Work based learning: developments in practice-based arts education

This chapter covers the development of postgraduate work based learning (WBL) in the School of Arts at Middlesex University, with a particular focus on the practice-based ‘creative’ disciplines within art, design and performing arts. This chapter may be of interest to anyone concerned with knowledge generated within practice and how this can be recognised within a higher education arts programme. It will be of special interest to curriculum developers who are thinking about the potential of WBL to increase their capability to move beyond traditional entry-level undergraduate training for practice into postgraduate provision for emerging and established professionals in the creative and cultural sectors.
This chapter will cover the development of a masters level WBL programme within the Arts and how implementing the Middlesex University WBL approach has created both challenges to the traditions of practice-based arts education and created new opportunities for higher education to recognise and accredit practice based-knowledge.
The underlying message within this chapter is that WBL can be a powerful tool for the development of emerging and experienced practitioners in the arts and worthy of consideration, provided curriculum developers are able to address the main disciplinary conventions that would otherwise find colleagues in teaching departments rejecting the approach. The key to developing WBL in a practice-based arts context is to engage the interest of the practitioner-teachers who populate the practice-based teaching departments. The major focus of this chapter is the consideration to how WBL relates to the conventions of practice-based arts education.

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