Creative Arts-Based Pedagogy with Autistic Students: Developing a Manifesto for Change

Inclusive education is essential to a fair and equitable society, yet autistic students often experience limited inclusion in mainstream secondary schools. Further, traditional pedagogies which rely on linear, text-based instruction can alienate both autistic and non-autistic learners who engage more effectively through visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic modes. In contrast, creative arts-based pedagogy offers an inclusive, flexible approach to teaching and learning which promotes engagement and understanding. However, existing research is limited by small samples, weak methodologies, corrective, pathology-focused ontologies of autism, and substantial epistemic injustice.

To address these limitations, I will report on three interlinked studies exploring how creative arts-based pedagogy (CABP) is perceived and experienced by autistic students and mainstream secondary school teachers. CABP is a pedagogical approach which uses the creative arts to support teaching and learning in classroom environments. It is a whole-class, interactive, collaborative, and multimodal approach and its focus is on the way in which teaching occurs, rather than on the specific subject matter being taught. Practical applications include the drama-based method of “hot seating,” where students adopt roles to explore perspectives and rhythmic or musical strategies for teaching foundational skills such as the alphabet.

In Study One, I carried out a convergent-integrated mixed-methods systematic review synthesising 24 studies. While findings indicated generally positive outcomes, they also revealed the persistence of corrective, pathology-focused ideologies. I report on four overarching themes: perceptions of autism, the nature of CABP, its outcomes, and the barriers and facilitators influencing implementation.

Study Two involved a qualitative questionnaire with mainstream secondary teacher participants; the aim was to explore teachers' perceptions of the benefits and risks, and barriers and facilitators associated with facilitating CABP with autistic mainstream secondary school students. Teachers described CABP as providing ‘safe spaces’ that support autistic students’ social and personal development, though their perceptions were often characterised by ableist undertones. Reported barriers were primarily structural, including time, funding, and experience.

Finally, in Study Three, I conducted semi-structured interviews with autistic students, analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Students highlighted the shortcomings of traditional pedagogies and viewed CABP as a more authentic, creative, and affirming way to learn. The importance of autistic voices in developing an authentic understanding of the autistic experience of CABP is discussed, along with infrastructural barriers to the implementation of CABP with autistic students in mainstream secondary schools.

Empirical findings suggest that both teachers and autistic students value CABP for enhancing engagement, learning, and information retention. Although autistic students identified a number of previously unidentified CABP-associated risks, their perceptions appear to consider the benefits to outweigh them. There are, however, significant barriers preventing CABP implementation with autistic students in the mainstream secondary school classroom which should be explored and overcome as a next step towards inclusive pedagogy in mainstream classrooms.