frenkiel, 1983) This is the earliest encounter of Art in education. In 1988, the National Curriculum was introduced to all state schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Before the national curriculum was introduced there was “…no parental choice, no systematic means of monitoring performance, no publication of examination results beyond what schools themselves chose to reveal.” (Wilby, 2013) Therefore when a system was put in place, initially there were furious debates about which subjects were necessary and teachers complained that a “sensible idea had turned into an uncontrollable monster” (RM, 2014) The original curriculum stated that there should be ten subjects taught, English, Maths, Science, Technology, History, Geography, Art, Music, and PE; plus a modern foreign language at secondary schools. In 1993, Sir Ron Dearing was commissioned to overlook the whole curriculum. This was widely accepted by teachers as Dearing started to listen and respond to the overworked and infuriated teachers (RM, 2014) and began to streamline the National Curriculum. Dearing recommended that “the primary curriculum should be slimmed down, and that some element of choice should be restored for secondary school pupils at the age of 14.” (RM, 2014) This enabled students to have more choice over what they chose to study and also reduced the overall pressure for teachers, as they had more time now that students did not have to be taught every subject until the age of 16. In order to give schools time to become

stable Dearing suggested “that the National Curriculum should not be tampered with again until the year 2000.” (RM. 2014) When the New Labour government came into power in 1997, Education was at the top of Tony Blair’s priorities with ‘Education, Education, Education’ as his mantra, “At a good school children gain the basic tools for life and work. But they ought also to learn the joy of life: the exhilaration of music, the excitement of sport, the beauty of art, the magic of science.” (Blair, 2001) He ignored Sir Ron Dearing’s suggestion and altered the school curriculum once again, this time focusing on primary schools. Early in 1998, schools were “instructed to spend an hour a day on literacy teaching and an hour a day on maths.” (RM, 2014) This put enormous pressure on teachers, as they found these new commitments were difficult to fit into the school timetable, this additional time for maths and literacy would be at the expense of ‘less important’ subjects such as the Arts and PE. In 2010, a formation of a Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government, introduced a new Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove. With the new government there was new expectations for education, and The Importance of Teaching: The White Paper 2010 was written which ‘outlines the steps necessary to enact whole-system education reform in England.” (DfEE, 2010) The White Paper is an extensive document that concentrates on eight aspects of education, one section solely dedicated to the Curriculum and Assessment. This section proposes radical change within schools that are beneficial to all; such as ensuring that all children have access to an enriching curriculum, one which encourages children to start reading at a younger age; ensuring that all schools offer students a broad range of subjects up to the age of 16. Despite government claims, there was still bias towards more academic subjects as The White Paper “made one short reference to arts education in all of its 91 pages.” (Steers, 2014) “The government stated its intentions to free schools from the constraints of central direction and to place teachers at the heart of school improvement.” (Steers, 2014) One of the ways in which the new government intended to offer a broad range of subjects to students, was by introducing the English Baccalaureate to all schools.

The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) was one of the improvements The White Paper introduced, to measure the performance levels within schools. EBacc measures students who have gained a C (or higher) at GCSE in five ‘core’ subjects: English, Maths, Science, a Foreign Language and either History or Geography. “Incredibly there was no requirement for the arts to be taught alongside this.” (Wharton, 2013) The EBacc excludes creative subjects, focusing on what the government describes as the more ‘academic’ subjects. A campaign called ‘Bacc for the Future’ protested against the EBacc stating “The Bacc for the Future campaign believes the EBacc and ABacc measure at GCSE and A-Level should either include creative subjects or be removed from the league tables altogether.” (Bacc for the Future, 2014) Many agreed with the ‘Bacc for the Future’ campaign and believed that art and design were being neglected within the schools curriculum, “Many prominent figures in the arts world, including Sir Nicolas Serota, Director of the Tate, and the Conductor Sir Simon Rattle added their criticisms to those from commerce and industry, warning the dangers of art subjects behind excluded from Gove’s new curriculum.” (Steers, 2014) There was a fear of losing creativity in schools and losing the benefits which nurturing that creativity brought to students and in turn society. Cultural Learning Alliance (CLA) is a collective of over 9000 passionate individuals and organizations working across the arts, creative, education and learning sectors. CLA works to ensure that all children and young people have access to culture. Believing that the arts and culture are life-enhancing qualities and are an essential part of our existence (CLA, 2014). In 2013, CLA published a research report on the effects of the EBacc on the creative subjects. The key findings in the report are; “Schools are withdrawing arts subjects as a result of the English Baccalaureate. Schools with a high proportion of children on free school meals are more than twice as likely to withdraw arts subjects than schools with a low proportion (21 per cent versus 8 per cent). GCSE entries in arts subjects have fallen 20 per cent in the last decade, and continue to fall.” (Cairns, 2013) The government failed to predict the effects that the EBacc would have on children from lower socio-economic backgrounds, art subjects have been known to raise the attainment of children from more disadvantaged backgrounds, increasing their employability and their chances of engaging with their communities. “Children from lower

socio-economic backgrounds who take part in arts activities at school are three times more likely to get a degree, twice as likely to volunteer and 20 per cent more likely to vote.” (Cairns, 2013) Figure 1 and 2, (below) show the significant decline in GCSE exam entries in art and design subjects, between 2003 and 2013. A total of -28 per cent total art GCSE’s. Figure 1. The number of GCSE exam entries between 2003 and 2013. (Cairns, 2013)

Figure 2. The total number of art GCSE’s attained between 2003 and 2013. (Cairns, 2013)

Figure 1, shows a general decrease in the number of entries for Art GCSEs. In 2003, the total number of entries for Art GCSEs was 843,520 this dropped significantly in 2013 to 603,800, a total decrease of 28 per cent. The largest reduction is in Design and Technology GCSEs, which dropped by half. This is astonishing as Design and Technology teachers are now in high demand and trainee teachers in this field receive bursaries of a higher amount than that of English trainee teachers. (Department for Education, 2014) In 2006, Sir Ken Robinson discussed in his TED talk, Bring on the Learning Revolution, how his “contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy.” This makes us question whether the Department for Education has started listening to the demands of organizations such as Cultural Learning Alliance and figureheads such as Sir Ken Robinson, or if they have witnessed a negative impact on society with the number of entries of Arts GCSEs reduced?

The history of Art and Design on the school curriculum suggests that the value of creative subjects have always been undervalued and subjects such as Art and Design have never been held to have the same worth as the ‘core’ subjects like Maths and Science. Recently teachers for Design and Technology have being given the same financial incentives whilst training than that of core subject teachers. It could be due to the rise of technology and the need to change with the times, or the education revolution Sir Ken Robinson spoke about. The English Baccalaureate still influences the school curriculum, and has not yet been modified to accommodate the Art and Design subjects. This leaves us to question whether or not creative subjects such as art and design will still feature in the school curriculum in ten years’ time? The following chapter will explore the positive impacts of creative subjects, not only to schoolchildren but also to society.

Chapter Two: Child Psychology and the Arts Creative processes have been around almost as long as human life itself; from prehistoric cave paintings to Medieval Art in the Middle Ages. Sir Ken Robinson in a TED Talks Education broadcast tells us how “Human life is inherently creative.” (Robinson, 2013) and how creative subjects are important within the school curriculum “They’re important because they speak to parts of children’s being which are otherwise untouched.” (Robinson, 2013) The creativity that resides in all humans therefore needs to be nurtured, especially at a young age. Tim Brown, CEO and president of IDEO, spoke at the conference, Serious Play in 2008. Brown discussed the relationship between creative thinking and play and how we should nurture creativity within children, as it can be lost in the school system. “Kids are more engaged with open possibilities.” (Brown, 2008) Brown comments on how children when faced with something new, not only question what the item is, but also what they can do with it. Children are curious and creative. When children “…become adults, they become much more sensitive to the opinions of others, and they lose that freedom and they do start to become embarrassed.” (Brown, 2008) Conditions should be maintained to allow creative abilities to flourish. Judith Rubin comments on how Art is therapeutic and how she believes the following has to be correct for a child to have the best advantage within art and design “…Material, Space, Time, Order, Safety, Respect, Interest, Pleasure, Support.” (Rubin, 1978) Rubin believes a child should have access to a whole range of material, being allowed enough time to become involved in the creative process and to sustain interest. Further to this, Rubin thinks that parents and teachers should be supportive of a child’s interest and of the child’s work, so that the child does not feel restricted in the creative process. Unfortunately, as one grows up, these conditions are slowly lost, “As kids go through the school system it all gets taken away. They lose the stuff that facilitates this sort of playful and building mode of thinking.” (Brown, 2008)

Jean Piaget, an influential Swiss psychologist, believed that “The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done.” (Piaget, 1953) Piaget became influential along with Barbel Inhelder in the late 1950s; “…their theories had an extensive impact on education” (Day, 2011). “Piaget is generally considered to be the founder of modern development psychology.” (Sugarman, 1987) Piaget’s theory is concerned with cognitive development; the ability to process information, reason, remember and relate. Cognitive skills are crucial to successful learning as “…these abilities are necessary for analyzing sounds and images, recalling information, making associations between different pieces of information, and maintaining focus on a given task.” (LearningRx) According to Piaget, children go through four stages of development: the sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operations stage and formal operations stage. The sensorimotor stage takes place from birth to roughly two years of age; during this time the child becomes more aware of their body and starts to use their mouth to explore objects. In the preoperational thinking stage, between two and seven years of age, partial logical thinking begins. “Their thoughts and communications are typically egocentric… Egocentrism refers to the child's inability to see a situation from another person's point of view.” (McLeod, 2010) In the concrete operational stage, the child can demonstrate conservation and their classification skills improve dramatically. Lastly, the formal operational stage from eleven onwards, children start to develop abstract thoughts, can think logically and problem solve. A skill that is valuable within Art and Design education and which should be developed and encouraged within the curriculum. “Piaget’s cognitive development theory urges individuality in the thought process of young artists.” (The Herald, 2014) Piaget accepts that children go through the development process at different rates and he also urges children to be unique in thought, these are two aspects that are key for a successful education in Art and Design. An artist is deemed successful based on their uniqueness and ability to stand out from the masses. Piaget believed that development precedes learning. However, Lev Vygotsky a Soviet psychologist contradicted this and stated that learning precedes

development. “Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting/shaping cognitive development” (McLeod, 2007) whereas, Piaget proclaimed that cognitive development is universal across countries. Vygotsky spoke how the “environment in which children grow up will influence how they think and what they think about.” (McLeod, 2007) Vygotsky’s theory puts more focus on the role in which schools and teachers play on the impact of student learning and cognitive development. Vygotsky encourages group work, as he suggested that learning takes place in the zone of proximal development (ZPD), and learning takes place through the interactions in which students have with their teachers, parents and peers. Figure three, demonstrates where ZPD takes place. Figure 3. Visual aid to show the Zone of Proximal Development. (McLeod, 2007)

Vygotsky’s theories are relevant when teaching creative subjects such as Art and Design, as it emphasizes the importance of collaborative dialogue and group work. “The Vygotskian classroom stresses assisted discovery through teacher-student and student-student interaction.” (Ozer, 2004) Being able to collaborate effectively is a key goal in many educational establishments together with the ability to peer critique well. “Drawing has been undeniably recognized as one of the most important ways that children express themselves and has been repeatedly linked to the expression of personality and emotions.” (Malchiodi, 1998) At a very early age, children begin to scribble and express themselves through art. This early engagement provides a sensory enjoyment. Drawing helps children express themselves in a way language cannot. Children are provided with artistic materials to encourage expression,

however some equipment commonly provided negatively affect creativity rather than support it. The colouring book, an aid most children are provided with, has been proven to limit creativity in a child. Jean Piaget thoroughly discourages this medium; “The use of colouring books, according to the Piaget theory is strongly discouraged as it limits a child’s creativity.” (The Herald, 2014) Figure 4. The drawings of a child to show how visual aids can negatively affect creativity. (Malchiodi, 1998)

Figure four, displays how a colouring book limits creativity within a child. The first drawing is of a bird, drawn by a four-year-old girl, before exposure to a colouring book. The second image is an illustration from a colouring book, the child has had access to at school and the final image is the same four-year-old child’s drawing of a bird after being exposed to the colouring book. The difference between the original drawing and the final drawing is discouraging; the child shows personality and creativity in the original bird drawing. We are opened up to how the child’s mind perceives a bird, but in the final drawing all creativity is lost, the child is only as creative as the colouring book allows. “Straightjacket mentality can only make children like zombies.” (The Herald, 2014) This evidence supports Piaget’s theory on how children are being limited by educational aids and also reinforces how

Piaget’s cognitive development theory may help students studying art and design with a keen eye, imagination and creativity to develop further. “A good art program, helps children to learn to look with eyes open at the world around them, and to do so in a refined way, noting descriptive as well as evaluate differences.” (Rubin, 1978) Art and Design education is prone to negative stereotyping (Mayor, 2013). As a student at an arts university, I have heard art students being labelled as ‘self-indulgent’ and their area of study classed as ‘worthless’; however an Art and Design education can allow a person to develop not only creative abilities but also character. “A good art program helps children to understand concepts related to change, or stability, concepts which relate not only to the arts but to dealing with the physical world in general.” (Rubin, 1978) Communication is continuously changing and art and design heavily focuses on the ability to communicate, therefore a student studying Art and Design has to be able to adapt with change. Adapting to change is an important transferrable skill. As Rubin explains Art and Design “…helps children to think creatively, divergently, to explore alternative solutions to problems, to expand the ability to take risks, to fail, and cope in a flexible way.” (Rubin, 1978) Exploring problems and being able to think in a flexible manner is possibly one of the many reasons why art and design courses attract a high proportion of students with Dyslexia. “It is estimated that between 7 and 15 percent of students on Art and Design courses naturally have dyslexia.” (Bridgen, 2000) Students with dyslexia may struggle with phonological processing, working memory, processing speed and time management. On the positive side, students with specific learning difficulties like Dyslexia are known to be excellent problem solvers and have exceptional visual-spatial skills, which are ideal for more creative courses such as Art and Design. Leonardo DaVinci and Pablo Picasso, two iconic artists are believed to have had dyslexia (Davis Dyslexia Association International, 2014). DaVinci and Picasso are great examples of how dyslexia can be a ‘gift’. Having the ability to think visually different to others and solve problems creatively. DaVinci and Picasso along with the renowned architectural designer, Jørn Utzon, have all created masterpieces that have been universally accepted and admired worldwide for instance the Mona Lisa, Blue Nude and the Sydney Opera House. Admirable

work like this shows us how Art and Design education if nurtured correctly can allow students from different backgrounds to achieve great things for both themselves and for society. A study by the Martin Prosperity Institute (MPI), the world’s leading think-tank, revealed that “Creativity is a driving force in the economy: the study found great correlations between creativity and economic progress, human development, and happiness, among other factors.” (Goldschein, 2011) The study assessed 82 nations for sustainable prosperity according to the combination of underlying economic, social and cultural factors that MPI refer to as the “three T’s of economic growth” – Technology, Talent and Tolerance. Singapore has the highest creative ranking with the United Kingdom ranking 13 out of 82. The United Kingdom is well known for producing great artists and designers with London as one of the top destinations for study and employment. "London has such a rich, multi-cultural design community that it is impossible not to be inspired or influenced wherever you go.” (Stafford, 2014) This rich, multi-cultural design community includes two pioneering Great British designers; Sir James Dyson, a British inventor and founder of the Dyson Company and Sir Jonathan Paul Ive, a British designer and the Senior Vice President of Design at Apple Incorporated. In 1978, Dyson found a flaw in his vacuum cleaner and “…set to work. Five years and 5,127 prototypes later, he had invented the world’s first bagless vacuum cleaner.” (Dyson, 2014) Dyson is now hugely successful and employs over 4,000 people. Dyson also supports the creative work of young engineering designers through the James Dyson Award. “The award is run by the James Dyson Foundation as part of its mission to inspire young people about design engineering, to fulfill their potential and become engineers.” (Dyson, 2014) Sir Jonathan Paul Ive is the designer of many of the Apple products, “Since 1996, he has been responsible for leading a design team widely regarded as one of the world’s best.” (Apple, 2014) Ive an influential character in the design world has recently stated how he believes “Design education is ‘tragic’.” (deZeen, 2014) Ive comments on how students can spend their whole education on the computer studying three-dimensional objects and not make one, suggesting that students are now too dependent on computers (Iconeye, 2014).

Designers like Dyson and Ive, should inspire educational establishments to encourage art and design in schools. “Creativity underpins all… Our future progress and prosperity depends not just on the efforts of a privileged knowledge elite but on how well we can unleash the creativity of each and every human being.” (MPI, 2011) This chapter has shown how Art and Design in education benefits a wide range of people for instance; the development of a child with learning difficulties to achieve personal fulfillment and economic progress through a creative education. “The future designers and planners who share the tasks of creating environments that humanize and enhance our lives are students in our schools at this very moment.” (Day, 2011) Throughout this chapter inspirational artists and designers have been discussed, in each case the practitioner was male. The following chapter will look at the ratio of males to females studying art and design in education and how the arts seem to be aimed more towards women.

Chapter Three: Gender Based Sex refers to the biological attributes that define men and women whereas, gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours and attributes that society considers appropriate for men and women. “Masculinity and femininity are subjective.” (Frosh, 1994) Masculinity and femininity are stereotypical gender roles determined by society and biologically created factors, they also are terms used to categorize items “Ways of seeing and speaking about what we see,” (Frosh, 1994) “Masculine versus feminine. Hard-soft, tight-loose, rigid-pliable, dry-fluid, objective-subjective.” (Frosh, 1994) Anything can be assigned a gender, regardless of the biological differences. In society, babies are automatically associated with certain colours regarding their gender; pink for a girl, blue for a boy. Society creates social norms for genders from birth, with the colour pink symbolizing romance and tenderness and blue suggesting unity, stability and confidence. “The reason for this is because society has made colors become a symbol to distinguish boys from girls.” (Flores, 2012) As children start to grow up, they begin to imitate people of the same gender “girls should act like their mommy and boys should act like their daddy.” (Flores, 2012) This behavior leads to stereotypes and gender inequality. There is a difference in hierarchy between femininity and masculinity, as masculinity is regarded with more power. “The law is imagined as masculine whilst gossip is feminine in character; intellect is usually agreed to be masculine while intuition is feminine.” (Dalton, 2001) Subjects of higher worth and value are usually seen to be masculine such as law and business while more nurturing subjects for example nursing and midwifery are regarded as feminine. “What is masculine at one time can be feminine at another.” (Dalton, 2001) Stereotypes are not fixed; a person may label himself male, but instead of showing typical masculine traits, he may show feminine characteristics such as being warm, expressive and submissive a mixture of the two genders. Art and design has been gendered as feminine, “Creative work itself continues to be gendered as feminine.” (Dalton, 2001) Art allows expression, freedom of thought and creativity that are all seen as female attributes. “The role of the art teacher is that of a feminized service worker.” (Dalton, 2001) The teaching role along with the subject has also been gendered as the service usually involves ‘the

whole self’ as well as maternal and nurturing qualities that usually a feminine character is believed to possess. The Arts have been socially constructed as a feminine area, which makes us question whether males are discouraged to study these subjects, as they may feel less manlike in comparison to his peers who take a more masculine subject such as physical education and history. “Girls seem to succeed in art: they choose it as an option more often than boys, girls outshine boys in art examinations and there is no shortage of girls going on to higher education in the arts.” (Dalton, 2001) In a report published by the Department for Education and Skills, the favourite subjects for both boys and girls at secondary schools were explored; the results found that boys tend to choose subjects such as Science and Physical Education whereas girls chose English and Art. This shows a gender division within subject areas at secondary school. “Taking the 10 most popular GCSE choices, 9 out of 10 subjects are chosen by both boys and girls. Nonetheless, many subjects show gender stereotypical biases with girls more likely to take arts, languages and humanities and boys more likely to take Geography, Physical Education and IT.” (Dfes, 2007) Figure 5. Showing key gender differences within vocational subjects choices within secondary schools. (Golden et al. 2004)

The Increased Flexibilities Programme was introduced in 2002, aiming to “create enhanced vocational and work-related learning opportunities for 14–16 year olds

who can benefit most.” (Golden et al. 2004) As figure five shows some professions are dominated by one gender. The vast majority of students studying hair and beauty, care and childcare and animal care were female whereas the Construction, Engineering and Motor and Manufacturing were all male dominated areas. With the arts being 58 per cent female to 42 per cent male, this shows a slight gender gap. Figure 6. Art and Design O-level/GCSE Time Series: Attainment by Gender. (Dfes, 2007)

Figure six, shows more specifically the gender gap within Art and Design at secondary schools. Throughout the years there has been a slight gap between boys and girls attaining an A*-C in Art and Design. However, since 1994 the gap has been increasing and in 2006 there was almost a 20 per cent difference in the number of girls gaining an Art and Design GCSE compared to boys. The gender gap sadly continues through college and university. A report by the Department for Education and Skills explains, “Gender differences in subject choice are greater at A-Level than at GCSE. Girls’ most popular subject is English, while boys’ is Maths. Psychology, Art and Design, Sociology and Media/Film/Television Studies are amongst the 10 most popular choices for girls (but not boys), while Physics, Business Studies, Geography and Physical Education are in the top 10 for boys.” (Dfes, 2007) From experience, an issue at A-Level is the expectation to narrow career prospects, with subjects such as science often being taught at the same time as the more creative subjects. Therefore, students with a passion for both subjects

are left to decide which subjects to continue with and which to drop, consequently affecting which degree students go on to study at university. Figure seven, displays the percentage of students obtaining undergraduate degrees in 2011-12. For creative arts and design only 38.3 per cent of students were male and the rest female, with subjects allied to medicine having the fewest males. Engineering and technology was the subject most undertaken by men with only 14.3 per cent of students being female and the other 85.7 per cent male. Figure 7. The percentage of students obtaining undergraduate degrees in 2011-12. (The Guardian, 2014)

“Whilst boys were readied for the public world of manual work, a family wage, and work in modern technology and production, girls were learning their crafts in a very different ideological contexts. There was the unproblematic assumption that girls craft skills were for eventual use in a non-productive, domestic context.” (Dalton, 2001) The gender gap within creative subjects is argued to be due to the socially constructed ideas that females are “Educated to be wives or mothers.” (Dalton, 2001) Whereas, men are generally seen as the provider in a household and therefore should study subjects with higher financial opportunities. “Design and Technology (D&T) options seem stereotypically dichotomous with boys much more likely to take D&T in Resistant Materials, Graphic Products, Systems and Control and Electronic Products. Girls are much more likely to take Textiles Technology and Food Technology.” (Dfes, 2007) Resistant materials and

Electronics are identified as a labouring profession, this manual job is gendered male and therefore boys at secondary schools may be more influenced to take the subject as they believe this is the kind of work they should go in to. Whereas, girls are influenced to take textiles and food technology, as the stereotypical woman would cook for a family and be able to repair garments. Another influencing factor on which subject a student should take is the sociological concept Cultural Capital first articulated by Pierre Bourdieu in 1973. Cultural capital is the ideas and knowledge that people draw upon as they participate in social life. This can be everything from rules of etiquette to being able to write and speak effectively. “Cultural capital exists in three forms: the embodied state, the objectified state, and the institutionalized state.” (Dumais, 2005) The institutionalized cultural capital refers to educational credentials, such as degrees from prestigious universities. This allows us to question whether law degrees at Oxford University hold more value culturally, than an arts degree at Falmouth University, and are students discouraged to study creative courses because art and design has the notion of “…leisure and self-fulfilment?” (Dalton, 2001) Cultural capital tends to affect men rather than women, “Jacobs (1996) noted that much of the mainstream research in the sociology of education tends to ignore women.” (Dumais, 2002) Therefore, as men strive for high achieving professions to achieve cultural capital and high social status, women are left with the lower professions and in turn lower social status. “Adult working class women of all races and cultures in England are concentrated in low paid, low status, feminized jobs: in textile environments, light crafts, services, entertainment, cleaning, leisure, fashion and caring industries, as well as in domestic and consumer work in the home.” (Dalton, 2001) This shows how the influencing factors within early education and socially constructed gender affects the career path in which females take and how much they earn. “Jacobs (1996) showed that at every level of education, women earn less than men; for example, when both women and men have four year of college women earn .71 of what men earn.” (Dumais, 2002) Inequality between genders not only within employment and education but also in society has resulted in feminism and feminist movements to try and gain gender equality and improve women’s rights.

Feminism consists of ideas and beliefs that both men and women should have equal rights and value regardless of socially constructed gender roles which society has created. A feminist would believe that art and design is just as important for a male as it is for a female. “In feminism there have been no leaders, no corporate bodies, no ‘system’ or ‘structure’, no ‘rules’ dominating centralized corporate bodies.” (Dalton, 2001) Female artists like Judy Chicago and Tracey Emin have used their creative abilities to express feministic views in the art world. Judy Chicago is an American artist and writer, Chicago established feminist art and art education through a unique program for women in California. “I was raised in a family that believed in equal rights for women, which was very unusual for that time. The bad news was they never bothered to tell me that not everyone else believed in that, too.” (Chicago, 2011) Chicago’s most memorable and pioneering piece of work is The Dinner Party (figure eight), “…a provocatively feminist work which celebrates the lives and work of 1,038 notable women.” (Cooke, 2012) Figure 8. The Dinner Party. (Chicago, 2015)

The Dinner Party took five years to complete with the help of numerous volunteers, combining feminized crafts such as needlework with masculine trades like welding to create a very controversial, arresting piece. A similar collaboration group, Guerrilla Girls, an anonymous group of feminist, female artists dedicated to fighting sexism within the art world. Guerrilla Girls are hugely successful in their

protests, “Their early success was visible in New York Magazine, which in 1987 listed them as one of the four powers-that-be in the art world.” (Lustig, 2002) Organising protests, creating posters and billboards in the hope to encourage communities to help bridge the gender gap within the art world. Guerrilla Girls achievement is thought to be due to “Use of existing systems and visual conventions of advertising.” (Dalton, 2001) Attracting a large audience with their use of comical graphics and thought-provoking facts such as; “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? Less than 5 per cent of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 85 per cent of the nudes are female.” It is the case, that although more girls attend art lessons and achieve higher grades in art education than boys, the art world has more pioneering males than females. Feminism challenges society to notice how sex and gender are different, and how gender constructed roles are having a negative impact on society, restricting both genders from achieving their full potential. Feminism not only allows women to be proud of their achievements and enter professions deemed masculine, it also allows men to display their more nurturing qualities and not be stigmatised for engaging with the more feminised roles.

Conclusion Chapter one discussed the position of Art and Design within the school curriculum, examining data to show how art and design participation has decreased in schools. There is more focus on academic subjects such as English, Maths and Science; this has been due to constant government changes, the result has been that the time dedicated to the creative subjects has decreased. I believe the school curriculum should give an equal amount of time to subjects such as humanities, physical education and art. To allow a child to develop without the influence of the government on society to what a child should or should not study. Child psychology and the role of Art and Design to support a child to develop was explored in Chapter two, in addition to how creative subjects are undervalued in education. Researching into child psychologists Piaget and Vygotsky, to help understand how children grow and develop in skill and confidence. The results confirm the belief that children who study Art and Design are much more rounded individuals due to their creative problem solving abilities, skills that are being applied in various professions in order to solve complex problems with much more imagination and innovation. This chapter explored how creativity is slowly lost during a child’s education, with conditions not maintained, for creativeness to flourish. This is a key problem within schools, art and design is undervalued in education, and therefore a lack of funding as a result of government schemes are unfortunately unable to maintain creative spaces for children, which as a result affect a child’s potential development. Chapter three discussed gender constructed roles within society and how these roles create gender gaps in education and consequently in professions. Art and design has been categorized as a soft, feminine subject. This categorization has affected the number of males studying Art and Design at school, with more females taking art at secondary school through to university. This means that there are more educated females in Art and Design professions than males, and yet more males are established and seem to dominate the art world. This is an example of inequality and men appear to have been regarded with more power than women, and rise in status quickly. I believe that if Art and Design was less feminized, men

would not feel stigmatized in taking the subject and therefore more men would be inclined to study Art and Design. Art and Design has suffered from negative stereotyping for many decades, from being undervalued compared with other courses within the curriculum to being classed as a low-paid, feminine subject area. Research within this essay has stated that not only does Art and Design help to develop a character by encouraging stronger collaboration skills and problem solving abilities but it also can be used as a way to help students with learning difficulties achieve higher goals. And can “Help innate creative abilities survive in an uncongenial world for the sake of individual wellbeing and also for the health of a collective social harmony.” (Thistlewood, 2005) Art and Design should be encouraged within the school curriculum and given equal status to other subjects. Hopefully, the feminist movement and the supposed alterations to include Art and Design within the English Baccalaureate, Art and Design will achieve the value in the curriculum that it deserves sooner rather than later.

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