Art & Design Employability

About Introduction Outcomes Further Information

The Anatomy of
Employability in Creative
Arts Subjects

This site was made in conjunction with Bucks New University and Glasgow School of Art. For more information find out here.

Introduction

This project was supported by a Collaborative Teaching Development Grant from the Higher Education Academy. A joint venture between Glasgow School of Art and Bucks New University School of Art and Design, it explored employability and what that might mean for art and design subjects.

Debating

This section deals with major topics that have been identified, during the course of our discussions, as pertinent to employability within Fine Art and Design. It consists of seven broad categories.

As the project unfolded, these categories emerged as overarching themes, often linked to wider debates and problematic areas within contemporary art and design settings. The debating section is laid out according to these seven themes.

Each theme offers a short contextual statement, outlining the main issues of relevance to the theme at hand, backed up with some academic references. This then leads into a consideration of some of the activities that have been used to explore the topic further. These exploratory activities have yielded ‘toolkits’ of resources – presentations, briefs and project sheets – which we hope will be of use to those wishing to explore similar issues within their own settings.

The section may be of interest both to educators, considering the delivery of exploratory tools in workshop form, and to research-based users wishing to pick up on academic threads running through the project.

1

Difference

Fine Art could be defined as practising creativity for the sake of creativity, whereas Design is creativity applied to functionality

2

The Studio

The studio as a site of creative learning is well acknowledged. The concept of the studio as a space and/or a tool in/by which learners can develop their employability skills.

3

Language

The power of language and how we articulate ideas is well recognised. We define our world through

4

Visual Literacy

Visual Literacy can be defined as a competency suggesting a fluency with and command of visual materials

5

Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy can be defined as an individual’s own perception of their ability to achieve goals. It is similar to, but more potent than self-confidence.

6

Mapping

To provide an overview of what employability and enterprise related activity is already taking place within GSA and Bucks New University.

7

Student engagement

In art and design subjects, in which the intention of the tutor is to enable students to become practising artists or designers, employability skills might completely permeate the curriculum.

Doing

This section lays out what we already do to build student employability within the curriculum. It can be seen as an audit or snapshot of existing practice around employability, as currently delivered within the two participating institutions. The data were gathered from a wide range of Fine Art and Design courses, of which only a small clutch of examples are shown here. Resources provided within this section take the form of films, interviews and case studies gathered under 14 headings. These headings have been derived from existing data gathered at GSA in 2012–13.

The content of this section is diverse and makes two immediate points; firstly, the examples given are not always explicitly linked to employability, and, secondly, examples vary widely across the two participating institutions and their constituent courses.

The picture emerging from this section is that of employability being deeply embedded within art and design cultures, to the extent that it is taken for granted and not explicitly labelled as such.

It is hoped that this section will serve as a useful comparator, allowing HEA colleagues to gauge the extent of delivery at their institutions and providing a tool with which to audit their existing provision. It may be found that, within students’ minds, understanding of employability is underdeveloped and the richness of current delivery often goes unacknowledged. Clearer signposting of the wealth of existing practice would begin to address this.

21

Artist / Designer talk

Students are responsible for the organisation, planning and hosting of an occasion involving an audience e.g. fashion show, degree show

20

Event

Students are responsible for the organisation, planning and hosting of an occasion involving an audience e.g. fashion show, degree show

19

External competitions

Students enter work for a prize/award that is arranged by an organisation outside of their educational institution.

18

Student exchange

Students engage in a period of study at another educational institution. Usually this is for duration of one academic term and is hosted by a partner institution in a different country.

17

Residential trips

A study visit that involves staying overnight or for a number of nights. This may be to another host institution, to visit a different location or focussed on a specific learning task.

16

External visits

A non-residential trip to meet an individual / institution / organisation outside of the educational institutional e.g. design company, community initiative, gallery visit, studio visit.

15

Live / external projects

Students are involved in work or projects with individuals/organisations outside of their institution. These can be existing real projects

14

In-house exhibition

Students exhibit their own work and present it to an audience in a gallery or studio setting within their educational institution. These are organised and/or curated by either staff or students.

13

Student collaboration

Students working together on a learning activity. Groups can be allocated by staff or self initiated by the students involved.

12

Teaching

Students are involved in delivering various learning activities to other students, or to external parties e.g. giving tutorials, leading workshops.

11

Formal student-led sessions

Staff allocate time in the timetable for learning activities that are led by students and do not involve staff. These may be structured by staff, however

10

Presentations

Students deliver a talk to a group about a particular topic such as their own artwork or design, most often with the aid of visuals.

9

Group critique / seminar

Group critiques (crits) and seminars can take a number of different formats and normally involve a small group of students

8

Formal professional practice

Sessions arranged by staff specifically to address issues related to employability, professional practice or working within the creative