The uniqueness of the art student vs institutional homogenization: a study of creative writing as a dialectic process to bridge the gap between international students’ expectations and UK teaching methods in an art university.

ABSTRACT:

International students, studying at BA and MA level in an large art university in Europe, where I teach creative writing, face a number of challenges, both professional and personal. First of all, they struggle to match their expectations, based on previous learning styles, with our teaching methods and curriculum. But also, many of them are away from their homes for the first time, which means that they also have to manage a change in lifestyle.

Some students refer to these challenges as a fight against the institution, which leaves them "broken" (Jo 2011), and suffering from various forms of anxiety (Zhang 2011).

What we now call The Writing Workshop was created in 2004. Originally, it had to be dedicated to exploring "different" ways to make arts and design students write, a difficult task in itself as their preferred communication is visual. The first meetings of our Workshop became pseudo self-help sessions. It was immediately evident that the students were using writing as a tool to take something off their chest.

This study follows a few of the Workshop students, looking for insights about how they deal with their multiple challenges, trying to understand the strategies they adopt to cope. This is an ongoing project that applies narrative analysis to the stories and images created by the students, and also involves observation and peer-observation of our interactions during the Workshop meetings.

The temporary conclusions seem to point to the fact that a good percentage of the students are not concerned with meeting the learning outcomes outlined by their curriculum, but take advantage of an extremely creative environment to overcome personal challenges that transcend the nature of the curriculum altogether. Only after they have addressed the challenges that they perceive as personal, can they address their professional growth in art education.