EDU110 PGCHE – Assignment 1 (Nov 2015)
‘Identity Crisis’ – Paper Review by Karen Brett
The paper I have chosen to examine is very significant to my teaching practice and concerns at this present time. In ‘Identity Crisis’ Ann Williams examines the challenges that face the role of photography education within key questions regarding the current climate of new technologies and flourishing numbers of students.
As a student of the analogue era back in the late nineties I have always been concerned with the rapid growth of digital technology and its effect upon analogue photography. It felt like an epidemic was on the way, but today as a lecturer in photography I have come to terms that ‘digital’ is here to stay and now feel there is a need for both analogue and digital technologies to work side by side.
It is still important to teach both sides of photography alongside each other, both analogue and new technologies. I believe photography courses work best when students are given a breadth of photography teaching, an overview approach. They can then specialize and use the technologies they want to engage with, if they are analogue or digital, facilitate.
(Extract from an interview with Heike Lowenstein, Oct 2012. Rethinking Photography, Histories, Theories & Education, 2015. 436 – 438.)
At present, university students are increasing in numbers, getting younger and have fewer skills due to the raise in cuts upon courses in further education. Therefore, as institutes teaching photography we need to provide an effective learning environment that incorporates all areas of photographic practice, ranging from old to new. Advancements in technology will only widen the skills needed for graduates to succeed as a photographer in the creative industries. As a lecturer in photography I have initiated moving image and sound workshops onto the level one programme, I feel this has an integral role to play within the students learning outcomes and development. It will enable them to use and value the appropriate learning technologies that can only evolve the way they relate to the photographic image whilst pushing their ideas further.
Darren Newbury expressed in 1997 it is unlikely that new technologies can be substituted for old without any social and cultural implications. (Newbury, 1997: 434) I also feel the historical role of the photographic image can not be left behind, as it is one of the main components that is needed to work within other mediums it relates to. It can only move it forward, so it exists in many forms: a fine art print, a still but moving image or computer-generated imagery (CGI) and by bringing these other specialism’s into the course structure can only strengthen the role of photography education.
Photography education currently exists in a context of unprecedented technological, social and educational change, now accompanied by increasing financial pressures generated by the recession. These are clearly impacting on courses of all kinds, and also on attitudes to photography and photography education.
(Williams, 2009: 127)
So will photography education ever cease to exist? How can we make photography education more viable? Williams points out there seems to be something a miss between industry and photography education and feels we produce too many would-be photographers that are ill-prepared for careers in the industry. (Williams, 2009: 127) – A big concern for the future of photography education and with the added pressure of Skillset still remaining biased to what makes a graduate more employable certainly does not help a majority of institutions when potential students are looking for places to study. However, the number of students studying photography is rising each year, so the need to fully prepare them for life in creative industries needs to be in place more than ever. Williams moves towards the need for photography degrees to re-evaluate and expand the skills on offer into the arena of multimedia. As a student I took the initiative to work with other mediums whilst studying on the BA Documentary Photography course at Newport. Maybe this was because I was encouraged by my tutors to think outside the box, or because I was a post foundation photography student with a strong sense of curiosity than the much younger generation of post A level students we see now?
Williams continues to make the point that photography education and its relationship to the industry is an ongoing challenge. Therefore, as educators we need to continually discuss and re-evaluate the way photography is taught and should converge with other related specialist areas. There is a growing need for a broader spectrum of technical skills to be taught within photography education, making it more viable to maintain its presence in society by increasing the employability of graduates. However, part of William’s concern is with the ‘need to defend a space in education for social and critical photography practice of all kinds’. (Williams, 2009: 129) In my experience, not just as a lecturer but also as a former student it is crucial to equip oneself with not just technical and vocational training but to develop research and photographic literacy skills too. This would provide each student with the opportunity to continue their professional development in other fields such as research, media and the Arts. To case the point, my practice is very much about applying the appropriate research, to inform my critical dialogue and then use my technical skills for each job I undertake, enabling me to increase my employability opportunities.
Of one thing we can be sure: just as in the present, the creative industries of the future will require not only graduates who are practitioners in a specific discipline but also those for whom it is contextualized within a broader understanding of the arts and media.
(Williams, 2009: 133)
As educators we still have a long way to go to prepare the student for the graduate world, but exciting and challenging times are ahead. I agree with Williams, as long as we are equipped for the present and prepare for the future by acknowledging the wider context and implications within the needs of the students professional practice we can only hope the graduate takes the initiative to follow through.
References:
Williams Anne. 2009. Identity Crisis. Photographies. 125-133.
Lefley Caroline, Smith Peter. 2015. Rethinking Photography, Histories, Theories & Education. London: New York: Routledge.
Newbury Darren. 1997. Talking about Practice: photography students. Photographic culture & professional identities. British Journal of Sociology of Education. 421-434.
Additional Reading:
Rubinstein Daniel. 2009. Towards Photographic Education. Photographies. 135-142.
Newbury Darren. 2009. Image, Theory, Practice: Reflections on the Past, Present and Future of Photographic Education. Photographies. 117-124.
Karen's PGCHE journey... 