Learning to work in the creative and cultural sector: New spaces, pedagogies and expertise

Abstract

The paper questions the link that policy-makers assume exists between qualifications and access to employment in the creative and cultural (C&C) sector. It identifies how labour market conditions in the C&C sector undermine this assumption and how the UK's policy formation process inhibits education and training (E&T) actors from countering these labour market conditions. It demonstrates how non-government agencies ('intermediary organizations') are creating new spaces to assist aspiring entrants to develop the requisite forms of 'vocational practice', 'social capital' and 'moebius strip' (i.e., entrepreneurial) expertise to enter and succeed in the sector. It concludes by identifying a number of: (a) new principles for the governance of E&T at the national level; (b) pedagogic strategies to facilitate 'horizontal' transitions into and within the C&C sector; and (c) skill formation issues for all E&T stakeholders to address. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

Keywords

Author Keywords

theory Critical Analysis

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Department of International and Comparative Education, UCL Institute of Education, London, United Kingdom

Funding & Acknowledgements

Economic and Social Research Council, ESRC

Grant: ES/F037104/1

Working in partnership with the Innovation Unit (IU), part of Birmingham City Council’s Economic and Development Department, and with funds secured from the European Social Fund, the JIIC designed a new non-accredited initiative – the Design Work Placement (DWP) Project. This project ran for six months and was based on a three-way partnership: (a) participating manufacturers gave people who had recently qualified with a degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) in jewellery an opportunity to develop a new range of commercial products; (b) recently qualified jewellers worked for a small bursary in order to learn how to incubate (i.e., create, cost and monitor the fabrication of their designs) because they appreciated that this would provide an invaluable opportunity to develop their vocational practice and their social capital within the sector; and (c) the JIIC acted as a project manager and a mentor for the participant jewellers (Guile and Okumoto 2008).

European Social Fund, ESF

Working in partnership with the Innovation Unit (IU), part of Birmingham City Council’s Economic and Development Department, and with funds secured from the European Social Fund, the JIIC designed a new non-accredited initiative – the Design Work Placement (DWP) Project. This project ran for six months and was based on a three-way partnership: (a) participating manufacturers gave people who had recently qualified with a degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) in jewellery an opportunity to develop a new range of commercial products; (b) recently qualified jewellers worked for a small bursary in order to learn how to incubate (i.e., create, cost and monitor the fabrication of their designs) because they appreciated that this would provide an invaluable opportunity to develop their vocational practice and their social capital within the sector; and (c) the JIIC acted as a project manager and a mentor for the participant jewellers (Guile and Okumoto 2008).

References 10 References

1 Ashton, David N., Understanding Change in Youth Labour Markets: A Conceptual Framework, British Journal of Education & Work, 6, 3, pp. 5-23, (1993)

2 Being Self Employed and Being Enterprising in the Cultural Sector, (1999)

3 Management and Creativity from Creative Industries to Creative Management, (2007)

4 Cultural Sector Profile and Policy Issues, (2000)

5 From Education to Work Cross National Perspectives, (1999)

6 Creative Industries Mapping Document 2001, (2001)

7 Learning for Life A New Framework for Adult Skills, (2007)

8 Creative and Cultural Sector and the Olympics, (2008)

9 Media Work, (2007)

10 Future of Higher Education, (2003)

Learning to work in the creative and cultural sector: New spaces, pedagogies and expertise

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