Teacher as artist: an exploration of teaching visual art and artmaking in a primary school
McEvoy, Michael
(2023)
Teacher as artist: an exploration of teaching visual art and artmaking in a primary school.
Master of Arts thesis, Dublin City University.
Creativity in its many forms is a central component of contemporary arts and education policy in Ireland. At a curricular level, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is currently in the process of reviewing the Primary School Curriculum published in 1999 and has highlighted creativity and creative pedagogy as fundamental principles in delivering the vision of the new Primary Curriculum Framework (2023). While the current primary visual arts education curriculum suggests four possible starting points for teaching visual arts, none of these involve the primary teacher creating artwork or engaging with the creative process. This exploratory case study presents a newly designed approach to the
teaching of visual arts: Teacher as Artist Approach (TAA) and investigates its efficacy. The study documents the implementation of the TAA the approach over a six-week period comprising one pilot lesson and five consecutive lessons, in a medium sized, mixed-gender, rural, Irish school. Twenty-five children, whose ages ranged from seven to nine years old, together with their teacher-as-artist (TAA) participated in this study. Research methods comprised qualitative approaches including thematic analysis of children’s artwork as well as pre- and post- TAA implementation semi-structured interviews. Other data sources included
the teacher’s reflection notes and related artwork produced as part of his emergent professional identity as a Teacher as Artist.
Data analysis and findings reveal that engagement with the TAA approach improved expressive abilities and skills in terms of technique, repertoire and artistic self-expression for the pupils. Data also evidenced growth in the children’s understanding of the creative process, their attitudes towards visual arts, and their appreciation of themselves as artists. Concurrent creative practice, and related reflection, enabled professional growth and development in the researcher’s understanding of the creative process and his role as a teacher-as-artist (TAA). Recommendations draw attention to the importance of increased teacher modelling and co-learning of artistic processes alongside children when teaching visual arts. Further studies into the TAA approach are also recommended. The study also emphasises that teachers with specialist interest and expertise in visual arts explore the TAA approach and support other teachers to incorporate elements of TAA into their practice.
Notwithstanding the limitations of this exploratory case study research, the conclusions and contributions of this research will be of value to primary school teachers, teaching artists, curriculum developers and teacher visual arts educators.