Written by Dr Tamsyn Dent, King's College London Covid-19 has exposed the unsustainability (in the light of a global pandemic) of the creative and cultural workforce. Immediately following the lockdown came a series of surveys from different creative/cultural organisations illuminating the fragility and vulnerability of those employed across their respective sectors. But what has C-19 exposed about a similar culture of short-term and insecure working patterns that operates across Higher Education (HE)? And what is the position for the casual worker who operates within both the creative sector and HE? ![]() This pandemic has enlarged the financial hole in British HE (potentially more so for Creative HE) and exposed its over-reliance on International students, both in terms of the fees they pay but also their economic contribution to the wider surrounding community. Given the indications that applications from International students will be significantly lower in 2020/2021 who will bear the responsibility of plugging the financial burden? The immediate victims, it seems, are the casualised HE workers, those employed on fixed term, or hourly-paid contracts who sit outside both the furlough scheme and, potentially, self-employed support (many may be ‘employed’, even part-time and not registered as ‘self-employed’ with HMRC, or claiming their full salary as a self-employed worker) they will be left jobless without much prospect of employment in the near future and limited access to financial support. The University College Union (UCU) conducted a survey in 2019 that exposed the extent of casualisation within HE and newspaper reports have revealed the level of redundancies and job-losses that have already taken place within certain institutions as an immediate reaction to C-19. We don’t know how many creative HE practitioners are employed on casual contracts within HE or indeed if this is proportionately higher than other subjects, however, anecdotally we know that there are many creative workers who supplement their practice through HE provision. Pre C-19, this hybridity would be encouraged. Creative practitioners bring their knowledge and contacts directly into the education setting, providing added value for students. However, as casual staff are cut from departments, who or what will plug the gap in the teaching provision they provide?
The pandemic will pass, and generations will still require some form of further education. The various modelling of student enrolments suggests that there could be a slight increase in UK-domiciled students, alongside a significant increase in the number of 18 year olds from 2022 (there was a 5000+ increase in UK live births between 2002-2004 with the birthrate increasing up the latest peak in 2012). Enrolments in creative subjects have been on an increase since 2003, bringing practitioners in directly from the sector has been a direct response to increased demand. It is important to note their value to the pedagogical system of creative education and ensure that they can be supported so those skills and knowledge are retained.
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#CreativeHECovidIn this blog, we capture, with some short intervention, interviews and opinion pieces the perspective of Creative HE staff and students on the current Covid-19 crisis. If you want to keep update about new content, join our JISCMAIL mailing list! ArchivesCategories
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*We define Creative HE (short version for creative subjects taught at HE level) all teaching connected with the following disciplinary fields: ARCHITECTURE (incl. landscape design); ADVERTISING (incl. public relations and publicity studies); CRAFTS (incl. ceramics, glass, metal, wood and fibre crafts); DESIGN (incl. graphic and multimedia design; visual communication; illustration; clothing/textile/fashion design; industrial/product design) ; FILM & TV (incl. film and media studies; television and radio studies; media/tv/radio and film production); CINEMATICS AND PHOTOGRAPHY (incl. directing, producing motion pictures; film & sound recording; visual and audio effects; cinematography; photography); FINE ARTS (incl. curatorial studies; museum studies; drawing; painting; sculpture; printmaking; fine art conservation); MUSIC (incl. musicianship/performance studies; history of music; musicology); TECHNOLOGY (incl. interactive and multi-media publishing; interactive and electronic design; animation techniques; software engineering; music recording); DRAMA (incl. acting; directing and producing for theatre; theatre studies; stage management; theatrical design and make-up; stage design); DANCE (incl. choreography; history of dance; types of dance) ; JOURNALISM (incl. factual reporting; mass communications and documentation); WRITING (incl. script writing; poetry and prose writing; imaginative writing) AND PUBLISHING (incl. electronic publishing and paper-based media studies). We also include courses in ARTS & CULTURAL MANAGEMENT and CREATIVE & CULTURAL INDUSTRIES.
The project is led by King's College London but benefits from support and collaborations with the H2020 funded European project DISCE (Developing inclusive and sustainable creative economies) for more information visit www.disce.eu
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If you would like to reference this website and its content please use the following academic citation format
Comunian Roberta, Dent Tamsyn and England Lauren (2020) Creative Higher Education and Covid-19. Available at: www.creativeHEcovid.org
If you would like to reference this website and its content please use the following academic citation format
Comunian Roberta, Dent Tamsyn and England Lauren (2020) Creative Higher Education and Covid-19. Available at: www.creativeHEcovid.org