Bohemians and Gentlemen. The representation of artists in British society 1850-1950

How do we understand the artist; how do we imagine he or she lives? Is our view formed by visiting exhibitions or artists' studios, reading criticism, biography or novels, looking at self-portraits and photographs, watching films? Do we feel we know Vermeer through looking at his paintings, reading a catalogue or Tracy Chevalier's historic novel or watching Colin Firth and Scarlet Johansson star in Girl with a Pearl Earring? In this lecture - and my proposed book - I shall be examining the multi-faceted construction of the artistic identity, the imagined artist, and how it changed across an important period in British art history. I shall be looking at the public reception and perception of the artist and the artist's own performance for his or her public, a performance that could be influenced or even controlled by the dealer. I shall trace the relationship, sometimes the battle, between two supposedly oppositional images of the artist, the bohemian and the gentleman. And the impact on these masculine concepts of the increasing presence of the female artist

Prestige vs Practicality: Transition of Dual Enrollment Secondary Students to Post-Secondary Options: A Case Study

This qualitative research study investigated the perceptions of support during the college choice process of former CTE dual-enrollment students at one technical college campus. In addition, it examined the types of support participants received as they progressed through the three-stage college choice process (predisposition, search, and choice). Interviews were conducted with eight former CTE dual-enrollment students from a technical college campus. Each participant completed a demographic survey and was asked 15 interview questions that coincide with the three stages of the college choice process. Finally, the data was analyzed and coded to develop a thematic findings structure. The study resulted in three overarching conclusions. First, involvement in CTE dual-enrollment gave the participants the avenue to connect personal interests to career and college. Second, the level and type of support differed through each stage of the college choice process. Parents, family, and friends were the prominent supporters during the predisposition stage. During the search stage, relationships with guidance counselors, teachers, and institutional staff supported all participants. During the choice stage, most participants reviewed factors regarding the college and received support from institutional staff, faculty, and students, which influenced their decision. Lastly, all participants stated that the relationships and support received while enrolled in post-secondary institutions motivated persistence in advancing degrees. Faced with financial challenges, students set a goal to complete their degrees by matriculating to the articulating state college. Participants attributed their motivation to those individuals who gave them the confidence to believe in themselves and improve their lives

The Problem with Transition in Technology Education: A Scottish Perspective

This paper is based on an evaluation of a pilot project using Nuffield materials which was carried out in two Scottish secondary schools and their associated primary schools. The pilot was intended to address problems identified at the transition stage from primary to secondary in design and technology. Interviews conducted with staff in both sectors highlight important concerns regarding transition. The paper describes the Scottish technology education system, with particular emphasis on its similarity to the English Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. A discussion of the evaluation of the pilot project is given and issues concerning transition are considered and discussed. Whilst the Scottish technology curriculum differs in some important aspects from the English system, generic and pertinent issues exist which have relevance in relation to the transition process in many countrie

Dialectical methodology : the impact of incorporating a neo-Vygotskian approach to design and technology

This paper seeks to investigate how the incorporation of dialectical methodology, as part of an inquiry based pedagogy, can increase technological understanding within the design process. Vygotsky sees the development of society as a synthesis of life experience with taught concepts. Technology and its relationship with society will be considered in a case study carried out within the Scottish technology curriculum, where the concept of ergonomics was studied. Current practice in Scotland is explored, and a neo-Vygotskian approach is discussed

Is technology in England different from technology in Scotland?

This paper seeks to discover if fundamental differences are apparent in the delivery of English and Scottish technological education. It will look at the history of technical education in both countries and the political will involved in its development. Furthermore, it will seek to discover if curriculum development has sought to address the needs of both countries and improved or altered the provision of technological education within the two educational systems

The introduction of practical craft skills into the Scottish technology curriculum: a new beginning or the beginning of the end? A reply to my critics

This follows from a paper presented at the conference last year (Dakers, 2003). The argument given in that paper suggested that the introduction of a subject which taught practical craft skills in a prescriptive manner, as is the case in Scotland, is likely to be a retrograde step. The paper made the case that the learning of a craft skill, for instrumental purposes only, reduces the pupil to the level of that of an automaton. Such a pupil will consequentially have no ownership of, or creative identity in, either the process or the end product. A major criticism of this view was that in order to master, or at least gain proficiency in a skill domain, certain necessary basic skills appropriate to that domain are an essential prior requirement. For example, if one wishes to play a musical instrument, it is first necessary to learn the playing of scales. If one wishes to manufacture a wooden pencil case, an understanding of how to operate a variety of woodworking tools, amongst other things, is a necessary prerequisite. Without prior mastery of such fundamental and basic skills, it will be impossible for a person to develop into a proficient musician or woodworker. The criticism was taken further with the argument that these fundamental skills were also a necessary prerequisite for the design or creative process. To play a musical instrument with creative flair requires not only a formidable set of psychomotor skills requisite to the instrument, but a deep knowledge and understanding of music. Equally, in order to design the ultimate wooden pencil case, handcraft skills associated with woodworking, together with knowledge and understanding of the properties and nature of wood, are essential prerequisites. This paper will seek to develop the argument and will take as its starting point the criticisms mentioned above. It will argue that it is not a necessary prerequisite to becoming proficient, or indeed creative, that fundamental psychomotor skills such as the rote learning of musical scales be undertaken. Learning, like design, is not only a messy process but also a very personal one. It will argued, moreover, that learning these skills in the manner suggested is, in fact, more likely to result in the de-motivation of the majority of pupils and a stifling of the creative process. I am weary of doing and dating The day with the thing to be done, This painful self translating To a language not of my own Give me to fashion a thing: Give me to shape and to mould; I have found out the song I can sing, I am happy, delivered, and bold. Lawrence Binyon (Published 1920

Is design and technology education really real?

What follows is a philosophical argument that will attempt to explore the notion of school based design and technology as vocational education. This is, for some reason, commonly attributed to its qualities which are regarded as different from other types of education – normally referred to as ‘academic education’. I am mindful that this quest is full of dangers and pitfalls and I expect, as a result, to be challenged in my thoughts, and rightly so for is this not what a conference sets out to accomplish? In my arguments I will give an interpretation that seeks to “correlate things which often are not on the surface connected” (Lovejoy, 2001: 21). Things like philosophy and its necessary, but often neglected relationship, with design and technology serves as an example which, as in Plato’s allegory of the cave can help liberate the learner from the false, pre-determined images presented in the shadowy depths of the cave, and lead her up into the sunlight, thereby revealing a reality which is no longer constructed for her, but rather, by her

The introduction of Practical Craft Skills into the Scottish Technology Curriculum : a new beginning or the beginning of the end

Scotland in the form of ‘Practical Craft Skills’. This has been greeted with a large degree of satisfaction from the majority of technology teachers in Scotland who have expressed a growing concern about the ability of certain pupils to deal with the design element in craft and design. The ‘arranged marriage’ of craft to design has not been without its tensions as the long established craft tradition had to make accommodations to its new, more creative partner. The teaching of design, its assessment and its integration with craft skills has not as yet found an optimum balance in technical education in Scotland and this has left a proportion of students not entirely convinced of the benefits of the design dimension. Courses in Practical Craft Skills, on the other hand, have no design element, are continually assessed and are inherently skillsbased. This ‘skills by prescription’ approach is becoming entrenched in policy. This particular curriculum reform could therefore be interpreted as a retrospective dilution and revocationalisation, of the curriculum, or conversely, as a broadening out of provision which allows teachers greater scope to respond to the educational needs and preferences of diverse groups of pupils. Whilst the risks of forecasting curricular futures must be acknowledged, the trend of departments offering Practical Craft Skills alongside craft and design, or indeed in place of craft and design, looks set to continue at the expense of design education in Scotland (Dakers and Doherty, 2003). This paper will seek to argue that the teaching of Practical Craft Skills as a hands-on practical activity, with no involvement in the design process, is problematic. The paper is limited to some key topics and seeks to promote discussion

Superlattice electrodynamics as a source of Terahertz radiation

Charge-carriers propagating in superlattices exhibit the related phenomena known as negative differential conductivity and Bloch oscillation. This behaviour may be utilised for the generation of tunable electromagnetic radiation. In this work, the dependence of the drift velocity and displacement of charge-carriers on external, applied electric fields is investigated. The theory is extended to incorporate a different miniband structure, with the aim of modelling a superlattice made from graphene. I predict that, for a chosen set of electric field parameters, a semiconductor superlattice will emit radiation in the terahertz range. I create an original mathematical framework within which to calculate the charge-carrier behaviour in a triangular miniband structure, while incorporating an arbitrary variable to account for the effects of corrugation or disorder, and predict the appearance of conductivity multistability. This may be of interest to further work done on the use of graphene for superlattice device construction

The state of technology education : a European Commission perspective

This paper arises out of a consultancy to the European Commission. The commission had identified a problem with recruitment to Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST) subjects and careers across Europe and wishedto explore existing examples of good practice in the field. The paper describes the methodology used in two phases of the consultancy which set out to identify examples of good practice and highlights the problemsencountered in doing this with particular reference to Technology education. The paper then describes examples of good practice in Technology education provided and discusses some of the common problems encountered byEuropean countries in developing an effective system of technology education across all sectors of the education system