UNESCO CHAIR Prof JOHN JOHNSTON COMES TO MAYNOOTH

UNESCO CHAIR Prof JOHN JOHNSTON COMES TO MAYNOOTH
 
The Departments of Design Innovation, Adult & Community Education, and the Froebel Department of Primary & Early Childhood supported by Maynooth University’s Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI) were honoured to host the UNESCO Chair of Issues-based Arts Education, Prof John Johnston in a lecture, panel discussion and workshops examining Conflict Resolution through Issues-based Arts Education.

 
Using examples of his work in Belfast, Netherlands and Morocco, Prof Johnston, from ArtEZ University of the Arts in the Netherlands, reflected on works produced by students' of all ages that illustrated the political potentiality of the Issues Based approach. He illustrated how socially engaged art were used to dissolve the boundaries between school, society and art.
 
The afternoon workshop brought participants from many academic disciplines and district community groups together to arrive at a collective drawing that symbolised how our individuality is enriched when it connects to a broader social entity – the Other.
 
In his third interaction John introduced Meaning Centred Education as an alternative to the established norm of student-centred education. While he acknowledges the value of the student-centred approach, he questioned the ‘audit culture’ that has infected the original intention of student-centred education to become self -centred, which has turned learners into consumers and teachers into service providers. In its first appearance at Maynooth, Johnston’s Meaning Centred Learning wheel gave a stimulus to a the start of a big conversation.