Page 12 - Studio International - May 1971

Art and Design students were at evening classes, mostly doing development, education becomes more and
more a tool of social justice.
courses leading to no qualification. These
Education dropped by 37 per cent, part-time day courses The joint committee report goes little into
by 43 per cent. The number of full-time statistics. Their absence from the argument
David Warren Piper students has increased by 8o per cent. The presented reflects a weakness in the system
number of art students on advanced courses which goes beyond any deficiencies of that
(Higher Education) has increased rather slower particular committee. It is nonsense for any
but as the period covers the winding up of the committee to advise the government on
David Warren Piper in this article discusses the
National Diploma in Design and the forward planning if it is furnished with neither
recommendations of the recent report of the introduction of the Diploma in Art and Design complete statistical information, nor the means
National Advisory Council on Art Education.
(DipAD) the figures must be interpreted with of estimating the costs of its proposals. It is a
care. They show a 6o per cent increase in the waste of potential to separate the experts who
number of people taking the available national advise the government from outside the civil
The next ten years will be critical for further qualification. The number of full-time students service from the costing experts who presumably
education. A large proportion of a growing in Art Teachers Diploma or Certificate2 advise the government from within it, but after
number of school leavers will expect full-time courses increased by 44 per cent. The the first has advised on the basis of guess-work.
courses. The cost per student will continue to percentage of students in Advanced Further In my opinion neither the National Advisory
rise, and the proportion of that cost met from Education studying art or design dropped from Council on Art Education nor the National
public funds has now reached close on 100 per 24.3 per cent in 1961 to 102 in 1967. Council for Diplomas in Art and Design are
cent. The type of education required may differ The number of Local Education Authority adaquately serviced for the job which is needed.
from that currently offered; the kind of people art colleges (counted as such by the DES) has The report, in more muted terms, calls for
admitted to further education undoubtedly will declined from 180 in 1959 to the current figure better information in future : 'We believe it
change. It is within this turmoil that art of 142. [Although this is the figure produced in important that more information should be
education must decide on the contribution it is the statistics it is an interesting side-light on the collected on which... central planning... can be
to make, stake its claim for resources, and face up Department's book-keeping that a list founded' (para 151) and 'We hope that our
to its responsibilities. produced by the DES of the names and successors may have more empirical information
Sweep away the verbiage of the Coldstream— addresses of art colleges contains an extra 35.] than has been available to us...' (para 16o).
Summerson joint committee report, look Mostly the colleges are very small—more than However, lack of statistics aside, the principle
behind the compromises, and there is an half the DipAD colleges (of which there are 40) is clearly stated that the expansion of art and
outline plan for future development. It should have less than 15o DipAD students, and a quarter design should keep apace of education as a
be discussed and borne in mind when the have less than 100. Counting all the colleges, whole (paras 161, 165,166). Taken at its face
Government announces its intentions on art half have fewer than loo full-time students, a value this would mean, first, 'broadening' the
colleges. I suggest four priorities : third fewer than 5o. Only 68 of the colleges DipAD to include advanced work currently run
a means of coping with educational growth stand on their own. The rest are departments in outside the DipAD system, and then doubling
2 greater equality of educational opportunity LEA colleges or Polytechnics. Nevertheless the that number by 1980. There were about 1500
3 equitable distribution of resources throughout figures suggest that there could be many more students on advanced courses not in the DipAD
the educational system students with the same number of colleges. system in 1968-9. Say that led to broadening
4 the maximum development of the quality of Indeed many colleges or departments seem too the DipAD to the tune of another thousand
education offered. small to be economic. students, then the number of DipAD students
The overall picture over the last ten years in 198o would be 16,000 plus whatever addition
EDUCATIONAL GROWTH suggests a cut-back on the provision of classes would be caused by the introduction of some
It is difficult to compare fairly growth in art and for those interested in art as a recreational four-year courses.
design with other forms of education because of activity, and concentration on the improvement Sixteen thousand DipAD students suggests
the exasperating way in which the Department of standards in the higher education courses at an annual intake of about 5500. How many
of Education and Science publishes, or fails to the cost of below-average growth. would be drawn from foundation courses is
publish, its educational statistics. The following I turn now to the future. The number of difficult to estimate because if other
analysis is based on figures published in the students entering higher education is expected recommendations of the report are adopted
annual Statistics of Education, Education to double over the next ten years. Projection of some DipAD students would come straight
Planning Paper No. 2 [1970] 'Student Numbers the current trends gives figures of 135 thousand from school, or from technical and general
in Higher Education in England and Wales' for this year and 218 thousand in 1981. [The courses. Assuming three-quarters of the intake
(both published by HMSO), and on the Second new school leaving age and other changes will came from foundation courses, the figure would
Report of the National Council for Diplomas in mean this figure is actually surpassed.] be a little over 4000 in 1980. In 1968, 6700
Art and Design (NCDAD). I have chosen Despite these increases, higher education students were registered on foundation courses.
figures which seem to show the main trends. will cater only for about a quarter of the school The report recommends that the number of
Against a rise of some 14 per cent in the number leavers. The rest will either go directly into students being prepared for DipAD on
of young people, the last ten years has seen employment (or on the dole), or will take some foundation courses should be more closely
considerable growth in post-school education: form of post-school education which is not related to the number of places available, in
higher education (Universities, Colleges of defined as 'higher' education. It seems order to avoid large numbers of disappointed
Education and Advanced courses in local inevitable that this part of the education system students. The current number seems too high.
authority colleges) by about 140 per cent will grow, until we approach something like Of the 6700 foundation students in 1968, 4000
between 1959 and 1968. Further education as a mass post-school education, and it is right that applied for DipAD places in 1969; 2500 got
whole (all courses held in local authority it should. As the affluence of our society grows places. This suggests that there are too few
colleges) has expanded at a slower rate: 3o per the importance of education as an investment in DipAD places to meet current demand, or that
cent between 1961 and 1968. sophisticated manpower must become matched there are too few opportunities for an art and
Art and design has not fared so well. The by its importance as the means by which we design education alternative to the DipAD, or
total number of art-college students has spread the benefits of our wealth among us all. that too many students are led up the garden
dropped by 13 per cent. Over half those In addition to being an instrument of economic path in order to produce artificially high student

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