Plan • Prepare • Provide

The School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies will be the home to a residential course for art teachers this month.

Plan • Prepare • Provide is a three day course which offers a unique opportunity for art teachers and their schools to improve their delivery of both academic and practical art lessons. Starting on 10 July, sessions will include the opportunity for participants to engage with pro-active ways to develop teaching and artistic practice and to consider ways to integrate ideas from art by past and contemporary artists into whole school art lessons with confidence.

This residential is fully funded by the Association of Art Historians and will be delivered by the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies alongside current art and art history teachers —with Susan Coles, Creativity, Arts, Cultural and Educational Consultant and champion for visual art education, as the critical friend.

As part of the experience, teachers will have the chance to embed practice and research in the classroom by taking part in a hands-on ‘Discovery Day’ incorporating looking, making, thinking and speaking. The session is based on project work undertaken by Abigail Harrison Moore (Head of the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies) to engage 14 to 16 year olds in research and presentation skills via encounters in the art gallery, museum and country house. These Discovery Days have been running since 2010 in Yorkshire, in partnership with the Devonshire Educational Trust and Roche Court.

Other sessions at Plan • Prepare • Provide include an introduction to the new Art History A-Level, tips for how to integrate art history into a practical art lesson, and ideas for how to engage creatively with the study of visual culture. The three days of activities culminates in the final of Discover ARTiculation, a national competition which celebrates young people speaking about art.

Abigail Harrison Moore, Professor of Art History and Museum Studies, said:

“We are excited to be hosting the teacher’s residential on behalf of the Association of Art Historians. We work closely with the Association to ensure that teachers are provided with support and opportunities to come together to think about creative strategies for teaching art and art history.

“At a time when our creative industries are more successful than ever in the UK, but are being increasingly undervalued in the curriculum, it is vital to create chances for academics and teachers to come together, to think critically about the importance of our subjects and celebrate great teaching.

“We are very grateful to our event co-designers ― teachers Anne-Louise Quinton (Dixons Academy, Bradford) and Sarah Phillips (Godalming College), in addition to Susan Coles of the National Society for Education in Art and Design ― for helping us design a fantastic three days of activities.”

Trevor Horsewood, Campaigns Manager for the Association of Art Historians, said:

“This residential opportunity marks a new approach in the way we support art history in education, complementing our work with formal History of Art qualifications.

“Our role as a subject association and charity is to champion the value of art history today, and to bring people together to share knowledge, inspire views and develop understanding.

“We believe that art history and visual culture inspires people to think differently, see differently and working with the University of Leeds and the art and design teaching community is one of the many ways that we believe this can be achieved.”

You will be able to follow the residential on twitter via #ArtResLeeds