Deakin University
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Arts education matters, what are we waiting for? Perceptions of initial teacher education students in Australia

journal contribution
posted on 2025-01-24, 05:16 authored by Dawn JosephDawn Joseph, Merrick Brad, Baker William
The Arts are known to foster creativity, empathy, self-efficacy, social awareness, and critical thinking skills. Engagement in and through the Arts contributes to building social cohesion while supporting wellbeing. This research takes place in Australia were the Arts (Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music, and Visual Arts) play an important role in society, and across school curriculum. This paper forms part of a wider study (name to be inserted). We explore student perceptions in relation to ‘Why Arts Education is important in primary schools?’. Students undertaking initial teacher education (ITE) primary programmes participated (September– December 2023, n = 120) by completing an online survey. Qualtrics Stats IQ were used to statistically analyse quantitative data, and Reflexive Thematic Analysis was employed for qualitative data analysis. Given the sample size, generalisations cannot be made to all Australian universities. The two themes (valuing Arts Education, and opportunities and implications) highlight student perceptions of Arts Education. Whilst recommendations are offered, further investigation into the benefits of teaching the Arts across all areas of the curriculum is needed. If Arts Education matters, then why are we waiting to include it in all schools and ITE programmes?

History

Journal

Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice

Pagination

1-20

Location

London, Eng.

ISSN

1354-0602

eISSN

1470-1278

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

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