'Education, education, education' is the battle cry I am constantly confronted with these days, whether it is the local councillor canvassing for votes or by the dean of art at a college I am visiting. To be honest, this word now only makes me angry and belligerent. Fours years ago, I started my journey into the world of education (which I sometimes now think of as the journey into the 'heart of darkness) with much hope and optimism. In my early career, I had been taught by Dave Lloyd and John Hodgett (who I am very lucky to count as a friend today) and they installed a set of skills and knowledge in me which I still value today.
In hindsight, I naively thought education and in particular photography education still encouraged and espoused the same views and principles which it had for me 25 years ago. And in some small way, I hope to add my own experiences and wisdom to the knowledge base of the new breed of aspiring photographers. What initially shocked me was the anger and dispirited nature of the students I initially encountered. Their passion for photography had all but drained away within the 6 months since joining their respective courses.
I soon was confronted with the reality of the situation which seems to be consistent across most student's experiences. During my photographic education, I can barely remember a day when weren't expected to use our cameras or respond to a short 1 hour brief where we would be expected to shoot, process and produce a contact for a crit. These days, students seem to be bogged down in endless and repetitive workbooks and journals, where they must repeatedly justify their views and actions. In some cases, I was encountering students who hadn't taken a picture for over six weeks but had been confined to workroom to slavishly produce a workbook that would represent 80% of their final mark.
This was highlighted to me early this week, when a former student rang me to complain about a situation at her current university. She was in furious state after discovering a fellow peer had been awarded a distinction for failing to hand in any practical work (images) but had instead written a 2000 word essay justifying her idea and what she would have done if they had had time to complete the assignment.
Frankly, I didn't know how to respond, I know I should have been incredulous or angry, but my short time in academia has taught me that all things are possible. The lack of practical workshops and hands-on-camera experience has particularly concerned me, especially given that we live in a digital age. I could understand the reduction in workshops if we were still reliant on film and paper (most courses' materials and resources are woefully low) but there seems to be now a greater emphasis on the ideas young students develop rather than how they implement them correctly. There seems to be no understanding of light, camera control or composition in the majority of the images I have seen from students recently.
Two years ago, I was confronted by a HND student (at the end of his first year) after a digital manipulation class, who was quite nervous and agitated. I asked him what the matter was and he stated he had over heard other students talking about an effect called 'depth of field' and wondered where he could buy the Photoshop filter from. At this point I realised something must be done but how and what?
In the days when I was at college, there was only 12 photographic courses in the UK but today, there at least 270 photography degree courses, let alone HND and ND courses. Also then, our group sizes were between 20-24 pupils per year, our contact time with tutors per week was between 20 -24 hours with unlimited use of the studios and darkrooms. Today, an average year group at a University is between 30 -60 students, contact time (based on a rough study I held early this year) was between 6-12 hours in the first year before going down to as low 1 hour in the 3rd year. Access to resources for most students was extremely limited with some students having to book studio space up to 6 weeks in advance.
You must also realise the pressures the lecturers are under to comply, for their courses to survive. In most cases, funding for a course will be withdrawn automatically if a benchmark figure of 58% pass rate is not achieved. Many more unscrupulous colleges claim to arts course pass rates of 100%. How do they achieve this? What happens if you have inept/substandard set of students in a year group (it happens periodically)? This is bit I leave to your imagination but all I can say is that lecturers are put in an intolerable position where many are forced to choose between their ethics or their career.
However, this must be contrasted against a common compliant that most professionals and ex-students have voiced to me. That is the quality of the course content that the majority of the students encounter. In particular there is little emphasis on the business element of the majority of courses so students have little or no idea how to market themselves when they leave college, let alone prepare a realistic business plan. Another area which is rarely covered is the basics of lighting and other essentials (pack shots/ fill-in lighting etc.) so that they have at least the key skills to survive in a competitive environment.
This situation may seem depressing now, but with the additional rise in tuition fees coming in the next academic year and also the quiet reduction in contact hours (some courses have reduced this by half this year), the prospective student could be facing a pretty raw deal- hourly tuition in the 1st year costing £75 per hour, rising to by the 3rd year, £300 per hour.
So as a profession, what do we do to help prospective new entrants bearing in mind that just under 5000 photography graduates enter the job market every year. Do we seek to reduce the amount of courses available so as to better match supply to demand or do we try to educate prospective students as to the realistic outcomes of their expensive education and that in reality (even though they are now in £45,000 of debt) this will only be hobby for them with the occasional paying job.
In the end, we do owe these students the truth even if education is failing to tell them the realistic outcome of their investment and I for one cannot sit idly by.
Richard Southall
www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk
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