Vocational Education
“I have a dream.”
My dream (summary) for vocational education in the arts (in no particular order):
Structure, content and delivery that has a well-defined purpose relevant to the future of work in the creative industries.
Clear pathways into work e.g., opportunities to build industry and community networks, be mentored and gain placements.
Tutors are facilitators of inclusive and engaging learning reflective of contemporary pedagogies and relevant to the future of work in the creative industries.
Micro-credentials can be accumulated to achieve qualifications.
On demand, hybrid, customisable learning e.g., as a learner I can customise my programme of learning, engage remotely and attend sessions onsite when it counts - hands-on team work and collaboration, professional networking etc.
Kaupapa Māori pathways led, designed and delivered by Māori.
Entry processes that are transparent, and as a learner I receive accurate and timely communication/course advice from a real person.
Institutions maintain relationships with alumni continuing to support their learning journeys as the retrain for the changing world.
Review what numeracy and literacy means now and for the future of work.
Strengths
We have a natural tendency to focus on the things that we know are not going well, or that need improvement which is important but I always like to start with the things that are going well, the strengths of the sector, and there are lots of them. In my experience, regardless of whether you are a large institution in a major centre, or a small regional institute, there are some universal qualities that make vocation education in Nui Tīreni special.
I spent six years at the Otago Polytechnic School of Art (completing my MFA in 2005). During this time I developed relationships with like-minded classmates, tutors, and members of Dunedin’s creative community, many of which I have maintained to this day. This represented a starting point in building my professional network, which is definitely one of the aspects that strongly attracted me to want to go to art school. The other factor that was instrumental in my choice of institution was the tutors. I was able to access information about tutorial team members and was excited at the prospect of working with people who I felt where highly skilled, knowledgeable and influential in their fields.
As part of the entry requirement, I submitted a portfolio, and attended an interview. There has been a lot of debate in recent times about whether such requirements are barriers to entry for potential applicants. I personally found this to be a positive learning experience that was helpful in making the transition into a new and unfamiliar environment. Was it nerve racking? Much like applying for a new role, having someone assess your potential can make you feel a bit vulnerable. However this was an important step in ensuring I had a clear understanding of the programme I had applied for, and was an opportunity to engage with the people I was going to work with for the next four years.
There are great tutor/learner ratios in vocational education in Nui Tīreni. When I started art school, the intake was sixty or three classes of twenty learners. In my view when hands-on skills are being taught numbers do matter (however, too few is as bad as too many), but what this also meant for me was that I got to know my classmates, and tutors. We talk a lot about hybrid and remote learning which is a positive addition to the teaching and learning toolkit, but we should not forget the importance of connecting and working with people onsite in real time. It is through working with others that we develop empathy and acceptance. People can inspire and motivate us and we do important identity building work in relation to others.
The experience of art school taught me to be brave and take risks, to embrace limitations and to look at failure differently. By failure, I do not mean receiving a fail grade, I am referring to the necessity of failure in the creative making process. In order to develop new knowledge I learned to test materials and methods or practice, to document, analyse, evaluate and critique. In essence I learned to use failure as a tool. I learned to do a lot with a little, or to see abundance and opportunity in limitation. Having plentiful resources at your disposal can be fantastic but it can also result in a lack of risk taking, adversion to change, and entrenchment. I am talking about limitation applied with understanding and with purpose.
Although I did struggle with disciplinary silos finding it a contradiction to the nature of practice-based research, tutors did make the effort to enable me to work across disciplines (without excessive associated bureaucracy - nothing kills a creative vision faster), and I was able to more fully commit to this as a way of working in my third and fourth years. This did still present some challenges for me e.g., not everyone thought I should, for example, be working in a photography department and also be working with painting, installation and textiles. Why is it important to work across disciplines? From a creative making perspective, research starts with a question/gap/problem you want to interrogate, and materials and methods are explored in response to this, and therefore cannot be pre-empted if you are seeking to generate new knowledge.
Despite some challenges in the journey, overall I received a lot of support and generosity from my tutors/supervisors and was able to, for the most part, steer my own course. One of the gaps I was determined to address at the time was the lack of space available for emerging creatives to exhibit their work. I had heard the odd comment that it was risky to be exhibiting work that was not fully resolved or represented inexperience. This did not make sense to me as my perspective as a learner was that being able to understand what makes a great exhibition requires practice. I was supported and encouraged to pursue this work both by the school and by the local community hosting exhibitions in a variety of DIY venues including, for example, the school’s foyer, local retail outlets, a church basement, and cafes. Making use of these alternative spaces evolved into renting inner city spaces that became Satellite Gallery and then Introspect Contemporary Art Space.
My vocational education experience helped me to chart my own destination in a supportive environment where I had access to facilities, like-minded creatives (both emerging and established), and community networks. At the time these programmes were one hundred percent on-site however it was recognised and accepted that I needed to work offsite to run the gallery during my masters candidacy and therefore my supervisors came to me. I mention this to emphasise the flexibility for learners that has always been accommodated in many of our institutions. I gained a lot from my time in vocational education including an understanding of how to navigate institutional frameworks. I felt tutorial teams and management in the school had a shared vision and were all engaged in the teaching and learning context. While everyone had their own ways of doing things, there was a clear sense of purpose to see emerging creative professionals flourish.
What needs to be improved?
Higher education has received a welcome push (from my point of view) in recent times via a global pandemic and via learner use of Chat GPT and other AI applications. Why do I welcome these challenges? Well primarily because our curriculums are outdated. I know it may be contentious to suggest that our numeracy and literacy standards need significant and well overdue revisions. I am aware this can be hard to take for those of us who grew up learning that reading, writing and basic mathematics were king in terms of being considered to be educated. Obviously reading and writing has been a huge part of my career development. Mathematics as we were taught it, not so much. I can still recite all my times-tables which was a thing we did in the old days. I cannot say I draw on this knowledge that often! My point is that we have a tendency to apply what we learnt in the context of our higher education experiences to our work in times that are vastly different. What has worked in the past, will not necessarily work in the present or future.
I also frequently hear blame for declining interest in higher education being directed at external factors so much so that I have heard myself reiterating this! While there are external factors that can impact higher education, I think it is counter-productive to the urgency of the work that is needed to be utilising deflection rather than reflection. I am also well and truly tired of hearing learners/potential learners, particularly school leavers, blamed for their lack of interest in what higher education is offering. We should understand the relevance of what we are delivering to the future of work. Although we cannot predict with great accuracy what this will be like for our learners, there are some things we do know that are relatively certain. We know that our graduates need to be prepared for the world of hybrid/remote work for instance. We know that AI applications are here to stay and will change the nature of work and productivity.
What we should all know is that we cannot be teaching the same skills and knowledge that we learnt when we studied twenty (plus) years ago and affirm that this is what our learners need to be successful. Is academic writing, for example, relevant to the future of work? It may be if you are training to be an academic or intend to work in a curatorial role in the GLAM sector, (however this is also changing with the public’s growing expectations to have more accessible ways to engage with artworks and museum collections). In what context in a graduate’s working life will they be asked to present an academic essay? I actually grew to love academic writing during my time in higher education. I still love to write. It is the process of thinking through ideas and how to communicate them that I particularly enjoy. When I completed my masters, and began working however, I realised that academic writing was all I had really been trained to do so it took some time to figure out what the expectations of professional and persuasive writing were - through trial and error.
So, how has higher education become stuck in a bygone era of learning? Speaking from my own personal experience, I have seen programmes written so specifically that they have no built in agility, and I have seen a reluctance to taking on regular revision of programme content, structure and delivery strategies to ensure currency. I am not suggesting that change is easy but that change needs to be part of business as usual and therefore processes should be designed to ensure this. In any business, what happens if your product no longer meets the needs of your customer? What if your customers are telling you this and you are putting your energy into rebuttal rather than using feedback to create a more responsive product? Learners are not the only ones whose feedback counts. Communities are vital partners in supporting learners to successfully transition into fulfilling creative careers. Programmes essentially need to be co-designed (and delivered) with and alongside community and industry partners so that there is a professional network for learners to join. A qualification then becomes a social staircase that provides a clear pathway to joining a community of creative professionals.
Keeping pace with change is another challenge we all have to confront. How do we maintain currency, and how can we possibly compete with the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skills any time and from (almost) anywhere at little to no cost. Educational institutions no longer hold power and control over knowledge, that ship has long sailed. If I ask myself whether I would still choose to undertake study via an educational institute given what I know now and how often I access learning online for free. My answer is yes, with a proviso. Something I really valued about the transition into post-graduate study was the ability to have a say around who my supervisors would be. When you are charting your own course within practice-based research, support is vital but what is even more important to me is having supervision that helps guide and challenge you during the course of your journey, not supervision that tries to steer you in a preferred direction.
In this scenario, what I am referring to is not related to how much knowledge a supervisor has in a particular field. It is about interpersonal interaction, emotional intelligence and the ability to build and sustain positive relationships. It can be useful to have supervisor/s who have experience in your field of investigation but it can be even more useful to have supervisor/s who can ask new questions from an alternative position. We do not generate new knowledge from reinforcing what we already know. Getting to the point, knowledge and skills can be gained via free self-driven learning. We are no longer dependent on educational institutions to develop and deliver this, and the DIY approach has the added benefit of allowing me to structure my own learning which I complete at my own pace in my own location. What I was the most excited about having completed my degree was after four years of structured courses, I would be supported to write my own proposal/plan for two full years of study.
My masters and PhD were definitely hybrid with some work being completed on campus but most offsite. I did not find this to be a difficult move from a fully onsite programme but some thrive working more independently and some do not. I had regular supervision so it was not an issue for me. The initial Covid lock-down was the first time I really had to contend with what teaching a fully onsite practical programme remotely might look like, and as those of you who teach know there was not a lot of time to prepare for this. I was supervising third year visual arts learners at the time, and given their prior learning, they were not that phased by the loss of access to the facilities or to materials e.g., visual artists are aware of the potential benefits of limitations. Supervision continued as per usual (usual is probably not the right word), I actually moved the term break so the learners were on an early study break. I continued supervision as what was more complicated for learners was the isolation, and for some having to care for, and teach children at home while maintaining their other commitments.
I was not so much surprised by the innovative ways of working learners quickly took to, but more impressed with how quickly they adapted to doing this e.g., the home environment became a focus for many creatives, not just at SIT, but around the world. Despite being stuck at home, creatives used this as a way to express how this moment felt, looking at this context with fresh eyes and interrogating what new meaning could be found. As expected, some tutors took to remote teaching with relative ease while others really struggled with the idea that this could be our new normal. Both positions are understandable. I definitely missed being onsite with learners and felt some of the social, relationship and team building work that I saw as an integral part of the programme was not as effectively facilitated remotely. Mind you, that does not mean it could not be.
I think it is now widely accepted that hybrid learning is here to stay, however real change to how programmes are structured and delivered is very slow. It seems as if many tutors reverted to their previous practices when lockdowns ceased. Learners did not. Obviously, it takes time and resources to develop quality remote learning. I have not yet seen any concerted push across the vocational educational sector to get this work done. Having been through the pandemic I would expect that this would be at the top of the priority agenda for all institutions. It is sad to think that when we are in this position again, we will be no better prepared. We also know that learners expect to be able to access learning remotely. This does not mean onsite learning is no longer valued. We should understand and be clear about the learning that requires onsite participation and collaboration, and the learning that can be completed independently remotely.
As a mature learner I have struggled to see further study options that would work for me. I know there are a lot of people out there who are likely in the same position so I will outline my ‘blue sky’ version of how I would prefer to engage with further learning as someone who works a full-time job and has a mortgage to pay! I would like to subscribe to a learning streaming service which offers the opportunity for me to customise a programme via stackable micro-credentials. I am happy to complete he majority of the work independently, but I would like access to quality (semi-regular) feedback from an experienced professional. The learning should involve opportunities to work with others on real-world projects relevant to my growth ambitions in the real-world. I am sure that for those that understand that learners are customers with many options to consider, there is an exciting future ahead where we can all access customisable learning on-demand.
To conclude this section, I will add a strong recommendation. Throughout my time in vocational education, I have struggled to comprehend why this has not been a priority. Adding to my dream of how I want to engage with further learning, this subscription to a streaming service could be via an alumni network. We have learners who commit time and resources to gaining qualifications with us. This experience and the relationships associated with it, end very abruptly when they complete. Why would we not continue to support alumni on their learning journeys? There is so much value to be gained from maintaining these relationships. The data we currently have from alumni is relatively basic and superficial meaning we do not have access to detailed data on how our graduates are applying what they learned with us. Allocate resources to the development of an alumni network that maintains relationships with graduates and offers them ongoing opportunities to undertake the learning they need for the changing world.
Background
Contested Territory
My foray into teaching began in the early 2000s and represented a somewhat contested area of study in the context of an art school at the time. Delivering Professional Practices in dedicated sessions in a fine arts programme brought with it unanticipated vitriol and resistance. The friction expressed most frequently was that Professional Practices was taking away from valuable time in the studio. As you can imagine this somewhat dampened my naive enthusiasm and excitement at having the opportunity to deliver content I felt was vital to supporting creatives to transition from study into work. Note: I often encounter debate over this terminology e.g., work, employment etc. It is not my intention to engage in historical and theoretical debate around these terms but rather to affirm that learners enter higher education to gain skills and knowledge that provide pathways to paid work in whatever form that may take for them.
For the Love of Arts & Culture
I loved my time at art school, so much so that I completed what was at the time a four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts followed by a two-year Master of Fine Arts. During my study, I decided I was going to take on every opportunity that emerged and as a result I decided I wanted to pursue a management or curatorial opportunity in a regional museum or art gallery. In 2005, I moved to Ashburton to take up the role of manager/curator of the Ashburton Public Art Gallery. I will write about this experience in more detail in a dedicated forum but am only mentioning it here as this was a plan I consciously worked towards during my time at art school. Hopefully I will be forgiven for using the word passionate which has become so overused it feels a bit trite, but for lack of an appropriate synonym, I was passionate about arts, culture and education and wanted to do work that focused on supporting others to develop fulfilling creative careers.
Back to Education
In 2011, I accepted an academic position at the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT), and soon after became a programme manager. SIT was an institution that was deeply connected to its community, and what I realize now, was incredibly agile. This experience made me think agility was a benefit of being in vocational education e.g., because of the fast pace of change in the world of work, I was contributing to an environment that was responsive to learners, community, and industry partners. Programme development was an ongoing process that I was engaged in e.g., design that enabled academic teams to pivot in response to emerging gaps and the establishment of a production environment focused on learners working together across disciplines to realise projects.
TBC