Date of Award

1-1-1997

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Master of Education

Faculty

Faculty of Education

First Supervisor

Tony Monk

Abstract

The study examines the role of visual art works in primary education. This involves three levels of investigation. Level 1 examines the role of these art works in the main philosophies of visual arts education; Level 2 examines the role of visual art works in the Western Australia Art and Crqft K-7 Syllabus; and Level 3 examines visual arts primary specialist teachers' perceptions of the role of visual art works in their teaching programmes. The purpose is to establish the relationships between these three levels of analysis so as to contribute towards an explanation of the disparity between the high commitment towards the use of art works at the level of curriculum framework, and the apparently minimal use of visual art works in classroom art teaching. The first level of analysis deals with the role assigned to the use of visual art [unreadable] four major philosophical theories of art education, namely: hand-eye training, child-centred art education, discipline-based art education (DBAE), and contextualist art education. The second level of analysis examines the influences of this theoretical debate on the structure of the Western Australian Art and Crafts Syllabus K-7, and also examines attempts to implement policy regarding the use of visual art works in schools. This is based on an examination of the relevant curricula documents, and interviews with four art educators involved in curriculum development The third level of analysis is based on interviews with visual arts primary specialist teachers. These interviews sought to discover their understanding of the role of visual art works in primary art education and in their own teaching.

Included in

Art Education Commons

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