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This study examines the strengths and weaknesses of using paper-based and computer-based design tools during graphic design ideation. It focuses on student designers' use of these tools, involving both synthesis of form and generation of graphic ideas. The study includes discussions regarding definitions of graphic design, the design process and creativity. It isolates the principles of vertical and lateral thinking as key elements in this process. Key characteristics of sketching and digital designing are examined by theme, referring to both existing empirical research and practitioner testimony. Key themes isolated for discussion include words versus pictures, ambiguity and reinterpretation and the use of ready-made or self-generated forms. It presents results of primary research regarding both design process and outcome. Experiment 1 featured a group of student designers who devised solutions to two graphic design tasks using paper or computer-based tools. Three strategies were examined in detail and it was concluded that paper-based working supports the use ----~~------ .'--------- --.. _-~ .'.-_._._--_._ .. _...._....__._._--_._----_._-----~----------_.__. - - - ... _-_... _-- ---- . -_._--- --------_._-_.. of words and reinterpretation more strongly than digital working. It also demonstrated how the use of ready-mades and use of preinventive forms occurs during digital working, impacting on both fluency of results and efficiency of process. In Experiment 2, students were asked to perform a simple synthesis exercise involving syntactic properties only. A taxonomy of synthesis strategies was developed and this revealed how a potent means of combining form was achieved most often using paper. It was concluded that the act of drawing, and careful logical engagement with form enables more potent results to be made. In terms of originality it was also suggested that paper enabled more unique (in the dataset) solutions to be made than the computer. The study concludes by discussing strategies used when using certain tools in relation to vertical or lateral thinking styles. Both styles are needed in ideation activity. We need to ensure that the educator finds both ways to integrate ideation and tool activity into the curriculum, encouraging the way students use the sketch, and altering the way students use digital tools for ideation.

Since the 1980s, Opera Houses across Europe have started education programmes; some encouraged by national governments, others on their own initiative, emphasizing that the artform should be accessible to everyone. But although Opera Education is now a widely practised activity in most Opera Companies the field is almost unresearched. Only recently, from the late 1990s onwards, has Opera Education been treated as a separate practice in research on education in arts organisations. Studies, writings and reports started to focus on Opera Education in order to give an overview of 'best practice' within the field and concentrate on concrete educational activities looked at from the students', teachers' or artists' point . , of view. This is the first piece of qualitative research that compares Opera Educationpractitioners' thinking on Opera Education in an in-depth investigation. The study has explored, through a representative sample of Opera Education practitioners in Europe, the complex interaction of personal, social and cultural factors that give rise to their answers to the question Why Opera Education? To reveal views, ideas and beliefs a methodology was developed offering enough space to the participants in the research to express their thoughts as freely as possible within the context of their professional work. The overall question, Why Opera Education?, was explored via four sub-questions focusing on what opera education practitioners in an opera house/company understand opera education to be, why they are engaged in it, how they see it within the opera house/company and the wider cultural setting and what the possible influences are to t,heir perspectives. Through the case study approach, using the narrative as a semi-structured interview technique, it has been possible to address these questions and to set the stories of the practitioners in a comparative framework. The_ results are valuable not only to opera education professionals but also to other arts education professionals, arts marketing professionals, policy makers and people working in opera, because they offer a unique way of exploring the audience - institution relationship in today's society. The in-depth focus offered insight into the complex and rich field of audience-related activities in an opera house/company. The daily challenges the practitioners are confronted with are broader than just opening up the artfonn to a wider audience and are an integral part of the audience-related activities in the opera house or company. .By looking for the reasons behind opera education, lines of thinking that at first sight seemed to be quite predictable, were revealed to be more complex and challenging than if one had only looked at 'what' opera education is/might be. What emerged from the study was that the personal and cultural background of the practitioners is crucial to their thinking. Through the European framework of the research it was . . possible to identify the importance, the richn~ss and the complexity of the diverse cultural contexts that shape the beliefs of the practitioners. The thesis argues that only through a rich contextual excav~tion of beliefs situated within per~onal, social, cultural and professional narratives the diversity of meanings about opera education· in the 21st century can be realised. As such this research raises new questions about the 'role of opera' today, and ';J-bout the impact of opera education and audiencerelated activities on the artfonn. These are questions that hopefully will be explored through further qualitative research in the future.

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This thesis examines what constitutes a 'creative' 'partnership' and whether theoretical frameworks and models can be articulated which produce 'creative partnerships'. The thesis derives from an ethnographic study of Fichte Nursery School and artists and educators working within Creative Partnerships programmes in Hull, based upon qualitative research and narrative enquiry. The thesis presents an historical perspective of creativity and cultural education in English schools and suggests that, as a result of performativity discourses within education, contemporary discourses of creativity are determined by social relationships based in Gesellschaft as opposed to Gemeinschaft, and are heavily prescribed by political agendas which strive for economic growth and thus become supersaturated with meaning and desire. A Deleuzian philosophy of creativity is proposed as a suitable philosophical basis for this research, as the concept of heterogenesis allows for the possibility of the development of an alternative discourse of creativity in which social relationships are more closely aligned to conditions of gemeinschaft. The thesis identifies discourses upon which pedagogies for artists and educators might be established and argues that pedagogies are ambiguous and contingent architextures which define learning spaces. The Nursery School is seen as an example of a complex, heterogenetic Deleuzian city and it is presented as the site for the empirical research. The thesis examines the manifestation of creativity in the school, the manifestation of creativity by artists in schools and the role of 'outsiders' in participating in creative relationships. Six structural features are presented which form the architexture of the pedagogies of artists and educators, conceived as six interconnected Zones: a Zone of Scrap, of Disguise, of Infectivity, of Intimacy, of Surprise and a Zone of Grace. A new methodological tool is proposed, to observe classroom practice: that of the Classroom Gaze. Implications for policy, practice and practitioners are discussed.

There is a recognised tension between the different roles that teachers of art in secondary schools are required to adopt in the course of their careers. This study explores the hypothesis that a teacher who continues to practice art is better able to model artistic practices for pupils and that this is a valuable factor which argues in favour of teacher/artists continuing to practice both professions simultaneously. This issue is approached firstly through the author’s own experiences as an artist and art teacher, then through a literature review which covers the place of art in the curriculum, the Artist Teacher Scheme (ATS), the gap which is perceived to exist between so-called ‘school art’ and contemporary art, the making process, constructivist learning theories, the artist’s identity and the teacher’s identity. This section provides the theoretical underpinning for the study. Chapter Three presents the methodological framework: a constructivist paradigm is used and a/r/tography is incorporated to support the inclusion of the author’s visual art practice, art education research and teaching and learning experiences. The data corpus is analysed through grounded theory methods. The main data section in Chapter Four presents the narratives of twenty participants based in the UK who reflect upon the relationships that exist between their personal and professional lives and their identities as artists and teachers. Accounts of both past and present experiences are recorded and analysed in order to identify recurrent themes which emerge from the grounded theory process. This method consciously foregrounds the voices of the artists/teachers, allowing them to express their views in their own words. This, in turn, presents a window into their worlds, illustrating the way that they navigate through the tensions and competing demands of daily life as an artist/teacher. Where appropriate reference is made to visual material offered by the participants and forms of data drawn from schools and from art organisations with which the schools have contact. Inclusion of this material allows a full picture of the contexts of the narratives to be drawn and some of the concepts, issues and teaching outcomes to be illustrated through ‘concrete’ examples. In Chapter Five the themes identified in the narratives from the preceding chapter are analysed in light of the literature surrounding the topic and the author’s own experiences as an artist/teacher. These themes focus on the educational exchanges between the art teacher and the learner and the tensions which exist when an artist/teacher maintains an artist persona within the institutional framework of the secondary school. In the final chapter conclusions are drawn from a linkage between theory and practices which have been revealed through the literature review and the narratives. One of the most important conclusions is the acknowledgement that constructivist approaches favoured by artists can and should inform their pedagogy when they become professional educators. A number of recommendations are made in the light of the findings including implications for the wider educational community.

The starting point approach (spa) to design and technology education presented in this thesis, is intended to stimulate children’s ideas and to allow projects with different purposes to be designed and made in one class. The projects all originate from a common starting point. The approach is intended to promote creativity and individual choice whilst being manageable for the teacher. Data were collected during a spa session taught to a group of 10-11 year old children in London. They were introduced to the pressure pad switch that was to be the starting point for their designing. The activity was initiated by the group brainstorming existing uses for pressure pads and ways to operate the switch prior to making their own. Each child went on to develop a project with a purpose selected by them. A transcript derived from the video of the above was subjected to analysis by means of coding and a specially devised grid. Children were also observed working and data were gathered using questionnaires, video recording, Dictaphone, field notes, interviews and digital pictures of the final artefacts. The study was qualitative in nature and based on an interpretative paradigm. The data were considered in two phases. Phase 1 of the study examined whether the children could do what the spa required. Phase 2 concentrated on examining in more detail what occurred when the spa was used. The research showed that children following the spa were able to design and make products with different purposes within a single class. It is argued that an advantage of the spa is that it reconciles the often conflicting demands of teaching skills and knowledge with encouraging individual creativity. The starting point approach is a pedagogical tool and process that can be used to motivate children through allowing them to decide the purpose of their individual project as well as its design.

Educators' concerns about drama as pedagogy have been expressed widely in the literature, yet research has been modest. This thesis recognises this gap. A qualitative case study was employed to carry out an in-depth inquiry into classroom teachers' employment of drama. In a belief that primary teachers have their particular needs, this study was orientated to the attempt to identify their challenges and understand their conflicts .resulting from treating drama as methodology across the curriculum. Two contextual analyses suggest that teachers who are used to practising in authoritarian and teacher-centred schooling in which drama is regarded as insignificant can be pedagogically and artistically challenged while using drama as an educational tool in view of its child-centred, dialogic, and knowledge-constructed orientation. In agreement with the theoretical framework generated from the review concerning teachers' qualifications and challenges related to drama integration, empirical evidence suggests that the occurrences of teachers' challenges are associated with their perception, practice, and identity. Results also show that teachers modified their prior concepts of drama and pedagogy . towards those required in drama integration. The teachers' development, which emerged from their dealing with challenges, indicates that there was a pedagogic shift in practice.

This thesis explores the significance of art in the relationship between democracy and education, challenging the apolitical perspective that has often resulted from the application of instrumentalist approaches in the field. Rather than viewing arts practices as a neutral means of teaching democracy, I have built on Biesta and Lawy's concept of 'citizenship-as-practice' (2006) to investigate how the arts are implicated in the ways young people learn democracy across a variety of contexts. Specifically, the objectives for my empirical research were to add to existing knowledge about young people's democratic learning in arts contexts, and to explore the significance of young people's more general engagement with art and culture for their democratic learning. The terms of the study were conceptualised via a theorisation of the relationships amongst democracy, education and art based on the work of Mouffe (2005; 2007), Rancière (1999; 2004; 2006; 2007) and Biesta (2006; 2010). The research was conducted as an interpretative study with two sets of young people recently engaged in the arts, using an adapted version of Charmaz' (2006) approach to grounded theory. The findings of the research indicate that the young people's engagement with art contributed to the their experiences of being able to act democratically or not in a number of contexts, and that it sometimes enabled them to make the imaginative leap necessary in order to learn from the experience of becoming democratically subject. The research suggests that the most fruitful way in which democratic education can 'make use' of the arts is not by teaching democratic citizenship, but rather by supporting young people as they reflect on and respond to their experiences in arts and other contexts, and by taking seriously the democratic potential of all aspects of their arts engagement.