Goldsmiths Fine Art Degree

70 places 1400 applicantsSuccessful applicants not from local Lewisham FE

collegeAction research project• Art for a Few• SARS project and survey• FE college and university staff working together• Interventions flexible (adapted)• Commitment from Art departments

Ethnicity

Fees, Finance and Employment

•Fees a common concern •Preference for courses with a direct career path •Parental concern about employment significant factor in shaping their decision•impact of gender, ethnicity and class are significant in the field of fine art

New outreach activities to improve the knowledge base of local students about the careers opportunities that are available.

Fitting in• Fitting in• brought habitus as a theoretical concept into sharp focus as a

practical issue• tried and tested approach of a university visit was of limited

value •   ‘They’re not looking for people like us’

Ongoing contact • with Goldsmiths student ambassadors offering a portfolio

preparation workshop• with Goldsmiths staff

Qualifications & Education• Goldsmiths art students drawn from a limited number of

colleges often taught by Goldsmiths alumni• Regardless of artistic potential FE colleges students were

struggling in terms of academic and intellectual capital • FE college lecturers focussed on immediate student success

rather than on progression to highly selective courses ‘And we do have difficulties, we have literacy difficulties, we have conceptual difficulties, some of these students come from homes where there are no pictures on the walls, there are no books in the home … (FE college tutor).

• Summer School developed to to provide opportunities for developing the necessary academic and intellectual capital

Summer School 2012

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Applying to Goldsmiths• Very few students had applied to Goldsmiths• competitive application process seen as a real barrier• Department of Art at Goldsmiths read ‘Art for a Few’ (Burke and

McManus)• interview preparation workshop was offered by experienced member

of the Goldsmiths Art Department • found that despite having equal passion, commitment and skill, the

students were highly unlikely to get through the first interview round

Agreed to offer applicants an interview and three out of four of the Lewisham College applicants were successful in gaining places on the BA Fine Art

Dumbing down?

• Successful Art practice is centred on creativity and originality• Increased diversity in the cohort brought new

perspectives to seminar debates with dialogue occurring outside a presumptive position of art• Group not assuming a singular art audience but

imagining it expanded and re-enlivened the seminar convenor

The field or social setting was itself being challenged by new perspectives creating a dynamic learning and teaching moment for both lecturer and students

Diversity

‘…rather than being on the defensive about diversity we should go on the offensive. We should look at diversity as something that can improve performance, not as something that we have to be concerned about so that we don’t’ get sued.’

Scott E Page (2007) The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms schools and societies

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Who needs to change?

Young people? Families? Schools? Universities?

No simple answers

Need to explore and develop new approaches to

widening participation

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How can we change?

• Recognise that habitus is not fixed • Regard WP outreach activities as a ‘field’?• Consciously transgress existing organisational

and cultural boundaries • Create a dynamic space designed to effect real

and immediate change• Combine theory and practice through action

research

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Praxis of widening participation

• theory and practice• collaborative action research • equal partnership• collaborative planning of interventions• all partners will be challenged • all partners will have to change

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Practical approach

• Close partnerships with schools and colleges• Clear ground rules• Agree joint priorities• Explore new ways forward• Involve university lecturers, school and college

staff – and students• Build in research and evaluation

Department of Art Successes

• Well-established summer school

• Progression agreement with local FE college

• All students recruited from WP outreach activities have progressed through to level 2 at good (2.2) or higher

• A department-wide recognition that diversity has enriched our artistic culture in ways that we couldn’t have predicted.

Nazaneen Sharif awarded Painter Stainers Prize 2012 Awarded to the most promising painter of the 1st year, Nazaneen Sharif received a £12,000

award for travel, research or materials at the end of her 1st year at Goldsmiths.

Mouna Osama Osman winner of both Neville Burstyn Award and Warden’s Purchase Prize 2014