This layered account of arts education is produced through the three authors' critical reflections of experiences in their own early childhood education, and their pre-service teacher education. The first layer establishes links between the arts, learning in the arts and critically reflective practices through an account of teaching and learning in Unit X — a compulsory arts unit in a four-year teacher education course. The second layer is a recall of early childhood arts experiences and how these informed our identities as artists, students of the arts and critically reflective teachers. Possibilities for promoting critically reflective practices in teacher education are recommended, alongside a call for more systematic modes of reflective inquiry in a teacher degree program.
References
1.
AspinD. (2000) Lifelong Learning: The mission of arts education in the learning community of the 21st century, Music Education Research, 2(1), 75–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14613800050004440
2.
AtkinsonD. (2002) Art in Education: Identity and practice. Boston, MA: Kluwer.
3.
BoekaertsM. (2002) Bringing about Change in the Classroom: Strengths and weaknesses of the self-regulated learning approach — EARLI Presidential Address, 2001, Learning and Instruction, 12, 589–604.
4.
BurnardP. (2006) Rethinking the Imperatives for Reflective Practices in Arts Education, in BurnardP. & HennessyS. (Eds), Reflective Practices in Arts Education, 3–12. Dordrecht: Springer.
5.
BurnardP. & HennessyS. (Eds) (2006) Reflective Practices in Arts Education. Dordrecht: Springer.
CorcoranC. & LeahyR. (2003) Growing Professionally through Reflective Practice, Kappa Delta Pi Record, 40(1), 30–33.
8.
CremeP. (2008) A Space for Academic Play: Student learning journals as transitional writing, Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 7(1), 49–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1474022207084882
9.
DaviesB. (1994) Poststructuralist Theory and Classroom Practice. Geelong, Victoria: Deakin University Press.
10.
DaviesB. (2000) A Body of Writing 1990–1999. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
11.
EflandA.D. (2002) Art and Cognition: Integrating the visual arts in the curriculum. New York: Teachers College Press.
12.
EisnerE. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
13.
EisnerE. (2004) What Can Education Learn from the Arts about the Practice of Education? [Electronic version], International Journal of Education and the Arts, 5. http://www.ijea.org/v5n4/v5n4.pdf (accessed 9 March 2008).
14.
EisnerE. (2008) Art and Knowledge, in KnowlesJ.G. & ColeA. (Eds) Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research, 3–12. Los Angeles: Sage.
15.
FendlerL. (2003) Teacher Reflection in a Hall of Mirrors: Historical influences and political reverberations, Educational Researcher, 32(3), 16–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0013189X032003016
16.
FoucaultM. (1977) Discipline and Punish: The birth of the prison. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
17.
FoucaultM. (1994) Technologies of the Self, in RabinowP. (Ed.) Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth, vol. 1: The essential works of Michel Foucault 1954–1984, 223–252. New York: The New Press.
18.
GardnerH. (1993) On Teaching for Understanding: A conversation with Howard Gardner (conducted by Ron Brandt), Educational Leadership, 50(7), 4–7.
19.
KindlerA. (1996) Myths, Habits, Research and Policy: The four pillars of early childhood art education, Arts Education Policy Review, 97(4), 24–30.
20.
KindlerA. (1999) ‘From Endpoints to Repertoires’: A challenge to art education, Studies in Art Education, 40(4), 330–349. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1320553
21.
KleinM. (2007) How is it that Learning Mathematics in the Early Years Can Become So Difficult? A post-structuralist analysis, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 8(4), 313–319. http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2007.8.4.313
22.
KushnerS. (2006) Adolescents and Cultures of Reflection: More than meets the eye, in BurnardP. & HennessyS. (Eds) Reflective Practices in Arts Education, 13–22). Dordrecht: Springer.
23.
LoughranJ.J. (2002) Effective Reflective Practice: In search of meaning in learning about teaching, Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 33–43.
24.
McArdleF. (2004) Art Meets Education: Is there space on the verandah? In McWilliamE.DanbyS. & KnightJ. (Eds) Performing Educational Research: Theories, methods and practices, 43–60. Flaxton: Post Pressed.
25.
MoonJ. (1999) Reflection in Learning and Professional Development. London: Kogan Page.
26.
NolanA. (2008) Encouraging the Reflection Process in Undergraduate Teachers Using Guided Reflection, Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 33(1), 31–36.
27.
NovingerS.O'BrienL. & SweigmanL. (2005) Challenging the Culture of Expertise: Moving beyond training the always, already failing early childhood educator, in RyanS. & GrieshaberS. (Eds) Practical Transformations and Transformational Practices: Globalization, postmodernism, and early childhood education, 217–242. Oxford: Elsevier.
28.
OlsonI. (2000) The Arts and Critical Thinking in American Education. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.
29.
RolfeL. (2006) Using Learner Journals in Teacher Education in the Arts, in BurnardP. & HennessyS. (Eds) Reflective Practices in Arts Education, 95–106. Dordrecht: Springer.
30.
RosarioJ. & CollazoE. (1981) Aesthetic Codes in Context: An exploration in two preschool classrooms, Journal of Aesthetic Education, 15(1), 71–82.
31.
SchönD.A. (1995) The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action. Aldershot: Arena.
32.
Strong-WilsonT. (2006) Bringing Memory Forward: A method for engaging teachers in reflective practice on narrative and memory, Reflective Practice, 7(1), 101–113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623940500489773
33.
Weigel-DoughtyG. (2002) Towards the artist-scholar: Theory in practice — A theoretical model for higher education, Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 1(2), 205–219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1474022202001002006
34.
WrightS. (2003) The Arts, Young Children, and Learning. Boston, MA: Pearson.
