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A Conceptualisation of
Emotion within Art and
Design Education: A Creative,
Learning and ProductOrientated Triadic Schema
David Spendlove
Abstract
There is a resurgence of interest in the powerful
concept of emotion in current educational policy
and practice. This article calls for the recognition
and conceptualisation of a triadic schema for
theorising the location of emotion within a creative educational experience. The schema represents emotion within three domains within
current practice: Person, Process and Product.
The principal focus of the article is pupils aged
516 and consideration is given to the application
of the conceptualised schema within art and
design education as represented by the national
curriculum statement of importance. The central
hypothesis of the work is that greater recognition
of an emotional dimension within a triadic schema
developing emotional capacity in students to
engage in a creative process (person); stimulating
emotional engagement through appropriate
learning contexts (process) and facilitating the
emotional interfacing with outcomes (product)
will help conceptualise the powerful interrelationship between emotion, creativity and learning.
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Introduction
Within this article, a conceptualised triadic
schema is hypothesised for identifying the location of emotion within a creative, learning and
product-orientated experience in art and design
education. Based upon an extensive literature
review that has been synthesised and juxtaposed
with the broad aspirational aims of the subject a
schema, based upon abductive reasoning and
grounded theory [1], helps conceptualise the
overarching theme of emotion within a creative
and learning experience within: art and design
education, within the primary (age 511) and
secondary (1116) stages of the English education system as represented by the national curriculum statement of importance.
The triadic schema offers an additional opportunity in meta-theorising how the achievement of
the broad aspirational aims of the subject as
outlined in the statement of importance [2] can
be achieved through recognising the powerful
overarching concept of emotion within three
domains: Person, Process, Product.
The article is presented in three parts with the
first part examining the contemporary discourse
relating to emotion. The second part identifies
the methodology used to establish the schema
and identifies the three stages of the schema.
The final part examines the literature relating to
each facet of the schema. The central tenet of
this article is the recognition of emotion within a
three-stage, triadic, conceptual schema for metatheorising the place of emotion within a creative,
learning and product-orientated experience.
Emotion
The past decade has seen increasing discourse
relating to the place of emotion within education
policy and practice. Part of this upsurge in awareness has resulted from Golemans [3] synthesised work resulting in the popularisation of
emotion through the term emotional intelligence. In general, this has characterised a resurgence of interest in the powerful concept of
emotion in current educational practice [4]. The
concepts of emotional literacy [5] emotional
competence [6], critical emotional literacy [7],
emotional intelligence [8] socio-emotional learn-
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and design education requires complete engagement where learners accept emotional ownership
of their creative work (person), are given increasing emotional responsibility for their own learning
within an emotionally engaging supportive and
flexible framework (process) whilst enabling them
to take emotional responsibility for the outcomes
of their creative endeavours (product).
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Opposite page:
Figure 1
Triadic schema:
Person, Process,
Product
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Appendix 1
Mapping emotional components of the
statement of importance for Art and Design
The statement for Art and Design reads:
E1
E3
E3
E2
E3
E2
References
1. Strauss, A. L. (1987) Qualitative Analysis for
Social Scientists. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
2. Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)
(1999) The National Curriculum for England:
Art and Design. London: DfEE/QCA.
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