I have taught art for twenty-one years; a period in which I witnessed the rise of the current media society. In the current digital world it has become impossible to imagine modern life without the Internet and digital tools. Nevertheless, this digital world still seems to be largely absent in the current art curriculum in secondary education.

The school in which I work is implementing the use of digital media within the curriculum and has chosen the iPad as a suitable tool. The smartphone, however, is not considered as an option. In my opinion this is a missed opportunity, as the majority of Dutch pupils in secondary education already own and use a smartphone. This age group ‘shares’ themselves daily on social media. They produce images that show and share their thoughts, locations, hobbies, actions, interests, activities, daily pursuits and self-portraits. ‘Sharing’ contributes to the way young people shape their online persona.

The most interesting notion, to me, regarding my work as an art teacher at a secondary school with pupils aged fifteen to eighteen years, is to establish a connection between the smartphone, social media and contemporary art in my classroom. Therefore I developed a new module called “Image” as part of the new CKV based on the above principles, and conducted an action-based research to evaluate new lesson plans. The theme that I choose for this new module is “Self-portraiture”. In my opinion, the selfie can be considered a new genre in photography, connected to the smartphone and social media. The use of social media changes perspective on the modes of viewing, on image making and image sharing. Students are encouraged to reflect on the selfie as part of contemporary art and as a cultural phenomenon, and produce their own body of work, using their smartphone as a tool.

External critic: Emiel Heijnen (Art/media educator and researcher, senior lecturer Master Education in Arts, AHK)