ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book contextualises approaches to critical and contextual studies (CCS) design and its integration into art and design education by exploring subject identities, constructions of theory/practice and meanings of integration. It draws upon current practice to highlight and examine themes that underpin and drive CCS design and integration. These themes included learning cultures, using Bernstein to characterise key aspects and features at each case study site, form and content, and staff dispositions and subject cultures. These findings set the context for and approach to integration at each site, thereby laying the foundations for the possibility of integrating CCS. A salient point that runs through the book is the apparent tension between the predictability and product-based drive of the education system – including audit, accountability and management – and the identity and aims of the subject of art and design.
