Entanglements of Arts Education

• In Event: Art, Artists, and Pedagogy: Philosophy and the Arts in Education

Abstract

In a context of increasing standardisation and narrowing of outcomes in school education, arts education continues to offer encounters for young people to engage in ‘entanglements’ of matter and meaning that contribute productively to their being-in-the-world. In particular, the opportunity to co-create arts experiences and thereby generate new meaning offer the potential for students to both sense and make sense of their world. Furthermore, in the school-based arts encounter, there are curriculum-sanctioned opportunities for students to recognize and articulate changes in their understanding of themselves, others and the world around them. With reference to Biesta’s exploration of ‘grown-up ness’, this paper engages with the idea of student agency in these affective entanglements that value artistic and curious ways-of-being in the classroom. How do “grown-up ness” and agency meet in a ‘non-ego-logical’ perspective on arts education?

Author

• Mary Ann Hunter, University of Tasmania