Policies, practices, public pedagogy : two case studies of art museum educators in Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Museum Studies, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Abstract

This is the first in-depth study of art museum educators in Aotearoa New Zealand. It seeks to understand and explain their practices, philosophies and pedagogies. It begins by revealing the history of art museum education in Aotearoa New Zealand in general, and more specifically at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu. Using inductive processes, historical methods, grounded theory methods and ethnographic approaches, in particular, direct observation, semi-structured and unstructured interviews, and auto-ethnography, the research observes, documents, and analyses the practices of educators, the policy context and the politics of pedagogy in the two sites. The study identifies three main features which together constitute art museum educators’ praxis: typologies of pedagogical practice; the prevalence of signature pedagogies; and two discourses – one which affirms and reproduces the authority of the art museum; the other, a transformative and critical pedagogy that opens new spaces for art museum education practices. Paradoxically, although the transformative discourses and critical pedagogies are ephemeral, fragile and rare they are apparent only in the presence of signature pedagogies. The study also examines the complex nature of resistant and constructive forms of art museum educators’ agency. It maintains that signature pedagogies and the logic of practice have deep historical associations that continue to support the political economy of the art museum. The study posits that it is possible to work within the tensions of different pedagogical epistemologies and ontologies if a new concept of public pedagogy is invoked. Understanding public pedagogy merely as educational activities in informal, institutionalised spaces does not account for the complexities revealed in this research. Therefore, the thesis suggests that public pedagogy in the art museum is a dialectic space that keeps both signature and critical pedagogies in a series of dynamic, emancipatory relationships where transformation can be contemplated and, eventually, enacted. Conceptualising public pedagogy thus suggests that awareness of predominant and transformative discourses and how pedagogical practices are interrelated with them is crucial to both practitioners and policy-makers. Understanding – and activating – the concept of public pedagogy provides both the practical means and a theoretical construct to ensure that art museum educators can deepen the community’s understanding of, and critical engagement with, art and art museums more effectively.