The text was commissioned by engage, (international association of gallery education) for Issue 13 of their scholarly journal focussing on Globalisation; and was used to reflectively explore and contextualise a large-scale international collaborative research project (F.A.M.E.: Forum for Alternative Methods of Education) in relation to global debates around education practice; to a global gallery education audience alongside research by international scholars, curators and artists. F.A.M.E was a large-scale international research network project that involved research into pedagogical approaches to adult education through transcultural exchange with European partners, including the University of Barcelona and Helsinki University. The essay was used to interrogated the proposition that transcultural exchange would necessarily result in higher quality educational provision for adult learners, and pitched the theoretical concepts of a cultural ‘third space’ of hybrid practice, against the value of local specificity and individualised, bespoke programming. It was written as a critical interim response during the F.A.M.E project, following a series of international seminars and presentations, to explore key questions in relation to the notion of ‘good practice’, including whether the championing of such ideals might result in formulaic and repetitive programming which failed to embrace risks by reiterating only tried-and-tested models of practice.
Read more at engage review, Globalisation, Issue 13 – Summer 2003, ISSN 1365-9383
