Competence of Croatian Student-Teachers and Primary School Teachers in the Visual Arts

Abstract

In visual arts education, specific competences pertain to having knowledge from the theory and praxis of visual arts and the teaching methodology of visual arts. The goal of this research was to examine the opinions of 231 students of graduate teacher studies and 143 in-service primary school teachers about the importance of specific competences in the visual arts, as well as the level of achieving the stated competences during studies. The frequency of teachers attending various forms of professional training in the visual arts was also examined. Two questionnaires were designed for the research. The data obtained with the questionnaires were processed at the level of descriptive and inferential statistics. A Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used to compare the differences in the arithmetic means between the perception of importance and the perception of possessing the competences between these two groups. The research has shown the existence of a statistically significant difference between the self-assessment about the importance of specific competences in the visual arts, and the self-assessment of having these competences, both with students of the Croatian faculties of teacher education and primary school teachers. The results also have shown the insufficient presence of teachers’ further professional training in the visual arts area.

The cognitive aspect of interactive learning and teaching in visual arts education

“…Tanay (2001) refers to the widespread view of the visual arts as a subject whose content cannot be learned but can only be mastered by exercise; Tanay sees the cause behind this attitude in the lack of expertise among classroom teachers, who believe that the teaching of visual arts is based on feelings and preference (talent) for the visual arts area. On the other hand, research results also show that the arts have not been taught adequately in preservice teacher education courses and that (among other things) in-service teachers often have misconceptions about the purpose, tasks, and goals of visual arts teaching (Alter, Hayes, & O'Hara, 2009;Garvis, & Pendergast, 2012;Nilson, Fetherston, McMurray, & Fetherston, 2013); they might also feel insufficiently competent to teach visual arts (Garvis, 2009;Russell-Bowie, 2012;Tomljenović, & Novaković, 2019). Therefore, it is necessary to work continuously on updating study programs but also on the professional development of teachers in this area.…”