Shaping the Academy

The following section collects excerpts from the annual plan 2021 / 2022 for the Fine Art department at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. It is the last plan I wrote. All references to people or local details have been removed. Since the plan summarizes the ethos and strategy we have developed over the past year, it might also be of general interest.

The past year has been challenging for everyone at KABK in many ways. The 50% rule, allowing half of the student community access to the buildings at a time has been an important improvement in comparison to the full lockdown in the first months of the pandemic. Still we can see an increasing fatigue among students (and staff) and the desire to meet the full group again beyond the confines of online communication. The recent exhibitions outside the school buildings (year 3 reviews at external locations with full compliance to hygiene rules) has contributed to lighten up for a more positive expectation, at least for year 3 students. The opportunity to work together in three separate but mixed groups has widened the horizon again and provides an enormous appetite for “normal” learning after the pandemic. But we have also made some good experience with the use of online tools and will certainly continue to use them also in the future as an addition to the live teaching.

We realise that cultural change is not a one off exercise. It has to be a constant and ongoing activity. We fully sign up for it to constantly approve our educational offers. As starting point we can ground the process of change on this quote from our study guide: "We embed learning at the fine art department in shared values. We see democracy, tolerance and respect as the fundament for understanding differences, living with differences and even loving differences. We understand antagonism as attractive, rather than as a threat." (see study guide 2020 / 21 on our portal)

As a Fine Art BA programme within an art academy all our plans and developments are guided by two sets of responsibilities: a responsibility for the students we work with, their ambitions, visions and goals and a responsibility for the advancement of our field: Fine art. We have therefore set our aim as “to enable students to participate actively in the continuous renewal of art as an important contribution to the culture, the economy and the social wellbeing of our societies.” (see study guide 2020 / 21 on our portal)

Most of our students aim at becoming active artists. This gives us the responsibility to relate everything we do closely to an investigation of the context professional artists find themselves in nowadays and to trigger students’ confidence to actively shape and change what role art and artists will have in our societies. But also those who decide not to take the challenges of the role of a professional artist will be enabled to derive valuable skills from our educational programme, which enables them to shape their future in proximity of the arts without acting as artist themselves. In our ethos statement it says: “We try to equip future artists with skills, competencies, strategies and confidence to shape their future and the future of the arts.” (see study guide 2020 / 21 on our portal) Over the past years we have distilled what is distinctive for the BA Fine Art programme at KABK. (see text proposal for standard 1)

Over the past years we have shifted our educational focus from the development of talent to exploratory approaches, curiosity and methodical strategies, in short: research-based artists practice. In the context of Fine Art, talent can be understood as the given ability to apply creative techniques in such a way that an artistic expression will be admired. The range of techniques and technologies applicable for art making has widened so extensively, however, that the gifted mastering of them does not determine quality anymore. Research has become a substantial condition for artistic practice instead. What do you try to find out? How do you want to find out about it? What do you know about what others have found out about it already? Such questions characterise the discussions we have with the students at the BA Fine Art at KABK, to enable them to prepare for a truly contemporary practice which sees itself responding to the contemporary societal, historical, scientific and political context.

The desire to create space in one’s life for self-expression and self-realisation often triggers the wish to apply for studying in Higher Art Education in the first place. Contemporary art practice has proven that such desires are of minor importance. At the Ba Fine Art at KABK we support students to understand, develop and question the role, which art and artists can have in our societies now and in future. Self-expression is replaced by an aesthetic of curious inquiry and methodical experimentation. Self-realisation is replaced by developing contextualisation skills, which enable strategic approaches to publishing and art making born from critical distance to the own work.

People with a high level of sensitivity and a strong tendency to differentiate themselves from others in their individuality often feel attracted to the visual arts. The rich diversity of different and often contradicting personalities forms the energetic culture at any Institute of Higher Art Education. The BA Fine Art at the KABK celebrates diversity and differences by supporting communities which leave room for the highest individuality, but also enables mutual generous support. Art arises from the discourses of the communities of artists in close dialogue with other social groups. We encourage this at KABK and prepare students to continue promoting collaborative thinking after they graduate.

We prepare students for a professional artistic practice. “Practice” replaces understanding art making as a discipline. We use the term practice to make clear that both learning, and professionalism must include a wide range of strategies in technique, methods, theory and the creating of the role, which art and artists will or should have in future. At the same time “Practice” points to a continuous and ongoing learning process, which characterises every professional behaviour of an artist, a process of true lifelong learning.

The educational ethos is also guide by

independence: enable students to drive their own learning practice, without assignments given by others and by managing the transition from being at school to studying

individual support: the diversity of the community of students requires tailor-made educational strategies, target at the individual development. This must happen with a high degree of professional distance and respect.

mistakes: experiments and making mistakes are but of every learning and are crucial for any artists practice

groups and communities: Artists need each other. Art is not just a collection of individual careers, but a collective endeavour to advance a cultural support. It is important that this is also reflected in our educational activities.

As a contemporary institution of Higher Art Education we must bring the principles of an academy and the values of Higher Education together. The main understanding of the term academy is that of an institution or society for the advancement of literature, art, or science. Such advancement however is not possible without seeing art in its historical development, but also not without understanding art-making in the wider context of what is determining the social, technological and political developments in our world. Like most institutions of Higher Art Education we have taken that into account by constantly widening our curriculum and given students access to a much wider theoretical field. In an international context this has often led to reforming art schools into Universities of the Arts, also and especially since artistic research has found its place in the context of national research agendas.

It is crucial however, that we continue on the path of integrating all subjects into one term of “practice”. Art making always develops in a context, but understanding and researching the context is inextricably linked with artistic production. All connections to other disciplines, be it inside or outside KABK (or any other HAE) happen on the premisses of art making. Isolating them, for example in the form of minor subjects and major subjects, is often seen as giving more agency to the students, but instead of giving access to areas which students deem relevant for their individual artistic development, it provides only a superficial access to relevant topics and leads to learning-behaviour like in the context of primary education, which contradicts the goal of striving for a high level of independence. If we understand Academy as a safe learning community firmly imbedded in the contemporary critical discourses, even shaping them, we should urgently continue to develop higher art education as a specific approach  to learning, rather then by mimicking experiments from higher education in other subject-areas.

Creativity is the rock which carries every institution of Higher Art Education. We guide students to understand and contextualise their creativity and we help them to unleash it. This however depends on the creativity of everyone involved, from student to team-leader, from tutor to support staff, from academic leader to the directorate. Creativity is neither a gift nor a tool that can just be taken out of the toolbox to solve a problem, when it might be needed. Creativity needs supportive environments, a high degree of autonomy, respect and care. When this is in place creativity can run through the whole organisation and ensure that it is a learning organisation. Such principles guide the arts and should certainly also guide an academy of art.

But creativity also needs to be channeled and flanked by appropriate frameworks. Creative chaos is a myth and is only there to cover up that the creator has no clue.

Our student community in the academic year 2020 / 21 consisted of 43% dutch citizens, 41 % EU citizens and 15 % Non EU citizens. The total group of 175 students had a background in 40 different nations. 29 % were male and 71 % female. We continued this trend in the admissions process 2021 and offered places to 29 new students, 41 % dutch, 39 % EU and 20 % Non EU. We admitted 9 new male students (31%) and 20 new female students (69%) Students had access to 27 tutors: 16 female tutors (59%) and 11 male tutors (41%). 12 tutors are dutch (44%), 15 tutors have an international background (56%). 3 tutors have a background from outside the EU (11%) (For this purpose UK counts as EU, disregarding Brexit)

The richness of the diverse background of students defines the BA Fine Art programme. In admissions interviews we often hear, that it is the international community of the programme which makes it attractive. The cultural diversity allows students to recognise their own determination by their cultural background, but it also allows to develop a truly international understanding of art through the discourse between students and with tutors. Many of our students have a rather non definable cultural background, because they often moved with their parents and were brought up in different cultural settings.

The composition of the group of tutors partially reflects that diverse cultural mixture. We are on our way to match the gender mix of students (70% / 30%) with the gender mix of tutors (60% / 40%). We will continue to pay attention to it in future appointment processes. Although the often in the media stated “white male dutch dominance” among teachers is not really recognisable in our team, (56% have an international background) we are aware that only 3 of our tutors represent a Non European background. When appointing new staff we normally advertise with an open call to attract artists from a more diverse background to apply for working with our students. Our contractual situation however - small contracts, mostly temporary - prohibits to search for tutors in a wider international context. Instead we try to benefit from the international population of artists which programmes like the Riksakademie or De Ateliers bring to the Netherlands. When admitting new students to the programme we try to pay special attention to applicants with some form of a migration background. We want to reflect the current composition of our societies in the future community of artists. We hope to make Fine Art studies attractive to those segments of our society, where considering to study fine art is not the first option. We should find ways to inform better about the opportunities (and pitfalls) which lie in studying fine art also to potential applicants, where the social background does not promote studying Fine Art as a possibility to contribute to our cultural development, but also as an economical viable option.

We realise that our teaching does not reflect the diverse composition of our student community enough. Of course students speak to each other, but this often happens without guidance or mediation from the tutors. We recognise the urgency to change that. In the past academic year we have initiated a review of our curriculum element “Critical Practice”. The remit contains to investigate how we can pay closer attention to contemporary discourses on diversity, racism, equality, environmental awareness and the consequences of digitisation. The outcomes will be presented at the end of the semester and will guide the development of the critical practice programme in the coming years. (see page 22) A reading group with 12 students (elective) is currently running to investigate the impact of colonialism on the development of contemporary fine art and how to overcome it in the future. (Guided by the team leader of the critical practice team, Winnie Koekelbergh)

But dealing with diversity, inclusion, racism and colonialism must not be limited to Critical Practice as a sideline alone. Since we understand all our curriculum elements as “practice” it is also urgent to pay closer attention to such issues in all teaching moments. We plan to introduce a new curriculum subheading: intercultural practice. For now it is listed in our curriculum plan under the heading Critical Practice. As a starting point the team of tutors taking responsibility for the 1st year students has begun to develop a model, which fosters a truly intercultural understanding among students and tutors right from the beginning of semester 1.

Being an artist does in no way justify bad or disrespectful behaviour. It is an explicit goal of the BA Fine Art programme to investigate and re-define what role art and artists have, can have and should have in our societies in the future. This should indicate, that we do not teach from a given norm, but that we encourage to question norms. We also explicitly inform in our guidelines for students (and tutors) in relation to reviews and assessments - and how to prepare for them - that experiments and making mistakes is a crucial part of all artistic practice. We ask explicitly that students use their digital portfolio to document their process of learning, rather than to present selected results, which students deem successful. This includes the documentation of mistakes and what consequences have been drawn from it.

We also say in our educational ethos (see portal): “ Art comes in many, and often controversial forms. We cherish art as exciting, stimulating, motivating, pleasing, disturbing, illuminating, revealing or just beautiful. We value the small interventions as well as the great gestures. “ In our review-conversations with students (they replace assessments at the end of each semester and are mostly connected to experiments in how to present work in a group) we explicitly avoid to glorify students who dare to open their mouth.

We believe it cannot be avoided, that artists set norms, when they are involved in Higher Art Education. Reflecting upon current developments in contemporary fine art we see however, that such norms are scrutinised and questioned by contemporary art practice itself, such as participatory practices, non material practices and communal practices, which question the predominant significance of the individual artist, to name just a few. (see nominations for Turner Prize 2021. The shortlist consists entirely of artist-collectives) In theory we are on the right way to deal with artistic norms in a positive and creative way. But we still have a lot to do to make sure that our agreed ethos is also fully lived in the day to day education within the department. Students come to our programme with the idea of freedom in self expression, they learn that self expression is not enough to sustain a role in our societies and they start doubting and questioning if they are willing to take on the challenges and responsibilities, which will come with the role of an artist. In the period of doubt it is vital that students have the chance to explore how artists currently deal with such challenges. This means they need “role models”, which can give them the hope and confidence that art making matters and has power. This means that the BA Fine Art programme needs artists as teachers, which have achieved a certain position, but are also capable to question that position, are willing to share their experience and are prepared to measure their own experience against the expectation of students. This builds a fruitful ground to re-define what role art and artists will have in the future. This in itself is an educational challenge and not achievable without equipping artists with educational training and access to pedagogical theories.

- It has been a central focus over the past years to restructure how we assess students over the years and at examination points (propaedeuse exam and final exam)

- we have moved away from handing the “opinion” of tutors to students in assessment moments

- we have found ways, which truly focus on the students and gives the students space to talk

- we have found ways to transform assessment moments from individual scrutiny to review conversations in groups

- we have found ways to give ample of time for such conversations: 90 minutes for conversations with 3 to 4 students

- we have moved away from giving a judgment in one grade and provide students with a transparent learning profile, depicting each teacher’s impression on the achievement of each learning outcome

- we have linked reviews to a set of presentations / exhibitions, which at the same give students the opportunity to experiment with presentations in space and in groups.

The list of learning outcomes is central to all assessments and reviews. “We have created a system of presentations, crits and collective conferences (tutors reviewing how they experience your learning) to accompany students in the years between exams. We use the term “review” to indicate that this is designed to give students guidance and advice about how they should best continue with their studies, taking the progression from one year level to the next into account, this means the growth of experience, which we might expect. Reviews are “spot checks”, and exercises for a future practice.” (study guide on reviews, assessments and exams). The listed learning outcomes enable tutors to structure their questions in the “review / exam conversations” which are described in the study guide: 

“Review / exam conversations are the backbone to give you (the students) the opportunity to reflect on your previous learning and your development so far together with fellow students and your tutors. They will always be organised as group discussions with 3-4 students and a team of tutors. The review teams will ask questions which enable them to get an impression of how far you have come to achieve all individual learning outcomes. They strive to get an impression of your learning as a whole. This includes experiments, mistakes, sketches, models, plans, notes: a picture of an enthusiastic form of practice: disciplined, reflective and curious. The review teams also want to get an impression of your level of activity as researcher. Where do you draw your inspiration from? What questions do you ask towards the world and your role as an artist? What do you do to find answers to your questions? How does your research-results relate to what others have found out already Are you capable to see your own activities as art-student from a critical and self-critical angle? What do you do to understand the wider context of your work: politically, socially, historically? Review / Exam Conversations will happen via online video chat tools or life in close proximity to the presented work, but not necessarily in front of the work.”

The outline above (the text is used to inform students ahead of reviews) indicates our intention to transform assessment moments in to reviews, which enable students to reflect upon their learning and make plans for future learning. At the same time we focussed on reducing stress, which any assessment moment will create, no matter how we call them. We need more time to share experience and we need to be open for critique and self-critical enough to monitor our own behaviour from within the community of tutors.

It is of upmost importance that we continue to explain to students that reviews are moments to reflect and guide rather than moments of judgement. We should put even more emphasis on the opportunity to experiment with presentations and we should continue to rehearse how to conduct meaningful feedback conversations with students. We should continue to make the review moments a conversation in small groups, and we should continue to give ample of time for such conversations in a relaxed atmosphere.

It will continue to be a logistical challenge to place the presentations and exhibitions in the academic calendar in such a way, that they are the culmination of a study section (end of semester). A way forward could be to reduce the number of tutors involved in reviews further (good example: the crit, a conversation between there tutors and three students) Recent experience from this year’s reviews shows that the group of tutors involved in a review should not exceed the size of the group of students. This might help to put students more at ease in the moment of reviews, it would also allow more planning flexibility, allowing reviews happening in parallel at the end of the semester.

Our study guide includes a clear list of key dates, firmly placing reviews and assessments in the academic year. This should give students a good base to plan their learning activities. However: at the moment we notice a setback in the acceptance of the portal (where the study-guide is published) as a tool for communication. (see “communication” for more details)

We fully recognise the need for didactical skills and educational knowledge. The resistance against such training (“I have been teaching for 20 years, do not send me to a course now”) is not contemporary anymore. If we will speak of a group of core teachers, it is clear that regular updates on educational issues must be mandatory.

The BA Fine Art teaching team is undergoing a moment of renewal, since some of the more experienced colleagues have or are about to retire. We recognise the need for a thorough induction programme, guided by the head of department, involving team-leaders and other tutors, but also colleagues from other departments and by including the directorate, needs to be developed. Although this might appear as an oversized, bureaucratic exercise, we can also see that it would be a valuable opportunity to share the vision of KABK and the department as well as the educational ethos with new tutors. This is of upmost importance to enable KABK to function as an educational community with shared values. At the same time it would invite new tutors right from the beginning to participate in the discussions which will shape the development of the vision of KABK and the department(s) thus contributing to shaping us as a learning organisation.

Didactical training alone however is not enough without constantly measuring what has been learned against the experiences of everyday educational life.  Tutors need time over and above their sheer teaching hours to be able to meet and exchange experience and to develop plans together. Even when extra hours are allocated in the annual JTBs this is not enough time to develop a functioning feedback loop among all tutors. Regular meetings in groups of tutors are paramount to enable them to stay alert to pedagogical issue. In addition a pedagogical forum should be established to weave  the discussions from the smaller groups into a shared and lasting educational ethos

The past 18 months have been tough. The corona outbreak forced us to reinvent our educational setting and the report has revealed issues, which need immediate attention. All this has made clear how insufficient the personnel structure is in the department. Already in previous years everybody has worked over and above contracted hours and with huge commitment.

At a number of previous points in this plan we pointed out that time and space for everybody is crucial to be enabled to participate in the development of a shared educational vision which creates safety and trust fro students, including support staff. On many levels, we come up against resource limits if we want to implement an effective action plan that takes up the challenges of the report. New roles and responsibilities have to be created, not just at institutional levels, but also at the departments.

Below is the description of a new model how to distribute a reviewed resource of staff hours  to ensure high qualitative education, full safety for staff and students and a highly proactive commitment to the development of educational approaches and the development of the department and KABK. The model moves away form the current practice to provide contracts on highly detailed and differentiated JTBs. Instead the model speaks of generally sized contracts which are easy for staff to compare. This means that the contracts cover all activities, also beyond the pure teaching: assessments and reviews. It also covers for  sharing of experience, developing the educational ethos, participation in excursions etc. Teaching activities in electives and IST projects are currently not included.

The model underpins and strengthens the role Team-Leader. The new role of senior Tutors includes acting as coach for groups of students. Coaches are available to give advice which reach beyond ongoing teaching activities. Coaches help students to understand the educational plans of the department and to structure their learning over the four years and as a day to day activity. They are also the first point of contact to discuss difficulties or problems. Coaches point students to the roles of the vertrouensperson and the KABK dekan(s). They will be familiar with the tasks of the diversity officer and other KABK roles to advise students appropriately. In addition to the coaching role of the senior tutors 3 additional coaches must be installed to support distinctive student groups: the Double Degree students, the Part Time students and the international students.

The description of roles below will need to be reviewed and developed further. For now they are an indication. The model adheres to a recommended practice with permanent contracts, complimented by a more flexible group of staff with non permanent contracts. We propose however that such contracts should have a commitment to 4 years. Regular reviews of staff based upon feedback from students will help the tutor to improve the own teaching.

Teamleader: leads the development of the section culture, leads and manages the team of tutors, manages and monitors the implementation of educational department plans, contributes to the development of the educational ethos of the department, point of communication for students and tutors, provides teaching and contributes to educational group activities (a day a week), participates actively in reviews, assessment and feedback

Seniors Tutors: provides teaching and contributes to educational group activities (a day a week), participates actively in reviews, assessments and feedback, acts as coach for a group of students, contributes actively to the sharing of educational experience with other tutors, across the sections and across departments, contributes to the pedagogical forum, develops the own teaching, helps shaping and promoting the section culture

Power tutor: reflects currently not covered positions in the arts to ensure flexibility, provides teaching and contributes to educational group activities (a day a week), can be allocated to other sections, depending on actual student numbers, to ensure an equal student/ staff ratio, participates actively in reviews, assessments and feedback, acts as coach for a group of students, contributes actively to the sharing of educational experience with other tutors, across the sections and across departments, contributes to the pedagogical forum,, develops the own teaching, helps shaping and promoting the section culture.

Head of Department: responsible for the planning of the educational programme of the department, responsible for the monitoring of the implementation of the department plans, responsible for the planning and distribution of the resources of the department, responsible for the planning of the pedagogical forum and other moments to share experiences within the department and across, responsible for the social safety within the department, responsible for the planning and management of reviews and assessments, participates actively in reviews and assessments where possible, manages the group of team-leaders, works in close collaboration with the other heads of departments and contributes to the development of KABK, monitors the compliance with KABK policies.

Coordinators: supports the HoD in her / his responsibilities, manages the day to day business of the department, supports the team leaders in managing the activities of the year groups, manages communication with students of the year groups, point of contact for students from all year groups, manages and monitors the use of OSIRIS, supports the HOD in monitoring the compliance with KABK policies.

As the main point to collect and disseminate all communication the BA Fine Art has adopted the use of the portal. Here we publish our study guide and here we post important information. The portal has initially been well accepted as a point of information by students in previous years.

However: at the moment we notice a setback. As a tool for communication It competes with other forms of communication developed in individual sections or for programmes (WhatsApp groups, instagram and other social media, e-mails) Students got confused and do not have one single port for all information. To a certain extend this is understandable. Placing information on the portal is rather time consuming and does not invite for the quick communication, which social media provide. Experimenting with a monthly newsletter has become such a big task, that pressures of the day to day activities of the department have prohibited to follow up regularly enough to be taken serious enough by students and staff. The limited formatting possibilities in the use of the portal sometimes has an effect on readability.

It is now necessary to develop a new communication strategy. This should revive the portal as an important archive for information, especially the study guide, which allows students to plan their year better. But the portal must probably be complimented by a quicker form of communication. It should be considered if the diverse use of communication - tools which might differ from section to section or even form curriculum element to curriculum element - provides an adequate and contemporary form of communication or if a more centralised and unified form prevents the current confusion off students. In any case it remains crucial that students and staff continue to use and maintain their KABK e-mail account.

Appropriate communication takes a lot of time. Therefore a new responsibility for communication should be allocated and added to the remit of the coordinators. The FTE model recommends an equivalent increase in the FTE

At the moment the participation of students and their involvement in decision processes is maintained by the role of student representatives. The head of department meets with them on a monthly basis. The team-leaders participate in such meetings. Discussions within the student groups of the sections will be facilitated by the Team-Leaders. To ensure participation and involvement of students on a department level the role of student-representative can be quite effective, if we strengthen the role and give better support for it: implement an election process, which gives student representatives appropriate authority. The practice to nominate students can lead to unwanted favouritism, consider an adequate reimbursement of student representatives. (get paid for the job), provide organisational support for student representatives to enable them better to fulfil their role and implement a forum for student representatives to meet without the team-leaders and the HoD. These recommendations should be discussed and agreed upon for implementation at all departments. They have to be aligned with the plans of the KABK participation council.

At the moment the responsibility for most decisions lie with the directorate on KABK level and the HoDs at department level. The directorate will develop its own strategy to increase transparency of decisions. At department level the head of department will need to develop a strategy tailor-made for the department. An important tool is the already established bi weekly Team-leader meeting and the meetings with student representatives. An improved communication strategy will also help to make decisions more understandable and transparent.

We considered a new layer in the decision process, something like a local Learning-Committee. We rejected this plan as it would increase the bureaucratic workload of both the HoD and the staff and students who would have been involved. Instead it is recommended that the HoD seeks the advise from team-leaders and tutors when appropriate, something like regular development meetings. The established staff seminars can also contribute to more transparency.