Creative and critical pedagogies
A central feature of education in art and design, and in visual culture, is the development of particular ways of seeing the world, interpreting phenomena and making sense. These perceptions and ways of working are not always easily accommodated or even recognised in the dominant structures and systems of education, whether in the formal school and college system or in more informal domains of education.
NCAD research in the field of Creative and Critical Pedagogies is concerned centrally with how art and design processes engage with the domain of education. More specifically, such research explores how art and design processes themselves constitute an explicit way of comprehending the world. The relationships between the processes of art and design on the one hand, and the processes of teaching and learning on the other, are the particular field of study for NCAD research in education. The thrust of this research is towards what education can learn from art and design practice, and from visual culture, rather than how such practice can be accommodated within traditional education structures.
In that context, NCAD research encourages a critical engagement with pedagogic practices, in a range of educational contexts. Creativity, traditionally associated with the arts, and latterly a staple term in the lexicon of education and economic commentators, is a problematic concept. By engaging in critical theoretical and practical research in the field of education, NCAD aspires to have an impact not just on art education but also on art practice and on educational policy and practices in general.
