Dr Emese Hall

About me:

Previously a primary and early years teacher, I began working in teacher education at Exeter in 2005. With a degree in architecture, and a love of textiles, a holistic understanding of visual literacy informs my academic practice. Alongside the broad areas of drawing and reflection, I am particularly interested in the value of professional learning communities and artist-teacher identities. I care deeply about environmental justice and am a passionate degrowth advocate. My current research focuses on how art education can address the Earth Crisis.

I lecture on the PGCE Primary programme and lead the Upper Primary Art pathway. I am also a visual arts specialist on the MA Creative Arts in Education programme and supervise MA and PhD students in researching various aspects of primary and/or visual arts education.

I am formerly Vice President of the National Society for Education in Art and Design [NSEAD], Chair of the NSEAD Art Education for the Environment and Climate Emergency Research Group, and Co-ordinator of the NSEAD Regional Network Group Exeter Area Art Educators. I am Co-Editor (with Nigel Meager) of the Pedagogy Volume of the International Encyclopedia of Art and Design Education (published by Wiley-Blackwell, Feb 2019). Between Oct 2020-March 2021, I held the position of Subject Lead for Primary Art, Craft and Design for Oak National Academy.

Previous external positions of responsibilty include a Member of the National Expert Subject Advisory Group for Art and Design Education, Member of the NSEAD Publications Board, and a South West Regional Network Co-ordinator for the Cambridge Primary Review Trust.

Interests:

My research interests are situated within the broad field of 'visual arts education', with a particular focus on art in primary schools. I am also very interested in teachers' professional learning (both ITE and CPD), interpretive methodologies and visual research methods. I have recently investigated artist-teacher identity through making, including reflection on my own practice, and I am currently looking at the connections between art and environmental awareness and action.

In my PhD research (Hall, 2010) I sought to explore the communicative potential of young children's drawings by making case studies of children (aged 4-6) in an early years class. This research built on the work of those who have used socio-cultural theories to investigate the influence of context on young children's drawing, meaning making, and representation at home and in school.

The Communicative Potential of Young Children's Drawings

Qualifications:

BSc (Hons), PGCE, MEd, MSc, PhD, SFHEA