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This study investigates how visual art may be used to stimulate children's creative thinking skills and encourage them to reflect on their preferred approaches to learning. With reference to a wide range of examples, it demonstrates how a number of children (aged from six to seventeen) from ten schools, who had been identified by their teachers as being in some ways able, creative, or both, approached and responded to paintings both individually and in small group discussions. It aims to provide some insight into how the pupils analysed both their own responses and the interpretations of others and used this understanding to create new meanings. It also seeb to address how children express their thoughts and feelings about different types of paintings and how they choose to present their ideas to others.

The usefulness or otherwise of drawing as a strategy in design thinking for primary children is a contested topic in the field of design and technology education. Previous studies have concentrated on analysing the drawings that children make, but there has been little prior work considering the understandings that children themselves hold about design drawing/sketching. The purpose of this study is to clarify the ways in which children themselves understand the use and purpose of drawing or sketching as part of design activity, and to determine key factors in developing in children a sense of purpose in making sketches and drawings during design and technology activities. The parameters of the debate are explored, and related to rationales for the inclusion of design and technology as a component of general education. Understandings about the nature of children's drawing, and the purposes that children themselves may bring to the act of drawing, are also reviewed. The study draws on evidence from observation and interview of 136 children between the ages of 4 and 11, some of them engaged on self-directed drawing tasks ('free' drawing) and others on design and technology activities in which they have been asked to draw during the process. In considering children when drawing freely, their talk about the drawing, and while drawing, was analysed to clarify the purposes which they appeared to have when drawing. During designing, children were interviewed about the usefulness of the drawings they had made, and how they expected to use it. The majority of the children interviewed during design activities saw the purpose of the drawing as a means of remembering ideas. There appeared to be little progression away from this notion between the children in Year One and the children in Year Six. Although memory may be an important function of drawing, it is argued that it is not the most important function when designing. Teacher interaction with children is suggested as the key to enabling children to use drawing and sketching in more productive ways during their design activity.

The creative ability of a child to realise their imagination is something that is a pleasure to see in drawings created by children. There is the idea that whatever is produced by children is something pure and valuable in its own right. Unfortunately, when children are being creative, they are subject to adult influence, especially by art teachers at school, which is reflected in their work that show signs of this influence and that such influence is an impediment to natural creativity. This study set out to investigate the effect that the teacher and the different aspects of the teacher’s role have on the creativity in children, where it was found that such involvement which includes instruction, engagement and evaluation can negatively impact creativity. The study intensively considered the teacher in the classroom and the curriculum in order to determine the different aspects of teacher involvement to be investigated. The investigation was achieved through experimentation where children were allowed to draw under various experimental conditions. The variables of the experiment included the inclusion and exclusion of the potentially influencing factors in various combinations in order to determine their impact on the children’s creativity. The drawing outcomes produced in the experiments were evaluated for creativity through creativity assessment tools, namely; the Creative Product Semantic Scale (CPSS) to investigate creativity under the various experimental conditions. CPSS was adapted to the study by the inclusion of an ‘Uninfluenced Dimension’ to look for signs of influence in the work. The results showed that the presence of all three variables, namely: instruction, engagement and evaluation had an impact on creativity and a high level of evidence of influence in the drawings. Furthermore, this study showed that curricula influences pedagogy which in turn influences creativity. Moreover, the exclusion of teacher influences reveals a new design paradigm where there is increased creativity, this not only has implications for those interested in art, pedagogy and curricula, but also those concerned with the psychological implications of creativity in children.

This thesis explores students' voices in the context of integrated arts curriculum projects in three primary schools in Hong Kong. With a postmodern orientation this study looks into students' views, experiences. performances and their interactions with the participating arts teachers in a freer space within the panoptic school buildings situated in the Hong Kong Chinese culture. The research questions for the study are: What are the primary students' views about integrated arts? How do the students create their work across the arts? How do the students interact with their teachers and peers in the Projects? What school features are created that support students' voices in this Projects" How do the students position the arts teachers and the researcher in the Projects') This study involved three Integrated Arts Projects (lA Projects) in three Hong Kong primary schools with forty-five students aged from ten to eleven in Primary 4 and 5. The students voluntarily joined these projects. which were not scheduled in their school timetable. Each lA Project was different in terms of the curricula, student groups, arts teachers, the participants' working styles and views on the arts. In each project, with a maximum of twelve sessions, each student group undertook creative work in the integrated arts on the themes and in the rooms of their own choice, and finally gave a presentation/performance in the last session. Throughout the projects, the participating arts teachers tried to make as little intervention as possible in students' creative processes. This practice was not common in regular school days. In formed by the postmodernist philosophical assumptions of this research, students' experiences and understandings in these projects were explored by the Mosaic Approach, which consists of multi pie research methods. including established methods such as observations and group discussions, and creative methods such as student-led photography, mind journals. game Web and sticky-notes. These methods help deconstruct the students' voices in the Projects into small narratives. With the use of discourse analysis, the mosaic of students' voices merged and assembled, interweaving Hong Kong Chinese culture and postmodern thought. The analysis is in three chapters: Macro, Micro and Creative Work and Processes. The Macro is about the discussions of space. time. appearances: power/know ledge: power and resistance in the projects. The Micro is about the students' views about the roles of the participating arts teachers and the researcher (myself), and their views on the relationships between the arts. The final analysis chapter links students' creative work and processes to the analyses of the Macro and the Micro. The overall findings illustrate the tension between students' voices and the I-long Kong Chinese culture. Part Five presents the integration and synthesis of this research, including the implications for theory, methodology and practice in the creative arts. This study demonstrates the potential of heterotopias in supporting students' voices in the Integrated Arts Projects in the Hong Kong Chinese context. Furthermore, this study also demonstrates the use of the adapted Mosaic Approach to explore students' voices in the primary school context of Hong Kong.

The study examines inclusive education within the context of art education in a sample of primary school settings in two countries: Turkey and the UK. The main focus of this study is on the challenges and opportunities presented to primary school teachers, head teachers and Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) in catering for the needs of SEN children in art lessons within mainstream classrooms. This is examined under the main research question: How effectively does art education facilitate inclusive education? The most suitable way to understand the similarities and differences between the sample of Turkish and UK school settings and their inclusion policy and practice with a reference to visual arts classrooms was to utilise a comparative case study approach using qualitative data collection methods, namely, semi-structured interviews. In total 18 school staff participated in the data collection process. Themes that emerged from the classroom data included: inclusion policy, benefits and constraints of inclusion, assessment, supporting agencies, teacher training, issues related to the teaching and learning environment, budget and the wellbeing of pupils. The data supported the importance of inclusive education in the education system in the UK and Turkey and overall revealed positive outcomes for pupils. The study provided evidence of the positive and enabling role that art education can play in inclusive education. Several constraints were identified including class size, budget, training, resources and having a coherent policy framework. The study data highlighted the positive impact that having a coherent policy framework and implementation has had on the provision of inclusive education in the UK schools. The study established that whilst there are many differences between the two countries studied, there are several areas that Turkey can learn from the UK example.

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This thesis is based on the observation that annotation in Art and Design Education has received little attention as a device for developing student understanding. As an Art and Design teacher I have, therefore, taken what I see as the predominance of 'labelling' practice further, exploring the potential of annotation by looking at the responses of five students to a number of questions designed to identify levels of understanding. This research has highlighted a number of issues concerning why and how annotation is used in sketchbooks, and what value these students attach to it. A desire to develop the effectiveness of annotation is the driving force behind this investigation. I have minded to understand the perceptions of those who teach, as well as the perceptions of those who are taught. By analysing both perspectives, different needs are addressed as part of an in depth examination of the data collected. I argue that annotating is the counterpart to sketching. By definition, both these activities are 'short-lived', and 'rapid', implying a longer time spent thinking, thinking that is not usually immediately available for consideration. Analysing particular language is crucial. I also argue that the process of condensing thought creates inferential gaps for us to consider. Furthermore, what happens during the time taken to annotate at different speeds is important to establish, in order to understand the reasons for its production. A developing theory emerges to suggest that further consideration of these aspects would enable students' concerns to be identified more clearly. This investigation sets out to articulate the understandings of students for the purpose of establishing meanings. This is achieved by considering two parallel lines of enquiry, relating time and intention. This triangulates thoughts about what motivates students to shorten written information to support their visual communications. Three main outcomes emerge. They relate to the language used by students, inferences inherent within their notes, and the pace of their annotation to indicate further significance. These outcomes make significant contributions to current awareness of the value of sketchbook annotation, and recommendations are made, about how to access this understanding, with a view to implementation.

This study investigates the multiple layers of meaning-making young children represent in their drawings. Taking a social semiotics theoretical framework to analyse children’s drawings, this study is designed around four main research questions: to examine the modes children use, the themes they illustrate, the meanings they communicate, and the possible influences that affect their drawings. It is developed around three case studies of four-year old children who attended the same school in Malta. The data were collected over four months, where the three children were encouraged to draw in both the home and school settings. During and post drawing conversations were held with the children and their parents, to bring out the meanings conveyed. The observations and conversations were video-recorded and transcribed. In total, the children drew two hundred, twenty-three drawings. The children’s participation was supported throughout the data collection process: they video-recorded themselves, collated the drawings in display files and provided insightful understandings about their drawings. Developing a simple-complex mode criterion, which was represented on a purposely-created Data Cross-grid, the findings show that the three children had personal preferences in their use of semiotic styles. Findings from the study also illustrate that they drew a broad range of subjects with people, animals, and weather and sky features featuring prominently. The Data Cross-grid also represented a simple-complex theme criterion, where results indicate that the children had different drawing patterns and configurations. Ultimately, the Data Cross-grid provided a unique profile for each child as a drawer. The meanings in the three children’s drawings were complex and extensive. These were reflected in four main distinctive functions: drawing as a constructor of identity, drawing as a communicator of the self, drawing as a processor of knowledge, and drawing as a play process. The children’s drawings were also influenced by a variety of home, school and other community and cultural influences. In conclusion, the study brings out the importance of recognising drawing as a semiotic and visual language children use to process, create and communicate meaning.

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