Cultivating the Critical Mind in Art

This article raises the problem of how to teach and research the critical and historical study on an A level art course. I have recently completed my doctoral study on this area of the art curriculum, which was conducted during the period of change to all post sixteen qualifications after the 1996 Dearing report. In this article I show how personal and critical knowledge was a necessary part of the practical investigation and helped to foster inquiry learning among my two research groups of sixth form students. The experience has given me renewed hope that students are able to problematise meaning in art and communicate what values and positions they adopt in the course of their investigations into the work of others.