Dear all,
just when I thought it had been 'oh so quite' for some time now.
I think it interesting that the debate often appears to be polarised
into design education and design practice - the way in which we talk
about the issues reinforces this. As a design educator (1994-present)
and practitioner (1988-present), I have experienced formal design
education and training at university (1977-79, 2002-present),
technical college (1988-89), private courses (in the 1990s),
post-grad training (inhouse university), and also internship
experiences (design studios), self-education (self-employed) and
simply learning from others (always).
I would suggest, and indeed the Australian Government is counting on
this, that design education is not a 'one-off', 'be-all and end-all'
to entry into the profession, just as each one of you on the list may
have experienced. It may be that to address the chasm in 'perception'
that appears to exist between education and practice (there are
always complaints from one to the other), that both may be viewed as
intertwined, ongoing, and helpful to a designer's education, and to
use the current educational catch-phrase, part of a pathway of
'life-long learning'.
The fact that design education is struggling to keep up with this is
experienced every time I teach, when it is evident there is at least
one student for whom the content or approach is an ill-fit. The fact
that design practice appears to be still grumbling about the lack of
'work-ready' design graduates may be due to the changing nature of
design work and the fact that practising designers continually need
to upgrade all kinds of skills, ideas, approaches and outcomes. And
the fact that designers are still changing roles.
That is perhaps why these discussions are so fruitful - they are
evidence that we are aware of and also grappling with this - it would
be far worse if we were complacent and smug.
Great to hear from you all again,
cheers, teena
--
Teena Clerke
PO Box 1090
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
0414 502 648
|