PARIP 2005

International Conference | 29 June - 03 July 2005

Pakes: Anna | UK

Practice, Research & Vocational Schools

This panel draws together five representatives from UK conservatoires to discuss, compare and contrast aspects of their research activities within the context of the national development of practice as research.

Panelists: Jane Boston, Gill Clarke, Amanda Glauert, David Steele and Lloyd Trott

In the UK, recent debates about practice as research (PAR) have largely been led by researchers based in universities, whose work is contexted by institutional frameworks such as the Research Assessment Exercise. Alongside the universities, however, the network of vocational schools also provides opportunities for high-level, practice-based study in performance disciplines, running practice-based masters and research degree programmes, and fostering practice-led research amongst staff. There has so far been little discussion of how the vocational schools’ research activities fit within the shifting landscape of practice as research in Britain. Are these activities similar in aim, process and outcome to practice-led research in the universities? Or are they governed by different conceptions of what practice as research is? And how does the nature of research in the vocational schools relate to the particular institutional mechanisms that support and scrutinise their work?

This panel explores the place and nature of research in vocational dance, drama and music schools / conservatoires. It examines some of the forms practice as research takes in these contexts, and how vocational school and university approaches to PAR compare and contrast.

Panel members represent a range of performing arts disciplines, enabling comparisons across theatre, dance and music. Each will outline a specific area of research activity in which s/he is involved and relate this to the frameworks that exist to support research within the conservatoire setting. The discussion will address a range of issues including: the various ways of knowing developed by researchers, staff and students in vocational schools, in comparison and contrast with university contexts; modes of dissemination of research and the role of documentation; the importance of reflection on practice and the question of whether or not it needs to be verbalised; the link between practice as research and the professional performing arts circuit; the relationship between the development of new knowledge and experimentation on the one hand, and the conventions and values of the professional performing arts industry on the other.

The overall aim of the panel is to provide a forum in which voices from the vocational schools can be heard, so that these voices can contribute to ongoing discussions about practice as research and provide a potentially new perspective on PAR-related issues. Although the panel is composed of representatives from UK conservatoires only, many of the points raised are relevant to an international audience in that the general philosophical issues cut across national boundaries. Also, in countries where university performing arts education is less well developed, conservatoires assume additional importance as contexts for high level performance practice and research; a discussion of research practice and potential within vocational schools may therefore be of interest to delegates from these countries.

Dr. Anna Pakes (Panel Chair)

Lecturer in Dance

Roehampton University

Roehampton Lane

London SW15 5PJ

Tel: 020-8392-3000 (ext. 4270)

E-mail: A.Pakes@roehampton.ac.uk