Ethos of Ambiguity: Artist Teachers and the Transparency Exclusion Paradox

The current insistence on transparency in education emerges through policy that audits performativity, in a limiting skills bank. Practitioners in Art and Design are particularly affected by what I term ‘the transparency-exclusion paradox’, as they battle to maintain the subject area and are ‘othered’ by the EBacc and Progress 8. I will discuss an emergent ‘ethos of ambiguity’ among artist-teachers and contemporary artists, with a theoretical basis informed by Beauvoir and Foucault. Empirical data from research participants will be evidenced, to explore strategies of response in inclusive social practice.