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© 2023 L. Stephenson, R. B. Thorkelsdóttir, K. Dunbar, K. Kanameris & J. G. Jónsdóttir. This is an Open Access
article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creative-
commons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
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is properly cited and states its license.
Citation: L. Stephenson, R. B.Thorkelsdóttir, K. Dunbar, K. Kanameris & J. G. Jónsdóttir. «Creative Pedagogy as Resistance
Space: Rhizo-Textual Analysis of Artist Educators’ PracticesWithin Pan-European Policy» Journal for Research in Arts and Sports
Education, Vol. 7(3), 2023, pp. 59–77. http://doi.org/10.23865/jased.v7.5286
*Correspondence: Lisa Stephenson, e-mail: L.S.Stephenson@leedsbeckettuniversity.ac.uk
Journal for Research in Arts and Sports Education
Vol. 7 | No. 3 | 2023 | pp. 59–77
Peer-reviewed article
Creative Pedagogy as Resistance
Space: Rhizo-Textual Analysis of
Artist Educators’ Practices Within
Pan-European Policy
Lisa Stephenson,
1
* Rannveig Björk Thorkelsdóttir,
2
Katie Lee
Dunbar,
3
Konstantina Karameri
4
& Jóna Guðrún Jónsdóttir
5
1
Leeds Beckett University; UK;
2
University of Iceland, Iceland;
3
Artist freelancer;
4
Stimuli for Social Change, Greece;
5
University of Iceland, Iceland
Abstract
Creative learning is increasingly being recognised as a crucial part of children’s holistic education.
In this paper, we critically explore our experiences as artist-educators working across four differing
European countries, namely, England, Iceland, Germany, and Greece. These experiences of prac-
tice are set against educational policy landscapes which have progressively eroded opportunities
for young people to engage in the creative arts in education across many European states. We are
involved in a three-year Erasmus+ funded project, “arted,” which aims to transfer the knowledge of
artists working in education to school and home contexts, offering more equitable arts opportunities
for young people through the co-creation of open access resources. Combining Deleuzoguattarian
theory and narrative, we examined our collective ideologies of creativity and principles of arts
practices within differing national curricular policy contexts as part of our co-creation process. This
rhizo-textual analysis highlighted the heterogenous features of our work as artist-educators, which
have enabled us to hold spaces for creative arts learning within differing national policy contexts.
These resistance spaces act as a social critique of educational policy. Through the process of this
analysis three ethical principles emerged which collectively underpin our interactive guides for
teachers and parents within the project.
Keywords: arts education; creative learning; pedagogy; children; policy; rhizome; relational
learning.
Received: December, 2022; Accepted: November, 2023; Published: December, 2023
Introduction
Creativity is defined in this paper as the ability to “come up with new ideas and
solutions” and the “willingness to question ideas” (Avvisati et al., 2013, p. 229), and