Powerful Knowledge in Art and Design Education: Why history and context are important for practice

JON AYE, HEAD OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ART AND DESIGN, ILFORD COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL, UK Ofsted’s recent Research Review Series makes a case for the relevance of three domains of knowledge in art and design education: practical, theoretical and disciplinary (Ofsted, 2023). This formulation is significant in as much as it is contentious because, despite becoming embedded within teaching and learning discourse over the past decade, the concept of knowledge still sits uneasily within art and design education. A brief survey of the landscape of secondary school art and design curricula shows that many educators are firmly engaged in exploring definitions of art and design knowledge; however, the influence of learner-centred paradigms and their continuing dominance within art and design teacher training programmes mean that there is still a perception that knowledge exists in opposition to making, self-expression and creativity – as a supplanting of the practical aspects of the subject wit