Reassessing What Is Core Content in Visual Arts in the New South Wales Curriculum

Curriculum Perspectives (2021) 41:175–185 https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-021-00136-6

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Ahead of its time? Reassessing what is core content in Visual Arts in the New South Wales Curriculum

Karen Maras1

Received: 23 August 2020 /Revised: 13 January 2021 /Accepted: 19 March 2021 /Published online: 14 April 2021 # Australian Curriculum Studies Association 2021

Abstract The purpose of this article is to evaluate the extent to which Visual Arts syllabus content currently known as the ‘Conceptual Framework’ represents core concepts and principles for learning in Visual Arts K-12 in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Set within the context of the NSW Curriculum Review, Nurturing wonder and igniting passion: designs for a new school curriculum (NESA, 2020), and in the absence of regular cyclic curriculum evaluation or reform of the Visual Arts syllabuses for over 21 years, this investigation evaluates the fit between existing curriculum content and requirements for new syllabuses in the revised curriculum. Drawing on theoretical and empirical research in Visual Arts education, this article examines how the conceptual framework and the principles underlying its function provide the conceptual foundations of understanding in art making and art interpretation as primary forms of practice in K-12. Discussion then examines how the framework meets the requirements for new syllabuses in the NSW Curriculum Review. It is argued that the conceptual framework (1) represents core concepts and principles for learning, (2) supports the development of praxis-oriented learning, and (3) sustains stable content over years of schooling which supports students to develop deep understandings of practice in art. The article concludes that the conceptual framework should be retained in the revised Visual Arts curriculum as it represents a conceptual core and principles for learning that are essential to teaching and learning in Visual Arts K-12 in NSW.

Keywords Conceptual framework . Core concepts . NSW Curriculum Review . Principles for learning . Visual Arts K-12

Introduction curriculum content on essential concepts and principles for learning which sustain the integration of knowledge and skills This article investigates the question of how core concepts and in K-12 syllabuses. This article examines how well a concep- principles for learning should be represented in Visual Arts K- tual framework that represents core content in the current con- 12 in the revised curriculum in the state of New South Wales tinuum of learning in Visual Arts syllabuses in NSW provides (NSW), Australia. This question arises as a key focus in the a foundation for meeting these requirements in the revised reform of the NSW standards-based curriculum, a project im- curriculum due for implementation in 2024. plemented in 2020 by the New South Wales Educational The reason for this investigation is related to my long- Standards Authority (NESA), on behalf of the NSW standing involvement in curriculum development projects Government. This review represents a response to concerns and advocacy in Visual Arts at state and national levels in about an overcrowded curriculum and the degree to which Australia. This experience, complemented by teaching in cur- existing syllabuses support deep learning and conceptual rig- riculum and art education, and conducting research on the our that will equip students to meet that challenges of contrib- theoretical and ontological bases of understanding in Visual uting to and succeeding within the twenty-first century world. Arts, frames my ongoing commitment to ensuring that pro- The key strategy for addressing this issue is to re-focus posals for curriculum change for Visual Arts are grounded in research that sustains the intellectual value of learning in the subject. Recent involvement in discussions about the current * Karen Maras reform agenda and changes to syllabus development process- [email protected] es in NSW have highlighted for me tensions and potential

1 oversights in the enactment of this fast-paced curriculum School of Education, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, change that may impact Visual Arts in a detrimental way. Of UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 176 Curric Perspect (2021) 41:175–185 particular concern is the apparent lack of opportunity for Australian Government in 2008 for the purposes of devel- revisiting and updating the theoretical and empirical grounds oping and implementing the Australian Curriculum on which core concepts and principles for learning are identi- (Commonwealth Government Department of Education, fied in the subject. This discussion addresses this gap by Skills and Employment, 2020)(Savage&O’Connor, highlighting the contribution the existing conceptual frame- 2015). This K-10 curriculum comprises content in subjects work makes to understanding the ontological constraints that arranged in eight key learning areas that supports the in- are essential to learning in Visual Arts. Furthermore, this eval- tegration of three cross-curriculum priorities and seven uation seeks to confirm that the conceptual framework con- general capabilities. It was expected that all jurisdictions tinues to provide a foundation for a praxis-oriented approach would implement the Australian Curriculum in all key to understanding art in which the integration of knowledge learning areas. and skills supports deep learning. Despite several attempts to achieve a national curriculum in Australia, NSW has largely maintained indepen- dence from national reforms. NSW maintains a Aim and structure of this article standards-referenced curriculum comprising six stages of learning K-12 and eight key learning areas. Since the I will argue that the conceptual framework in Visual Arts 1990s, this curriculum has been subject to successive re- already meets the core curriculum review requirements and views, most of which have resulted in the maintenance of provides a strong basis on which to review, refine and enhance the existing structure (Hughes, 2019). As Hughes (2019) the academic rigour and quality of Visual Arts education in describes, with the ratification of the National Education NSW. In doing so, I will, firstly, contextualise this investiga- Agreement, all states and territories approved the imple- tion in the curriculum context in Australia. Second, a brief mentation of the national curriculum in 2009. There was outline of the conceptual framework as currently defined in increased pressure on NSW to comply with the mandate to Visual Arts will be provided. Third, the current situation of the implement the national curriculum although this was an NSW Curriculum Review and its requirements will be de- uneasy settlement (Reid & Price, 2018). Reluctance to scribed (NESA, 2020). Fourth, I will provide a theoretical implement the Australian Curriculum in NSW was account that examines the social ontology of art as a knowl- grounded in serious concerns about the quality and rigour edge domain. Fifth, a brief overview of research on children’s of the national proposals, especially the lack of an over- art understanding during early to late childhood reveals how arching framework, and coherence, consistency and se- core art concepts are implicated in conceptual advance in quencing in subjects (BOS, 2010). In 2014, the Board of Visual Arts. After defining principles for learning in Visual Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW Arts, I then discuss how the conceptual framework meets the (BOSTES) (which became NESA in 2017) commenced requirements of the NSW Curriculum Review. An analytical an ‘adopt and adapt’ process in which Australian discussion of the significance of the framework to learning Curriculum content was incorporated in NSW syllabuses and teaching content then follows. The article concludes with (BOSTES, 2014a, 2014b). Between 2014 and 2018, a sys- the proposition that the conceptual framework should be tematic programme of curriculum renewal in all subjects retained in the NSW Visual Arts syllabuses as it satisfies the K-10 and those that extend to years 11 and 12 then en- key priorities of the NSW Curriculum Review. sued. The Creative Arts key learning area, which includes the subjects of Visual Arts, Music, Dance and Drama, was exempt from this process. The decision not to adopt or Curriculum context in Australia adapt the Australian Curriculum: The Arts (ACARA, 2015) in NSW was grounded in concerns about the lack Responsibility for school education, policy and curriculum of quality and coherence in the national curriculum provi- in Australia is distributed among the federal government sion in The Arts, and low levels of comparability with and six state and two territory governments. The existing NSW curriculum and syllabi raised by stake- Australian Federal Government has traditionally had re- holders during consultation on the Australian sponsibility for policy oversight and the distribution of Curriculum: The Arts (Board of Studies NSW, 2011; education funding to states and territories. Responsibility BOSTES, 2014c). However, despite regular cyclic evalu- for the enactment, reform and evaluation of curriculum ation and renewal in all other learning areas, the Creative falls to state and territory authorities, each with different Arts subjects have not been evaluated or updated for over priorities and curriculum histories. After several attempts 21 years. The last comprehensive revision of the suite of to achieve national consistency in Australian education Creative Arts syllabuses occurred in the late 1990s when a during the 1990s, the Australian Curriculum Assessment standards-referenced curriculum framework was adopted and Reporting Authority (ACARA) was established by the in NSW. Curric Perspect (2021) 41:175–185 177

Background: the conceptual framework 1995). This network of conceptual relations establishes a basic in Visual Arts ontology on which students’ thinking about and engagement in the practice can be operationalised. The frames represent The Conceptual Framework made its appearance in the NSW sets of beliefs, or systems of knowing, that inform explana- Visual Arts curriculum in response to Securing their future: tions of practice that necessarily involve transactions between The New South Wales Government’s reforms for the Higher artists and audiences and the representational meaning and School Certificate (New South Wales, Office of the Minister significance of artworks (Brown, 1992b/2017b). The inclu- for Education and Training, 1997). These reforms saw the sion of the frames as content acknowledges that meaning in development of a standards-referenced curriculum framework art is not limited to the common-sense pragmatics of aesthetic in the NSW curriculum. These reforms were supported by a knowledge but constructed according to a range of epistemo- rigorous syllabus development process that entailed (1) a re- logical traditions that have and continue to shape the nature of view of the subject, (2) a syllabus writing brief, (3) syllabus practice in art. Practice delineates the practical and conceptual development and (4) syllabus implementation. The review forms of reasoning that artists and audiences engage when phase of this process included a comprehensive evaluation making art or when adopting the role of audience to interpret of theoretical and empirical research informing the subject the meaning and value of art in critical and historical accounts, (BOS, 1998). The core of this evaluation was a review of respectively. Practice articulates how these modes of represen- empirical research on student learning in art and the theoreti- tation in art are grounded in thoughtful action that is orientated cal bases on which the psychological, philosophical and edu- according to ontological assumptions about how art exists in cational constraints on art in education could be represented in relation to epistemological assumptions about how its mean- the curriculum (Brown, 2017). This research base provided ing and significance. the grounds on which collaborations among members of a While the three content constructs provide a logical system project team of researchers, representatives of the state educa- for aligning core concepts and theories with skills in develop- tion authority leading syllabus development, teachers and oth- ing students’ understanding of how to practice as artists, critics er stakeholders met the challenges of representing Visual Arts and art historians, the conceptual framework is core to all within the constraints of standards-based curriculum and as- investigations in art. The conceptual framework is represented sessment. The development of a standards-referenced curric- in the Stage 6 Visual Arts Syllabus as follows (Fig. 1): ulum in Visual Arts required that levels of student achieve- The two-way arrows between each of the concepts empha- ment in the two modes of study known as Art Making, and Art sise the causal and interrelated links that exist between each of Criticism and History were described in a single set of stan- the components and how these relationships extend to link dards. To meet this requirement, syllabus designers drew on with other components in the network to sustain understand- philosophical, psychological and educational research in art ings of practice in art. education to describe a framework for content that could be commonly applied in both modes of study. This development signalled a radical departure from process-based conceptions of art learning in which making and studying art were described in ‘means-end’ terms (Brown, 1990/2017). The new framework acknowledged the role of core conceptual knowledge, its relation to practical actions and skills, and how values sustain understanding and learning as practice in Visual Arts. The syllabus framework, which remains in place in 2021, draws into relation three parts: (1) domain-specific concepts that circumscribe the ontology of art; (2) epistemological orientations for thinking about, interpreting and understanding creative performances; and (3) practical and conceptual reasoning. This framework articulates three areas of syllabus content known as (i) the conceptual framework, (ii) the frames and (iii) practice, respectively (BOS 1998, 1999/2016). The conceptual framework identifies the basic components of the artist, artwork, world and audience in the artworld as a domain of practice. It works as a mental organiser for under- – standing how artworld practices are constructed and exist as a Fig. 1 Conceptual framework Agencies in the Artworld (BOS 1999/ 2016, p. 21. Stage 6 Visual Arts Syllabus ©NSW Education Standards function of the social and intentional exchanges between art- Authority for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New ists, artworks, world represented and audiences (Freeman, South Wales, 2016) 178 Curric Perspect (2021) 41:175–185

Mobilising the components of the conceptual framework as Educational Research, was appointed in 2018 to review of the concepts and applying them in explanations of creative prac- NSW K-12 curriculum with the aim of ensuring that it ‘equips tice necessarily requires students to adopt and justify points of students to contribute to Australian society in the 21st century’ view about artworld phenomena. That is, how students under- (NESA, 2018). The final report on this review, Nurturing stand art depends on the epistemological points of view they wonder and igniting passion: designs for a new school draw on to explain what art means and how it functions in the curriculum (NESA, 2020), was released in April 2020. The artworld. It follows that the frames enable students and NSW Government response to the NSW Curriculum Review teachers to orientate their thinking and actions when final report (New South Wales Government, 2020)confirmed explaining the role and function of artworld components these reform directions. A key reform priority is to develop (Brown, 2015, 2006/2017). The frames include subjective, new syllabuses in all subjects K-12. Syllabus revision will cultural, structural and postmodern orientations, each with entail decluttering the curriculum to promote deep learning their own set of sub-concepts that can be taken up in the with understanding K-12. New syllabuses will (1) identify practices of art making and art interpretation. core concepts and principles for learning, (2) ensure syllabus The conceptual framework also provides a conceptual content supports the integration of factual and procedural structure for investigating practice in art making and art criti- knowledge and (3) sustain continuity in learning over years cism and history. Practice supports understandings of the role of schooling (NESA, 2020 p. 6). The reforms assert that revi- of ‘intentions, motives, procedures, strategies and judge- sions to syllabuses will involve identifying ‘essential factual ments’ in what students acting in the role artists do in knowledge, skills, concepts and principles, the understanding representing points of view in artworks they make for audi- of which is developed in increasing depth across the years of ences (BOS 1999/2016, p. 23). Similarly, they invoke con- school’ (NESA, 2020, p 20). Revisions should be derived cepts within the framework when representing points of about from ‘empirical and theoretical research into how increasingly the meaning and significance of artworks they study critically deep knowledge and understandings in a subject commonly and historically (BOS 1999/2016). Necessarily, concepts unfold and are best developed over time’ (NESA, 2020,p.96). within the conceptual framework are also activated as students The reassessment of syllabus content known as the conceptual orientate thoughtful intentions and actions as practitioners framework outlined in this article specifically addresses these through the lens of one or more frames. priorities that will drive the process of revising syllabuses The conceptual framework is core in learning about art K-12. practice in the years 7–10 and K-6 Visual Arts curriculum continuum. The Years 7–10 Visual Arts Syllabus (Board of Studies, 2003) defines content and learning outcomes for the The problem mandatory course of study all students complete in years 7–8 and in the elective courses in Visual Arts, Photographic and Given the enduring popularity of Visual Arts as a mandated Digital Media and Visual Design in years 9–10. The concep- subject K-6 and years 7 and 8, and as the largest subject of tual framework also underscores learning in the Creative Arts elective study in the Creative Arts in the middle and senior K-6 Syllabus (Board of Studies, 2006). This syllabus describes years of schooling, the need for a considered and systematic learning in four artforms: Dance, Drama, Music and Visual evaluation of the terms on which the existing provisions for Arts. The content of each artform is represented in discipline- Visual Arts are grounded has never been more important. As specific terms in which the concepts of artist, artwork, world the core content of the Visual Arts syllabuses K-12 has not and audience are adapted to suit the specific nature of each arts been afforded any substantive evaluation or revision since the discipline. For example, the concept of artwork in Visual Arts 1990s, the challenge is now for Visual Arts educators to ne- articulates as the composition in Music, or a performance in gotiate a pathway between what are potentially outdated syl- Dance and Drama. The conceptual framework achieves a con- labuses and the terms of reference in a significant curriculum ceptual logic in the descriptions of each artform and secures a reform. These reforms are grounded in the assumption that common conceptual structure within and across each artform existing syllabuses do reflect twenty-first century develop- without distorting the different and diverse ways each contrib- ments in arts practice, research in arts education and align with utes to student learning. recent developments in curriculum structure, policy and practice. I argue that the conceptual framework that underscores the knowledge, understanding and skills in the current suite of Current situation: the NSW Curriculum Review syllabuses K-12 is a non-reducible, essential component of content that should be retained in the revised curriculum. In The NSW Curriculum Review has now commenced and the following discussion, I demonstrate how the core concepts promises comprehensive reform of the K-12 curriculum. in this framework align with principles for learning that are Professor Geoff Masters, CEO of the Australian Council of realised in praxis-oriented learning that offers depth of Curric Perspect (2021) 41:175–185 179 understanding, aligns conceptual with practical forms of practice as members of the artworld (Searle, 1995). But decid- knowing and provides conceptual continuity over the years ing what is art is not a question of ‘anything goes’.Rather, of schooling in Visual Arts. The following discussion presents judgements about what counts as art are regulated by rules that an overview of the theoretical and empirical bases on which also constitute the activities, or practices, of artists and audi- this framework represents a basic ontology for understanding ences. In other words, what counts as art comes down to the art. While not intended as a comprehensive review of the constitutive rules of practice that artists and audiences agree research bases of the conceptual framework, this overview on. These collective agreements sanction the terms on which a summarises key theory and research directions that assist in physical object such as a piece of canvas to which paint has justifying the terms on which the conceptual framework been applied is made and is valued as a representational arte- should be retained as core content in Visual Arts K-12. fact. Therefore, in order from something to be deemed art, it has to be granted and fulfill its ‘status functions’ as an artefact of practice (Searle, 1999). Theoretical bases of the conceptual Artworks exist as social ‘facts’ because they are constituted framework by rules of practice. Art making involves taking practical action with some kind of ‘end’ in mind (Wollheim, 1987). These The purpose of this discussion is to describe the social ontol- ends operate as a set of rules that constitute the meaning and ogy of art. Describing the ontology of a domain of knowledge, form of artworks. Intentional beliefs and theories, desires and such as art concerns understanding how it exists, is construct- motives frame the artist’s thoughts and actions as they config- ed and functions. Understanding ontological bases of art en- ure the material and conceptual features of artworks over time ables art educators to understand the logic of how objects such according to their ‘reasons for acting’ (Brown, 2005/2017,p as artworks, social agents such as artists and audiences, rep- 250). What artworks mean exists in the relation between the resentational practices and beliefs about art relate to one an- ‘mental state of the artist’, the way this mental state causes the other and exist in the artworld (Brown, 2017). This project, artwork to be configured and the mental state that the proper- taken up by art educators who draw on John Searle’s(1995, ties of the artwork ‘sets up in the sensitive and informed spec- 1999) realist philosophy, aims to make sense of these factors. tator’ (Wollheim, 1987, p 22). So, artefacts and their proper- They seek understanding of ways a socially constructed do- ties cause artists and audiences to draw on ‘conceptual main and the objects within it can be represented as a logically schemes’ (Searle, 1999,p22;Wollheim,2001) that are shared structured subject of study that can be taught and assessed among members of the community. So, just as an artist draws (Maras, 2018; Brown, 2017). As Haig and Evers (2016)ar- on their intentional beliefs, desires and knowledge of practice gue, Searle’s(1995) ‘local’ realism provides a ‘fine grained’ when making art, audiences draw on their collective beliefs formulation of the real world which can be used to understand and desires to activate values systems and art historical knowl- the particular character and features of domains within the edge to assign ‘facts’ to representational artefacts they en- social sciences. They go on to explain that Searle’sfocusis counter and are caused to think about in a particular way on examining how reality comprises mind-dependent features, (Danto, 1964, 2013). Practice in art is therefore constructed such as artworks, that are ‘partly constituted by our represen- within a system of social and intentional exchanges supported tations of them’ (p.7). That is, realism helps us work out how by collective intentionality, constitutive rules and assignments objects such as artworks both exist as physical things and as of function in the artworld as a social reality. For Searle, these representations to which we ascribe meaning according three factors are the building blocks on which the social on- to beliefs we formulate as part of our practices in art. tology of institutions such as art is constructed. Therefore, the following account explains how art is This realist account of the social relations between artists structured according to our beliefs, language and society and audiences reveals that practice in art is a cognitive enter- (Searle, 1995). prise because it operates within a nexus of constraints of mind, language and society (Searle, 1995). In Searle’s(1995)terms, What is the artworld, how is it constructed and how is practice in art, like speech acts in language, is a mode of it structured? reasoned practical action grounded in thought for the purposes of representing ideas to others. It is a function of the social and The artworld exists as a social reality. As a domain of human intentional exchanges among artworld practitioners whose enterprise, the artworld is constructed according to the co- shared beliefs about art sustain a social system in which art operative relationships that exist between practitioners such is produced and consumed. Beliefs that inform practice as artists and audiences who make artworks and also interpret change according to changing philosophies that shape prac- their meaning and value as intentional artefacts (Baxandall, tice. This means that art can be understood according to a 1985). What counts as art is adjudged by artists and audiences variety of epistemological systems of value. When defined whose roles are defined by their collective beliefs about as having a cognitive basis, the practices of making and 180 Curric Perspect (2021) 41:175–185 interpreting art, beliefs and intentional relations among prac- examples of artworks, the study found that with age, children titioners, representational interests and artefacts of practice gradually begin to draw from a variety of epistemological can be defined as the essential components of art education. beliefs to qualify judgements of pictorial meaning and value. A realist account of the social ontology of art helps art educa- When invited to make a judgement about what they believe tors sort out how and on what terms art practices exist and are ‘good’ portraits, for example, older children aged 12 dem- function within a logical system of intentional relations in- onstrate increasing critical agency by contracting ideas from a volving objects, social agents and an array of varying beliefs. range of beliefs (e.g. idealist, formalist and cultural orienta- These interrelated factors have also been identified as signif- tions) and apply these to frame the meanings they assign to icant factors in the advances children make as they develop artworks in their pictorial reasoning. Whether general or spe- conceptions of the social ontology of art during early to late cific in form, children’s reasoning about art reveals that they childhood. gradually learn to use intentional beliefs to construe reason- able accounts about the artefactual status of artworks by justifying artefact function within a relational network of com- Empirical bases of understanding art prising subject matter, artists and audiences in the artworld. Patterns of conceptual relations represented in children’spic- Domain-specific research on children’s understanding in art is torial reasoning reflect a developmental pathway that de- limited to a small number of studies that examine changes in scribes increasingly more autonomous conceptions of the art the conceptual structure children represent in their reasoning that are grounded in a nexus of beliefs, practical and concep- about art (Maras, 2007, 2010;Freeman,1995). These studies tual reasoning and artworks as intentional artefacts as con- draw on the realist assertion that artworks are ‘intentional straints on art understanding (Maras, 2018; Brown, 2005/ manifestations of mind’ (Wollheim 1993 in Freeman & 2017). Sanger, 1995,Brown,1992a/2017a). Studies that map con- These realist accounts of art and conceptual development ceptual patterns in younger and older children’s intuitive rea- in art reveal that the core concepts artist, audience, world and soning about art show how understanding art changes itera- artwork form a logical basis of understanding art as a domain. tively during early to late childhood. Freeman and Sanger As non-reducible, essential components of understanding art (1993, 1995) found that with age, children come to rely on a as an institutional reality, these concepts are fundamental to network of four core domain-specific concepts when teaching and learning practice in art making and art interpre- explaining their views about what artworks are. tation in conjunction with a range of epistemological orienta- Understanding art is reflected in the representation of these tions. The following discussion explores essential principles concepts as a ‘net of intentional relations’ in their pictorial that underpin ‘the development of increasingly deep under- reasoning (Freeman & Sanger, 1995, p.3). This development standings of core concepts [in Visual Arts]…around which involves a sequence in which pictures are first understood in factual and procedural knowledge is organised’ (NESA, naive terms as world (i.e. subject matter). This assumption is 2020, p 67). gradually replaced by inferences about pictures as products of the intentions of an artist who is responsible for representing the world in a picture, a development that then supports the Principles underlying learning introduction of audience as a factor in artistic representation. for understanding in Visual Arts Conceptual advance describes progression from naïve realist to realist conceptions of art. The arrival of intentional reason- Understanding core art concepts and their relations is ing among concepts in the net shows how development in art underpinned by a set of realist principles, or constraints, which understanding involves increasing conceptual integration and provide a structure on which factual and procedural forms of the qualitative differentiation of concepts and their relations in knowledge are organised and can be logically and consistently art. This shift is complemented by older children’sgrowing articulated in a curriculum continuum (Maras, 2018). The sig- awareness of their own agency as critics, a factor which means nificance of these principles to student learning in Visual Arts that they begin to draw on their own desires and motives in are now outlined. representing and justifying points of view about picture meaning with increasing conceptual autonomy (Brown & Freeman, Principle 1 (social ontology of the artworld) Understanding art 1993). entails engaging in and explaining the institutional structures Age-related correlations between the sequencing of con- in the artworld that contribute to its existence as a social real- cepts in children’s general and critical reasoning about art ity. A social ontology supports students to: are revealed in a study examining the ontological bases of children’s understanding in art (Maras, 2007, 2010). By en- & negotiate the causal nature of intentional transactions and gaging children in extended pictorial reasoning about exchanges among agencies of the artworld and explain Curric Perspect (2021) 41:175–185 181

how these exchanges constitute rules of practice that are These three principles support students, adults, art teachers regulated by individual and collective beliefs in the and art experts alike to mobilise artworld concepts in conjunc- artworld tion with a range of epistemological standpoints when engag- & learn how to assign functions to explain the meaning and ing in understanding art practice. value of artworks as artefacts of practice in relation to the circumstances of their production and consumption in the artworld Discussion & develop and adopt the roles of artist and critic to make artworks and construct interpretations that are granted The following discussion explores how the maintenance of the the status of representational forms of practice. conceptual framework satisfies requirements of the NSW Curriculum Review (NESA, 2020), a key priority of which was to revise existing syllabus content to (1) identify core Principle 2 (beliefs) Understanding in Visual Arts is developed concepts and principles for learning, (2) ensure syllabus con- through learning how to acquire and apply a range of episte- tent supports the integration of factual and procedural knowl- mological beliefs when orientating thinking about relational edge and (3) sustain continuity in learning over years of transactions among agencies of the artworld as social reality. schooling. Epistemological beliefs support students to: Core concepts and principles for learning & adopt and apply a range of values systems to orientate their own intentions, motives, desires and purposes as art- Maintaining the conceptual framework as core content in the ists and critics when learning how to construct new knowl- Visual Arts curriculum confirms the identification of core edge in the form of artworks and critical interpretations concepts that provide a foundation on which principles for & build a repertoire of explanatory systems that can be used learning are represented in Visual Arts. Drawing on the work when representing points of view about their own and of Wiggins and McTighe (1998), the NSW Curriculum others’ practice and creative outputs in art making and Review proposes a shift to a concept-based approach to cur- art interpretation riculum which focusses on the ‘big ideas’ in subjects. Big & understand that explanations of the vast array of historical ideas define a domain of study and function as broad topics and contemporary forms of practice demand the applica- for investigation (Erickson, 2002). Furthermore, Wiggins and tion of orientations that may include, for example, subjec- McTighe (1998) assert that a curriculum should ‘provide a tive, socio-cultural, semiotic and post-structural orienta- conceptual frame-work for helping students make sense of tions among others to explain artworld relationships and discrete facts and skills and uncover the big ideas of content’ phenomena. (p 4). As core content, the conceptual framework enables fundamental questions about the ‘big ideas’ in art to be addressed K-12: Principle 3 (practice) Understanding in art is dependent on knowing how to integrate, practical skills with conceptual & What are artworks? knowledge when adopting the role of artists and audiences & What are artists and what is their role? in the artworld. Practical and conceptual reasoning supports & What are audiences in art and what is their role? students to: & What is the world represented in art?

& develop cognitive beliefs and theories which are integrat- As basic starting points for learning, these questions nec- ed with practical actions, judgements and decisions that essarily anticipate consideration of the intentional relation- inform understandings of practice in art making and art ships between these components of art and how they contrib- interpretation ute to understanding the artworld as a network of social & understand how practical actions in the form of moves, practice. strategies, routines and conventions are shaped by inten- Concept-based curriculum has deep traditions in the belief tional thoughts, beliefs, desires and motives of practi- that teaching geared to depth in learning and understanding tioners in art should start from students’ own knowledge and beliefs about & develop representational agency, metacognitive capacities art and building on that knowledge (Bruner, 1996;Taba, and reflexive higher order thinking skills in how they ori- 1966). Given that the framework is consistent with the basic entate their thoughts, actions and build more complex be- conceptual structure students employ when dealing with art, it liefs about art in anticipation of the roles and functions of is well suited to a concept-based curriculum approach to learn- other social agents in the artworld. ing. The conceptual framework operates as a ‘common lens’ 182 Curric Perspect (2021) 41:175–185 for learning in Visual Arts. It supports the development of examples of the practice in local, national and global practical and conceptual reasoning as students engage in mak- contexts (Lasczik, 2019). ing intentional links among concepts within the artworld and frame these according to a variety of viewpoints. The frame- Syllabus content that support the integration of work affords a common language that students and teachers factual and procedural knowledge can use to reason about and represent points of view about practice in art. It also supports ‘breadth of meaning by The conceptual framework should be maintained as core cur- connecting and organising many facts, skills, and experiences’ riculum content in Visual Arts because it provides a basis for and functions as a ‘linch pin of understanding’ that is developing praxis in art practice. Refocussing the curriculum sustained over time (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998). Through on conceptual bases of understanding and deep learning the recursive application of the framework concepts and their means that the alignment of factual and procedural forms of relations to a wide range of instances of artworld practice over knowing are prioritised. This represents a shift from curricu- time and in time, students gradually confirm their understand- lum as product to curriculum as praxis (Grundy, 1987). The ing of how practice in art exists in a multiplicity of ways in the conceptual framework supports a praxis-based approach to domain of Visual Arts (Brown, 2001/2017). learning and teaching because ‘draws its meaning, not from The conceptual framework also affords teachers opportu- its ends, but from its beginnings’ (Grundy, 1987, p 103). That nities to customise content that caters for students’ varied is, teachers work with students’ intuitive understandings of learning needs and interests in Visual Arts. For example, the knowledge domains and support them to learn how to think framework provides a conceptual scaffold that teachers can in greater depth when applying their thinking to the practical- use support students to orientate themselves in the artworld ities and skills of making art and constructing critical accounts and to understand how they as artists, for example, take into about the practices of other artists, critics and historians. consideration the role of artworks, audiences and subject mat- Art practice necessarily involves developing praxis- ter. Teachers can use this framework to make explicit connec- oriented dispositions in learning. Thought-informed actions among concepts and support students at all levels of tion characterise practices in art making and art inter- learning to renovate their intuitive conceptions of concepts pretation. For example, when adopting the role of artist, in art and thus deepen their thinking (Ponnusamy, 2017). students necessarily engage in thinking about how their The conceptual framework provides a consistent actions (e.g. applying technical skills, methods and pro- framework of art understanding that supports transfer cedures) in making artwork will be understood as mean- in learning across practices within Visual Arts. It ap- ingful by audiences. At the same time, they frame their plies in art making and in the development of practice thinking and actions by adopting epistemological be- in art criticism and art history. Teacher can then make liefs. That is, they gear their intentions in making the connections between the instances of practice developed artwork according to subjective, aesthetic, cultural or in one mode of study with similar ideas in the other. post-structural orientations as points of view, for exam- For example, studying the work of contemporary artists ple, in order to impact audiences’ perceptions of repre- interested in ceramic practice helps provide a model for sentational meaning in a particular way. Similarly, when developing students’ own practice as ceramicists. This adopting the role of the critic or art historian, students integrated approach does support the development of are invited to explain the meaning and significance of praxis, deep understanding and great conceptual auton- artworks in written and oral accounts. These require omyinlearninginVisualArts.Similarly,usingthe students to integrate skills and theory in the production conceptual framework as a basis for teaching in and of critical and historical interpretations. These accounts across different topics provides continuity in approach represent points of view about how issues of represen- and supports students to hone their understanding of tation, intentions and the properties of artworks that can how they can apply this content to different instances be appreciated and valued by other audiences. Again, of practice. As a tool-box of concepts, this framework these kinds of accounts support them to apply epistemo- can be applied to investigations of real-world instances logical beliefs to frame their arguments and to declare of artworld phenomena. It also provides flexibility for their orientations as practitioners. Learning that favours teachers to adopt a range of epistemological orientations the integration of skills with knowledge is that inform practice in art and to draw on their expertise conceptualised as emancipatory in nature as students in the subject when constructing curriculum. It supports advance into engaging in deep thinking, knowing how teachers to construct programmes of learning that are they know and can actively participate in constructing responsive to emerging events, spectacles and develop- new knowledge by applying their knowledge to new, ments that continue to emerge in the contemporary real-world situations (Grundy, 1987). On these terms, artworld and engage students with real-time artworld the conceptual framework supports the development of Curric Perspect (2021) 41:175–185 183 praxis-oriented learning which is core to understanding In writing this article, this paper, it has become increasingly howtoengageasapractitionerinartandalsohowto evident to me that Visual Arts would benefit from a systematic understand the practices of others in the artworld. programme for research that explores how the conceptual framework is reflected in students learning, creative perfor- Syllabus content that sustains continuity in learning mances and how it informs teacher pedagogy, curriculum over years of schooling. practice and assessment in Visual Arts education. The asser- tions that are made about the need for research informed cur- Maintaining the conceptual framework as core content in the riculum development in the NSW Curriculum Review stand Visual Arts curriculum sustains conceptual continuity over the as a reminder to art educators that Visual Arts offers a rich years of schooling in Visual Arts to ‘ensure every student source of opportunities for further study and research which makes excellent progress in their learning’ (NESA, 2020,p. would serve to continue to secure the place of the subject in 97). The framework provides a common language that the NSW Curriculum. teachers and students negotiate in teaching and learning exchanges at all levels of schooling. The concepts and relationships between them are fundamental to engagement with art Conclusion regardless of age, experience or expertise. Empirical research indicates that the development of con- This article has re-assessed how a conceptual framework ceptual understanding in art is a gradual process. It involves as articulated in the current NSW Visual Arts syllabuses learning to navigate and apply a conceptual sequence that provides a foundation for representing core concepts and begins with rudimentary accounts of artworks as subject mat- principles for learning in the next iteration of this curric- ter and develops with age as students build increasingly inte- ulum. Set against the background of the NSW Curriculum grated accounts of the intentional relationships within the Review (NESA, 2020), this re-assessment has drawn on artworld (Maras, 2010). The conceptual framework therefore theoretical and empirical research to reveal how the con- supports students to move from naïve to more autonomous ceptual framework comprising the core concepts of artist, understandings of art through the gradual development of artwork, world, audience and relations between these con- higher inference reasoning. This development reflects the cepts sustain understanding in art. Understanding in art gradual mastery of intentional reasoning across the framework comprises the integration of a social ontology of the as students build higher levels of conceptual integration in artworld, epistemological beliefs and practical and con- their understanding—a trajectory that emerges from child- ceptual reasoning as a basis for practice. I have argued hood to adolescence as intentional theories of art are consol- that the conceptual framework should be retained as core idated (Parsons, 1987). content in Visual Arts K-12 because it describes the core The conceptual framework also provides the conceptual concepts and the principles for learning, sustains praxis- foundations for learning in all years of schooling. Through oriented learning and stable a stable framework for learn- applying this framework to a wide range of instances of ing K-12. The next steps in this programme of research is artworld practice over time, students actively engage in the to show how this account of the core concepts and prin- recursive repositioning of their understandings of art. It is ciples in Visual Arts provides a strong basis on which consistent with Bruner’s(1960) notion of the spiral curricu- learning progression in the subject can be described lum wherein continuous engagement with domain-specific (NESA, 2020). In light of Ewing’s(2020) proposals that concepts supports students to develop a reflective awareness the quality and integrity of curriculum in the Arts can be of how these concepts can be applied in different contexts and sustained if the policy makers and education leaders can to make connections across different examples of practice be convinced of the importance of Arts learning for all within a domain. This process is one of ‘representational re- Australian students, the inclusion of the conceptual frame- description’ (Karmiloff-Smith, 1996) wherein students’ naïve work provides a strong basis for arguing the cognitive understandings of these conceptual relations within the frame- value of learning in the Arts in perhaps in national as well work are recursively repositioned and renovated. Through it- as the NSW curriculum. erative cycles of revisiting these concepts, they can be supported to achieve increasing conceptual integration and realise deep learning. This approach supports the development of Declarations I declare that I am the sole author of this manuscript higher order thinking skills, development of abstract concepts and that this manuscript is original, has not been published before and is and metacognitive reflection and theory construction in learn- not currently being considered for publication elsewhere. ing (Maras, 2018). I wish to declare that I was previously employed by the NSW Board of Studies as a member of the Visual Arts Project Team responsible for the Each of the topics addressed in this brief discussion sug- development of the Subject Evaluation for Visual Arts as part of the gests areas for further research in this Visual Arts education. McGaw Review of the Higher School Certificate in 1997–1998. I was 184 Curric Perspect (2021) 41:175–185 also the Visual Arts Project Manager (SEO2) responsible for the devel- Realism in Art, Design and Education (pp. 209–230). 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