The Changing Culture of Five English Art Schools 1989–1994

A lot of people would say that life in our art schools has changed in the last few years. But what has changed, and how might it be measured? This paper describes an investigation into changes perceived by academic staff in the organisational culture of five art schools in the south-east of England over the last five years. The research method reflects the primarily visual interests of the respondents, in that a series of metaphorical images of the art school were presented for rating. To minimise the effects of nostalgia and other personal variables, the sample was divided into two groups: staff with more than five years' service in the institution; and staff who had joined since that time. To facilitate interpretation of the results, a further instrument was applied, asking each respondent to indicate the meanings they associated with the metaphors offered. The findings show a substantial concurrence between the two sample groups in terms of the meanings they attributed to the metaphors, and this is viewed as giving authority to evidence of a range of perceived changes, notably perceptions of reduced order, harmony, co-operation, autonomy, growth, reward and of increases in perceived competition and conservatism. Set against these effects is evidence of unchanged perceptions of a sense of community, of the art school's basic function, of people's roles within it, and a sense of productivity with humane relationships remaining in place.     

Agendas for Developmental Supervision Research: A Response to Borders

Borders (1989) put forth what she termed a pragmatic agenda and moratorium for research in developmental conceptualizations of the supervision and training process. This Comments article articulates our points of disagreement with Borders's recommendations for moratoriums on developmental supervision areas and provides an alternative reading of the empirical literature concerning the validity of developmental conceptualizations.