Experiments in ‘real world’ education

Paulo Freire has highlighted how “Educands’ concrete localisation is the point of departure for the knowledge they create of the world” (1994: 85). As an artist and educator whose own practice is socially situated, I have consistently sought opportunities for students to gain first hand experience of artistic practice with people and in places outside of the institution. This is not only for purposes of professional development, but also by way of preparation for future engagement with social change. I will show results of the Widening Participation project at Chelsea College of Art and Design at the end of the last millennium, which incorporated postgraduate placement, mentoring and the involvement of undergraduates in ongoing projects in the public domain. Then Cascade, an initiative at University of East London centred on collective cultural production around issues of local regeneration, which at the same time facilitated a two-way transfer of skills and experience across three levels of education. Finally I will show recent work by students following the Art Practice and the Community modules at Middlesex University, a longstanding programme that develops students’ practical and theoretical understanding of engagement in social settings through projects undertaken with groups and individuals in the wider world.
Freire, P. 1994, Pedagogy of Hope: Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Continuum, London.