Intro:
For this task we were asked to use our own preferred way of recording, to explore the catchment area, community and history of our SE1 schools to develop and present work related to an issue of representation that you notice.
The outcome of your investigation will be displayed to our peers in the studio on Monday 6th November.
It is important to consider ethical research practice, asking for permission where appropriate and making sure students who might feature are in no way identifiable (not just blacked out).
Overview:
The school is large at roughly 8100 students (4 times larger than my own secondary school), and while the senior management is white, the school does incredibly well in terms of representation on a wide range of fronts. There are many women in leadership positions; Half of the 8000 students are BAME, there is an even split of boys to girls and the schools motto places an emphasis on tolerance and acceptance.
I decided to approach this task openly, I was aware that entering a school and looking to find issues with it may come across badly to co-workers and management, however it is a task I must engage with fully as a part of my course, so I feel its most appropriate to be transparent, honest and inform teachers fully of why I ask them questions about representation.
I recognise that I am new to the school and so I questioned a range of teachers throughout the school to see what issues of representation might affect their working environment and what change they would like to see in the school.
Discussing with teachers, they all struggled to pick out something that the school does poorly in terms of representation. I explained to them that this is really encouraging as it implies that there is a lot that the school is doing well.
However, one thing that was significantly noted independently by a few teachers was that the site is not inclusive to students with physical disabilities. There is no access to most departments without use of the many stairs on site. Teachers with 20+ years of experience could not think of any students that have ever attended the school that have had mobility disabilities. Another topic discussed on this matter is that there is an elevator on site, however it is out of order with no planned maintenance.
Students that have to use crutches, have teachers accompany them throughout the school day as they struggle climbing so many stairs, leaving classes early to arrive at the next lesson.
There is also no representation of physically disabled students in the promotional materials of the school, even despite some of its support programs being strong.
To reflect my research I will present the school's positive demonstrations of representation, however I will also show this barrier to education through the limited access for students with physically disabilities.
Issues of representation
I investigated and interviewed a lot of teachers and staff throughout the school. I discussed with them about issues in the school, however they all felt confident that the school was doing well on many fronts without any prominent issues.
Here are some issues I did note however, including things I noticed in my personal experience:
Diversity of people in charge: White Male Headmaster, however there is also a wealth of women in leadership roles.
Headmaster's talk on Hate Speech:
Geared more towards warning students to be careful of being 'cancelled' for racist views. At no point did he say that hate speech was bad in and of itself.
Lack of understanding of Culture:
British students feel that culture is 'otherness' and don't feel that they have a culture. Instead, with culturally relative tasks they would select other cultures that they have interest in, rather than recognising where British Culture plays a role in their own life.
Lack of diversity of ableism and accessibility
After a lot of discussion, many teachers discussed issues around accessibility.
Every building in the school requires the use of stairs for access.
Institutional Ableism as we have studied discussed how the design of a building may be able-ist if it excludes ramps and elevators.
The school does have an elevator, however it is out of order.
Teachers discussed how there is no incentive to fix the elevator as there are no disabled children at the school.
It may be worth considering whether children with disabilities do not apply to schools that do not have disabled access to classrooms.
None of the teachers with their 20+ years of experience in the school could remember a single child with Physical disabilities.
As this is the strongest point, I will make this recording task about the representational issue of Disabled access.
Concept:
Access to Education, 2023
This is a quick digital render I created to plan out the painting I will produce.
In this task we were asked to use the method of recording that we are most familiar with and this is why I chose to do an oil painting.
I will breakdown the ideas that went into constructing this composition now. There are elements I changed to this digital design and these will be also justified below.
Exhibited work (Access to Education, 2023. 20x13", Oil painting on Gesso board.)
Breakdown of ideas:
1 - School of Athens
Raphael painted 'The School of Athens' in 1509 featuring 52 figures representing famous philosophers, scientists and mathematicians.
The painting features a prominent staircase, which Raphael uses as an allegory for the hierarchy of knowledge, each step corresponding to its importance and prestige. In my own painting I have used this to show the separation between students that are physically able and unable to be access the teaching of that knowledge.
is used to show how this knowledge is elevated/ philosophy discusses a higher knowledge.
In my own composition, I remove the people sitting on this staircase, to show its importance.
The school is large, with 8000 students, However the number of students I add to the painting is not important, feel that the five in the centre is sufficient and that adding people on this staircase may subtract from this meaning as an in-traversable barrier. Alternatively, this could add meaning, showing an abled student using it rather than sitting on it as the figures in the painting are shown doing.
Students have had difficulty at the school in using crutches on the stairs according to one teacher, but this wasn't echoed by other teachers. Additionally I felt this would distract from the visual separation created by this staircase. I also considered adding handrails, but I think in its absence, its perspective could be read as flattened and can visually symbolise bars that stretch across the canvas.
Developing from the digital to the final painting one aspect I changed in this regard is that I raised the figure in the wheelchair so that her head was visually 'above' the stairs. The intention was that this would represent her being mentally able and to emphasise this separation created by her physical challenges.
2 - Elevator
The school does have an elevator, however it is out of order. As such I have painted in an elevator into the architecture. This is a step in the right direction and exemplifies how the issues may begin to be resolved. There is a piece of paper sellotaped to the door of the elevator explaining its out of order.
Teachers discussed how there is no incentive to fix the elevator as there are no disabled children at the school. However it could be that children with disabilities do not apply to the school as it does not have disabled access to classrooms. This is why I put the elevator at the top of the staircase. Yes there is an elevator, yes its broken, but there are still steps that need to be taken beyond fixing the elevator in order to make the school accessible students with physical disabilities.
3 - Barriers to education
The girl in the wheelchair in the foreground sits on a checkbox floor. Even if she meets the requirements, she cannot enter if the architecture discriminates against her. Again, her head is shown to be above this 'barrier' to represent her academic proficiency as being within the same domain as the students shown.
4 - Positive representations
There are many things that the school does well, and I wanted to show this within the work. The promotional materials of the school do reflect how inclusive and excellent it is with ethnic inclusion and so I chose this image to reproduce representing the students. However, none of the promotional materials show any student with a disability (cognitive or physical).
Of course I had to keep the identities of the children obscure, so their faces are and will not be detailed. This is promotional material that is published online, so I'm unsure whether it would be alright to represent them more accurately, but I have confidence that they represent well enough the themes of the painting regardless.
5 - Mottos
One thing I considered adding was the old motto of the school 'Where there's a will there's a way.' Could be presented as a mocking statement to the disabled student.
The contemporary motto which emphasises inclusion may also raise questions of how the institution is defining 'inclusion' and who is welcomed within that.
If I continued with this painting, I may consider writing this into the side of the stairwell.
6 - Black and white/Monotone
I decided to paint it black and white as recently I have been tasked with teaching Colour theory to colour-blind students. By removing colour from the painting, it opens up accessibility in the work itself. Coloured vision is not a prerequisite to creating meaningful work and so while it may seem foundational to create art lessons that deal with colour, There should be a way to adapt this lesson material to consider students that are colour blind also.
7 - Unfinished
I will concede that the painting is unfinished visually. However I was comfortable presenting it at this stage as the important elements had been painted.
I may choose to continue with this painting as it will be a part of my visual portfolio. Working into it more, I will keep in mind the important themes and try to add paint without subtracting meaning from the work.
Further Research:
After the first week of this project yielded no significant findings as teachers struggled to think of any issues that the school could do better, I considered the phrasing of the task for a second time and saw that it didn't have to be a work about the school itself, but I could consider an issue of representation that existed in the community and catchment. This led me to look into the histories of the area (Earley) and the catchment area (Wokingham).
Below is this research, followed by representation statistics from various websites as referenced.
History of Maiden Erlegh:
It was established in 1962 as a Comprehensive school secondary school to serve the families of Wokingham.
Today it is the lead school of Maiden Erlegh Trust, having converted to an academy in 2011.
It has capacity for 1,788 students but currently has 1,824 students on roll, over 400 of whom are in its sixth form.
School Mottos:
Traditional motto - Qui Veut Peut (Where there's a will, there's a way).
Modern motto - Opportunity, Diversity and Success for all.
History of Wokingham
As the school was established for the constituents of Wokingham, I thought it might be useful to look at anything contentious in the history of this part of the country, or anything that this area has been famous for in the past.
Wokingham was once famous for its bull-baiting.
Having been once mauled by a bull, in 1661, a local butcher, named George Staverton, left the rent from his house to provide such a creature for the townsfolk to bait in the Market Place every St. Thomas’ Day (21 December). This horrible ‘sport’ continued in the town until banned by act of Parliament in 1833.
Bull Baiting is a blood sport in which a bull is tethered to a pole and dogs are trained to maul it to death, usually British Bulldogs that were bred for the exact purpose. It was believed by the locals that this violent act made the beef taste better.
The bulls were paraded around the town a day or two before the event and then locked in the yard of the original Rose Inn. People travelled from miles around to see the dangerous spectacle. A number of dogs would be maimed or killed during the event and the bulls were eventually destroyed. The meat and leather were distributed amongst the poor people of the town. Some of the spectators also sustained fatal injuries.
Wokingham is known for instigating the 'Black Act'
In 1723, the 'Black Act' was passed in Parliament to make it an offence to black one's face to commit criminal acts. It was named after an infamous band of ruffians, known as the 'Wokingham Blacks', who terrorised the local area until 29 of them were arrested after fighting a pitched battle with Grenadier Guards in Bracknell.
History of Earley
Ancient Woodlands
Earley has some other areas of semi-natural ancient woodland which include Redhatch Copse, off Redhatch Drive, High Wood, near Church Road and Pearmans Copse near Lower Earley Way. A small remnant of Buckhurst Copse still exists within the grounds of Maiden Erlegh School. In the case of High Wood the site also contains the last remnant of heathland within the area, which had covered a fair part of Earley and Woodley until the 18th century. This area of heathland would have possibly been created by woodland clearance in the Bronze Age, around 4,000 years ago, and kept as such by grazing and harvesting of heather and brushwood. Bullmarsh Heath and Earley Heath are clearly shown on maps of the area in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Earley Women's Institute
The Earley Women’s Institute (also known as Earley WI) was a community-based organisation for women situated in Earley, Berkshire, England. This organisation existed from 1938 to 2004. It sought to help local women develop skills, further their educations, and improve the community. During the Second World War, the Earley WI held talks on homemaking and preserving rationed food. The Earley WI also helped to ensure that evacuees had quality clothing and entertainment. After the Second World War, the Earley WI created activities, judged local competitions, carried out charity work in the local area and gave lessons on first aid. The organisation dissolved in February 2004,
Maiden Erlegh Statistics:
Number of pupils: 1863
Pupils Per Teacher: 16.5
Sex: Mixed (52% boys / 48% girls)
Eligible for free school meals (FSM): 7.70% (low)
FSM pupils at 10 nearest schools†: 17.5%
Local child deprivation rate: 13.0% (4km radius)* * Children living in deprived neighbourhoods are less likely to complete high school and achieve higher educational attainment. This creates a significant difference in their earning levels in later life compared to their peers (Galster et al., 2007)
Proportion of ethnic minority pupils: 56.4%
Type of SEN provision: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Ofsted rating: Outstanding
Source: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/136637
Diversity of Earley:
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