Influencing Change: Our teacher-researchers at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Art, Craft and Design in Education
Abigail Harrison Moore, Programme Director
It took real guts and a commitment to sharing their research and practice, for two of our PG Certificate teachers to agree to speak at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Art, Craft and Design Education in London on April 1, 2025. I know from experience, as I was asked to speak at the APPG about ‘cultural capital’ in 2019, and even after all these years as a senior academic, I was terrified. The session, where they had the chance to share their research with a panel of cross-party parliamentarians, focused on neurodiversity and inclusion in the art room. It was held in a committee room in Portcullis House at the Houses of Parliament. It’s a very different setting to what we are used to. Government buildings and the committee rooms bring with them a sense of elite spaces that we do not belong in as teachers. But as both Gemma Johnson (Year 2, PG Certificate in Teachers Research and Practice) and Sarah Kilpatrick (PG Certificate Graduate 2024) demonstrated so incredibly well, we do belong and we need to inform our politicians and other colleagues in the room from education (including Ofsted) universities and cultural organisations, about what it is like in schools currently.
Gemma’s excellently researched presentation gave a flavour of her current classroom project with its focus on the role of art education in supporting and developing young people with autism, ADHD and severe mental health issues. Sarah spoke about the Arts and Minds Campaign that she is leading in her new role as President of the National Education Union.
The passion that they both showed, backed up by clear statistics and case studies, for the power of art to support young people and the need for art to be accessible and supported in all schools across England was superb. And I could tell from Earl Clancarty’s questions as Chair, ably answered by our teachers, that he really listened. He will take the statistics, research and knowledge that both Gemma and Sarah shared back into the chamber with him and use it to inform debates.
Both used this opportunity to make a real difference with their critical thinking and practice – teachers telling it as it is in classrooms across the country – backed up with excellent research and case studies. Our hope when we devised ATC and the PG Certificate programme was that it would give art and art history teachers a clear voice and the confidence to stand up in these sorts of spaces where they can make a real difference to policy, politics and practice. And both Gemma and Sarah showed this beautifully when they held the committee room in Portcullis House absolutely rapt. All of the ATC Team are very proud of them.