A new paper by Jeff (2010) discusses how art is taught in schools. The teaching of art is, of course, linked to the teaching of poetry. This is a bit of what the author says about the role of the 'expert':
"Art in UK schools...frequently characterised by hierarchical concepts of individual talent and genius, and the adherence to a well-established and largely unquestioned canon of great artists whose work within a narrow range of aesthetic codes, normally those associated with mimetic depiction (Downing and Watson 2004). Pedagogically, these regimes rely upon an expert specialist for delivery of skills and appropriate sensibilities to a largely positive set of recipients, the learners, which emphasises the role art plays in reinforcing the socially constraining and limiting function of education"
In this paper Jeff criticises 'Creative Partnerships' as being an example of this hierarchical perspective of 'the artist' and then everyone else. One could argue that in the teaching of poetry the model is often the same. Here, once again we are faced with the post-structuralist challenge and the question of power relations and the freedom of expression and the dangers of schools reinforcing messages about 'real art' only being about the individual genius of others.
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