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Art Teachers as Reflective Practitioners in the Classroom

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Artistic Thinking in the Schools

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Abstract

This chapter is part of a larger doctoral study, which explores beginning art teachers’ Initial Teacher Education (ITE) experiences in the context of Singapore and examines the relationships between ITE and beginning art teachers’ teaching practices immediately upon their completion of the training. The study specifically focuses on two pre-graduate ITE programmes: Diploma and Bachelor of Arts programmes for teaching. In this chapter, the writer presents one of the key findings from the original study. Using five case studies of beginning art teachers in five different government secondary schools, data gathered included schemes of work, lesson observations and semi-structured interviews. The data centred on understanding teachers’ learnings during ITE, their views on their overall experiences during ITE and the ways their ITE training relate to their current teaching practices. The study employs Shulman’s conceptual framework of subject matter knowledge (SMK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) to discuss the types of learnings beginning art teachers gained during their ITE. Shulman’s model of pedagogical reasoning and action (PRA) further assists in associating beginning art teachers’ knowledge and their teaching practices. The findings presented in this chapter suggest the need to strengthen art student teachers’ capacities in reflective practice, a key disposition that is critical for art teachers in their own artistic thinking and teaching, as well as future development of their students as artistic thinkers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Bee Lian Kehk

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  1. Bee Lian Kehk
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Correspondence to Bee Lian Kehk .

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  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Pamela Costes-Onishi

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Kehk, B.L. (2019). Art Teachers as Reflective Practitioners in the Classroom. In: Costes-Onishi, P. (eds) Artistic Thinking in the Schools. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8993-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8993-1_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-8992-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-8993-1

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