Monograph in IJABER

 

Artists and teachers. Inhabiting transformative spaces.

Reception of articles until 2024 June 30th

Guest editors:
Dr. Judit Onsès Segarra. University of Girona
Dr. José María Mesías Lema. University of A Coruña

Keywords: arts-based educational research, artistic research.

The lack of arts education specialists in schools has been a recurring research topic for decades. Unlike the subjects of music, English and Physical Education - which do have a specialist teacher - many countries yearn for such a figure in arts education. It would seem that everyone is qualified to teach children the arts. And, although the idea of imagining generalist teachers who are excellent in arts subjects is attractive and suggestive, the reality is not always the same. There are recurrent tensions, discomfort and discomfort that this issue generates both in the teaching staff, who often feel lacking in resources, strategies and sufficient preparation, and in the group of artists working in the field of education (whether from museum and cultural centres or in schools through external projects) where they sometimes find more connection, motivation, enthusiasm and understanding on the part of the students than in the teaching staff.

From IJABER Journal we ask ourselves: How to bring arts education to schools without the figure of the specialist? How to accompany generalist teachers to open up to the creative, sensitive, aesthetic, poetic, critical and reflective look necessary to go beyond handicrafts and ‘what seems useful and meaningful’, and to bet on artistic and cultural projects from a globalised education?

In order to respond to these questions, in recent years, collectives and institutional initiatives have come up with projects with artists who collaborate in different ways with schools. Whether to propose artistic projects or to train and co-create projects together with teachers. Even so, there have been many tensions, as it has often been experienced by teachers as an unnecessary intrusion, where their capacities for artistic teaching have been questioned.

Is it possible to find a common language between education and the arts where the different contexts coexist and do not perceive each other as a threat but as a possibility for real cooperation and mutual learning?

For this monograph, the academic, educational and artistic community is invited to present works and research that contribute to broaden and enrich this debate, shedding some light on existing tensions, as well as inviting non-conformity from a creative and transformative perspective.

 

Thematic axes of the monographic:

- The figure of the arts education specialist: challenges and potentials.
- Policies and practices in socially engaged artistic-educational projects.
- Artistic-educational projects that have transformed their context (the institution, the city, the community...).
- Strategies of cooperation, collaboration, co-creation between artists and teachers for transformative arts education.
- Actions and projects between arts and cultural institutions and educational institutions.