In former days, as a teacher at the highschool for ball related sports in Vienna, the Ballsportgymnasium, I was the only Art Teacher in the school. There where about 8 gym teachers and just one art teacher,- and I envied the big group of laughing, joking, musculous gym teachers, for their might in this institution. The perspective of a specialist peer group was something, I was reallly looking forward to, when I was about to begin teaching at my new work place. Not only for the might, that comes with the represantation of art through each and every art teacher, but for finding some kind of intellectual base, that is to say, art defines its own intellectual realm. So I awaited, what may be called a ‚group experience‘, when in the lunch time, there is an urge to chatter about art education concepts, the right way to handle art related social situations, to exchange about the boarders and the defining moments of the subject of art education.
My real life experience is different to this imagination. I found all awaited ingridients but also had to realise, that there is a need for isolation. I perceived this not just through the acting of my colleagues, but through my own emotional experience. Some things obviously need a clear line, and thats all right with me.
However I like to search for ways to increase the exchange. It need not be an overly emotional exchange, but I definitely would like more of an intellectual exchange. I guess, this comes with time. The most avid feeling I am getting into, when I think about the art graduation exam. This is the area, where the specialist teacher groups need to agree on some basic, consistent material, they would teach their high school pupils. The current baseline is the art-education school book. Well, maybe sometime, we will be able to adjust the material to the personal needs and wishes of the pupils and the teachers, who engage with this stuff all year long. Then, art education will become the gratifying, libidinal subject it needs to be, as is my belief.