A Dog in the Playground

Over the last six months teaching students at the Institute of Education, University College London (IoE/UCL), have been collaborating with Henry Ward, artist, writer and Head of Education at Freelands Foundation, in investigating teaching as a socially engaged artistic practice; exploring the role of the teacher as an artist in the classroom. This exhibition celebrates the launch of the resulting publication, “A Dog in the Playground”. The publication documents the development of ideas as the IoE/UCL students undertook projects and experiments in their placement schools across Greater London.

The exhibition seeks to address questions about the role of art in the curriculum and focuses on the development of progressive approaches, investigating the teacher as artist; social activist; facilitator; instructor; collaborator and; curator.

Including photographs, text, video, installation and examples of student work, the exhibition provides a rich insight into the possibilities of teaching as a socially engaged artistic practice.