The summer term beckons, and whilst many colleagues are just part way through the Easter break, the summer term has begun for others. We aim to keep you updated and informed as we all gear up for the busy months ahead.

As you limber up and get ready for exams, assessments, exhibitions and, who knows, maybe some excursions out, NSEAD members are getting ready for a season of inspiring events and publications. In May your spring edition of AD will arrive – it's as stimulating and thought provoking as ever. 

Digest the results of the Art, Craft and Design APPG survey, which will be shared at the next APPG meeting in May. And don’t miss your regular newsletter – essential reading for every NSEAD member – as you plan for the next academic year.

Our summer Conference brings together educators, artists, patrons and some inspiring young people. We invite you to consider what leadership means to you, in your career and for your learners. And for those who are able to travel for a long awaited ‘face-to-face', we are looking forward with great excitement to seeing you at our ‘summer social’ at the National Gallery in July.

So, a summer of support, resources and joyful encounters – something to look forward to!

Michele Gregson

General Secretary

Booking is now open!

Strategic, transformational, and visionary leadership – together we can lead change for our subject, our learners and each other.

Join us from May to September for a unique mixed programme of events.

Your conference pass will give you access to a flexible programme of tailored professional development, inspiring presentations and lively debate about the issues that matter to you.

• Afternoon and twilight sessions throughout the summer term
• Interactive and recorded sessions 
• A wealth of conference resources to fit in with your busy schedule

You don't have to be in a leadership role to participate – there is something here for all art educators, no matter what your setting or where you are in your career. 

Image credit: Adam Hollingworth Photography

How much do your students know about design’s role in the climate crisis?

In the Design Museum's Sustainable Design workshops, KS3-5 students have the chance to work with a selection of handling items from its recent Waste Age exhibition. Participants will then evaluate everyday objects and reimagine alternatives for a circular economy. 

The workshops can be delivered either at the Design Museum or remotely in your classroom.

When: Wednesday, 27 April 2022, 17:30-18:00

Where: Primary Art: Ask NSEAD Facebook Group 

For this NSEAD Primary Art Live we will be joined by sculptor Alistair Lambert.

Alistair has studied a BA in Sculpture at Chelsea School of Art and an MA at the Royal College of Art. He now makes sculptures, delivers creative projects and runs workshops. Collaboration and social engagement is an essential element of his work, alongside his studio practice and private commissions.

All primary art students, teachers and leaders are welcome to the group and to join in the conversation with Alistair. 

We're looking forward to today's (Wednesday) University-Based Initial Teacher Education (UBITE) Network meeting being hosted online at 4pm. We'll be talking about experiences of Ofsted Inspection for Art and Design ITE. Anyone interested in knowing more about the network, please contact Michele Gregson.

Next meeting: Assessment and opportunities for promoting anti-ableist frameworks for assessment.  All welcome.

Members of the group will share their insights into current assessment practices and we will discuss how these might be informed by an anti-ableist philosophy.

When: 26 April from 17.00 to 18.30

Via Zoom (link here)
Meeting ID: 867 4971 2667
Password: 756923

From September 2021, a new induction process known as the Early Career Framework (ECF) came into being. The ECF intention is that the new induction process will provide greater support for new teachers and improve their induction experience. Here, we explain what to expect and what your rights are during your time as an ECT.

From the AD archive: We're revisiting an article by Louise Clazey about a differentiated six-week, option-based home-learning project exploring the theme of conflict. The project aimed to be organic, fluid and student-led with a focus on students exploring and expressing their views, opinions and emotions through their own artwork.

Teachers need a range of ‘Open’ questioning strategies to address different learning needs and situations. Teachers must also pitch questions effectively to raise the thinking challenge, target specific students or groups within the class. This essential guidance informs teachers how to pre-plan their questions and select approaches for promoting classroom talk; prepare their ‘open’ and ‘high-challenge’ questions; pre-determine the level and type of challenge they wish to set, who they will target and how they will target specific groups in the classroom. 

Thank you to the many members who have already purchased Foreday Morning. This is what Sophie Leach deputy general secretary says about the book:

'This beautiful book (second edition) begins in Barbados and ends in London. The descriptions of life in Barbados are exquisite. When Paul came to Oxford, he was the only black student of secondary school age; the same at the Chelsea School of Art. The details of institutional racism in 1960s-70s England left me utterly floored. The book is portrait of hope and resilience, and as Dr Miranda Matthews says, 'a compelling argument for social justice in arts and education'.

The book is available from the NSEAD website now, priced at £15.99 (incl. P&P).

The inaugural 'Chippenham Art Trail' will take place on Saturday 18 June. 

It will be an all-day exhibition, giving you the opportunity to display/sell your art, talk to people and potential buyers about your work and meet other artists. A variety of venues around Chippenham town centre will exhibit artists' work, with an Art Trail map guiding visitors around the exhibitions and displays. There will also be social media coverage and posters, flyers etc promoting the event and artists.

Application deadline: 30 April 

UNESCO recently published a new report Leave no child behind: global report on boys’ disengagement from education. The report seeks to provide an overview on the global situation on boys’ disengagement from and disadvantage in education. 

It also identifies factors influencing boys’ participation, progression and learning outcomes in education, along with a set of recommendations, organised for different stakeholders:

• Advance equal access to education and prevent boys' dropout
• Make learning gender-transformative, safe and inclusive for all learners
• Invest in better data and generate evidence
• Build and finance equitable, inclusive and gender-transformative education systems
• Promote and ensure integrated, coordinated and system-wide approaches

From award winning artist educators Jeanette Barnes and Paul Brandford (weexploredrawing.co.uk), City Sketching Reimagined contains in bite size A-Z entries, everything you need to know about sketching on location.

Discover how to choose the most effective materials, capture city scenes quickly and inventively on paper and then develop your drawings back at base should you wish. The book is available from Amazon and WH Smith (RRP £16.99).

Last year, The National Archives Education Service launched their first National Art Competition called ‘Capturing our Collections’. We have been both humbled and delighted to help and support the competition.

The organisers received over 120 entries, each a response to one of three potential themes: Equity, Freedom and Belonging. 

You can now see the five winners, two highly commended entries and many more. The work, the judges' comments and sources of inspiration (from the archive) will provide a powerful resource for years to come. All 25 artworks exhibited online are both skilful and inspirational.

Thinking about the future of art education with Dennis Atkinson, Professor Emeritus, Goldsmiths 

When: Thursday 28 April 2022, 13.00-14.00

Where: Online

This short presentation considers the idea of toppling statues in the Whiteheadian sense of a proposition, as an event that throws out lures, like spores or seeds to the future. 

Art Bytes want to acknowledge and celebrate art educators as artists. This year sees the launch of Teachers' Corner, an online space for teachers to exhibit their artwork on the new Art Bytes website.

The online space aims to provide an opportunity to share teacher artwork with pupils, helping them to understand how everyone can integrate creativity into their lives.

To participate, simply complete the form on this page, and upload images of your artwork (terms apply).

The Teachers Corner exhibition will open online on Monday 6 September 2022 and submissions need to be submitted online by Monday 8 August 2022.

When: 19 May to 16 October 2022

NSEAD Patron Cornelia Parker is one of Britain's best loved and most acclaimed contemporary artists. The exhibition will bring together such iconic suspended works as Thirty Pieces of Silver 1988–9 and Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View 1991; the immersive War Room 2015 and Magna Carta 2015, her monumental collective embroidery, as well as her films and a wealth of her innovative drawings, prints and photographs.

The public are being invited to cast their vote online from now until 1 May in the Art Bytes first annual art competition to find the best young artists across the country.

The judging panel, which includes NSEAD President Elect Marlene Wylie, has chosen its top three entries from each participating school, ready for the public to vote for their favourite. 

The artwork with the most votes from each participating school will win a place in the Art Bytes virtual exhibition which launches in June.

When: Saturday 21 May 2022, 9.30-16.30

Where: Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Price: £30-£40

The Arts Council Collection and Yorkshire Sculpture Park invite education professionals to a special study day to explore how art can be used to connect us to nature and enhance wellbeing, with a special focus on the work of David Nash. 

Places are limited, so book early to secure your place. For any enquiries, please email learning@ysp.org.uk. 

Interventions and possibilities in Higher Education in Art, Design and Communication

A series of discussions convened by David Cross and Rahul Patel.

Climate Justice is the point where the movements for decolonisation and decarbonisation converge. Climate Justice offers a coherent and fair alternative to corporate-technocratic 'climate solutions' which are transgressing planetary boundaries and compounding the injustices of colonialism.

When: Thursdays, 10.00 — 12.00
28 April, 26 May, 23 June 2022

Cost: Free

To complement the series, CHEAD and UAL are producing a zine as a space for experimental and creative responses to the aim of decolonising decarbonisation. They welcome different perspectives and ideas for the convergence between restorative justice and ecological regeneration.

The zine will be in printed and digital versions, and they are inviting submissions as:

• Written pieces (50 – 300 words) of poetry, creative writing, journalism and reviews
• Photographs
• Drawings, paintings, sketches
• Images of artworks, drama, performance, fashion, film, video

Please share details of this open call with anyone who might be interested in submitting to the zine.

Submit online: info@chead.ac.uk
Deadline: 17.00 Friday 30 June 2022

This week's Art Ed Advocacy quote is from film maker Alan Parker, taken from a wonderful video by TateShots entitled 'Why study Art?'.  

In the video (available here), leading artists, actors, filmmakers, architects and choreographers talk about why art should be on the curriculum. A must-watch!