What motivates the artist-teacher in adult community learning? It’s not about the money

ABSTRACT

Money has been the dominant way to understand the motivation for artists to teach. Written from an adult community learning (ACL) perspective, this research is part of a wider study interrogating artist-teacher identity transformation. This paper explores the motivations for becoming an artist-teacher in ACL, questioning the assumption that artists teach for financial security. ACL is comprised of ‘community based and outreach learning opportunities, primarily managed and delivered by local authorities and general further education colleges’. ACL is plighted by casual contracts and precarious working hours, suggesting that financial security may not be the main motivator for working in this sector. The research employs autoethnography, to construct a layered account of what motivates individuals to become artist-teachers in ACL (206). Within the autoethnographic approach narrative is used to help understand these motivations (727). The paper helps to produce new knowledge about the motivations of the artist-teacher in ACL. This could have wider implications on the sector, which has generally been devalued and overlooked, including influences on the recruitment and retention of tutors.

KEYWORDS:

• Artist-Teacher
• adult community learning
• motivation
• teacher motivation
• art education

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge my supervision team at Norwich University of the Arts for their support and guidance and my participants, who have given so much of themselves to this project, without which this research would not be possible.

Disclosure statement

As an active artist-teacher working in ACL I have a vested interest in the research into this role.