Visual arts education in Tasmanian primary schools : the perceptions of generalist teachers

The perceptions generalist primary school teachers have of visual arts education in Tasmanian primary schools gives insight into what visual arts experiences Tasmanian primary school students are receiving throughout primary school. The study was developed in order to explore the learning and experiences that Tasmanian generalist primary school teachers provide for their students in visual arts in the primary school classroom, and the rationale behind these. This study came about because as a high school art teacher, the researcher had noticed that a lot of students when they reached high school were disinterested in visual arts or did not believe they were any good at it. Therefore, the researcher wanted insight into what visual arts primary school teachers were teaching, how they were teaching visual arts and how confident and competent they were in their visual arts teaching. With the aim that this would help to develop an understanding of what visual arts 'looks like' in Tasmanian primary schools, and in so doing establish what further research may be developed to continue to improve visual arts teaching in Tasmanian primary schools. A naturalistic, mixed methods approach was used to uncover the perceptions and opinions of Tasmanian generalist primary school teachers in regards to their visual arts teaching. The inductive analysis of both qualitative (interview/ survey) and quantitative (survey) data as well as an examination of the literature expanded on the perceptions generalist primary school teachers. The study was of all Tasmanian generalist primary school teachers and a survey was conducted and made available to all from the Department of Education, Catholic Education and Independent Schools via email. Those who then wanted to offer their time to participant in an interview could do so. The interview participants were then purposefully selected. The use of both qualitative and quantitative data allowed for a deeper understanding of the perceptions of Tasmanian generalist primary school teachers. The findings of this study help to understand what visual arts Tasmanian generalist primary school teachers are teaching, with the intention of helping advocacy for the importance of visual arts education.