Searching for the ethos of a lost art school.

This search is motivated by an abiding belief in the possibilities of art schools. It is a response to many conversations over recent years around the future of art education and the significant role it has played in weaving the social fabric. I contend that the art school environment has been particularly potent in times of crisis and uncertainty. I hope to show how its ethos and pedagogic principles have been altered in the context of political, social and regulatory changes over the last century. Whilst I begin by lending my voice to all those who defend the philosophy of education more broadly, or who seek to reclaim the values of the civic university, my primary concern is to reignite some significant debates about the divergent philosophical traditions of both the democratic art school and the civic university, and to show why they matter for our collective futures