Studio Pedagogy in Transition: Lecturers' Reflections on Creative Arts Education in a Post-COVID World

Abstract

This paper presents findings from interviews with creative arts academics examining how the COVID-19 disruption reshaped studio-based teaching practices and informed future pedagogical thinking. Participants described the disruption as a period that compelled rapid adaptation and created opportunities to experiment, review and reflect on their teaching practices. Staff are committed to learning from this time. Lecturers expressed a strong preference for in-person teaching, with the purposeful integration of online and digital pedagogies seen as key to expanding studio teaching. Our results suggest increased interest in the potential benefits of a blended approach. Results also revealed that the COVID-19 disruption triggered deeper, systemic shifts in student behaviour and in teaching mindsets, changes they understood as extending beyond short-term crisis responses and signalling more fundamental change. These findings reflect educator accounts, and we therefore interpret claims about student engagement as staff perceptions that warrant triangulation in future research.