This licentiate thesis is based on visual art didactics and the school subject visual art, but focuses on the design process in a college design education. The aim is to explore and understand the innovative and exploratory learning processes and the importance of visual mediation in this context. With a phenomenological approach the study focuses on design students experiences in this context. These experiences are made subject on reflection and formulation, through phenomenology and visual semiotics. The empirical materal of the study consists of interviews and sketches and images collected from student workbooks. The results of the study show that the design process does not occur by itself among the students. It must be learned. The need for learning probably also applies to the processes of creative learning in other fields. Furthermore, the results indicate that the process is best understood and appropriated in pragmatic learning situations. Three kinds of visual representations of the basic aims of process work are identified in the analysis: images for communicative purposes, images for reference and discussion purposes and images as a support for one's own thinking. From the perspective of visual art dididactics the results of the study reveals four important dimensions, wich may be of relevance as a fundamental didactic structure in efforts to promote understanding of a practice-oriented learning in context of visual mediations. Together with a split vision guiding principles, existing premises and action-based learning processes may provide a supporting unit in this structure. Based on the results, it seems important that pupils and students have the opportunity to learn to master and appropriate the creative process in order to use it in an investigative purpose. Considering the structure of the process, a didactic model can facilitate learning and at the same time provide a valuable complement to the subjective approach of inspiration in the aestetic learning process. In summary, the results of the study indicate that the fields of design and didactics are related to each other and that the field of design training can bring knowledge and experience of exploration and creative learning processes to the school subject visual art.

Σκοπό της παρούσας μελέτης αποτελεί η διερεύνηση του ζητήματος της Αξιολόγησης στην Εικαστική Αγωγή της Πρωτοβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, επιδιώκεται, μέσα από την επισκόπηση της σχετικής βιβλιογραφίας, η διαμόρφωση μιας εικόνας ως προς τις παραμέτρους που προκύπτουν για το πεδίο αυτό από τη συζήτηση του επιστημονικού συγκείμενου σε εθνικό και διεθνές επίπεδο και ως προς το λόγο της επίσημης ελληνικής εκπαιδευτικής πολιτικής, καθώς και η συγκριτική θεώρηση τους, φωτίζοντας τις τυχόν συνέχειες ή/και ασυνέχειες. Προκειμένου για την παρουσίαση και ανάλυση των δεδομένων, πραγματοποιήθηκε η οργάνωση των παραπάνω απόψεων και θέσεων σε δύο αντίστοιχα πλαίσια, ως προς τους εξής άξονες: τους φορείς υλοποίησης, τις μεθόδους και τις τεχνικές, τα αντικείμενα και τη στοχοθεσία της αξιολόγησης. Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα της μελέτης, παρά τη σύγκλιση που φαίνεται να υπάρχει μεταξύ των δύο πλαισίων ως προς τις γενικές αρχές της αξιολόγησης, στο πλαίσιο της επίσημης ελληνικής εκπαιδευτικής πολιτικής παρατηρούνται ουσιαστικές ασυνέχειες, καθώς η δόμηση του έχει βασιστεί ως επί το πλείστον στις γενικές κατευθυντήριες αρχές, που έχουν δοθεί σε κρατικό επίπεδο για την αξιολόγηση στη πρωτοβάθμια εκπαίδευση γενικότερα, ανεξαρτήτως γνωστικού αντικειμένου. Ειδικότερα, δε προχωρά στην ανάπτυξη διακριτών μέτρων και αξιολογικών μεθόδων που να συμβαδίζουν με τις διαδικασίες που υπεισέρχονται στο ιδιαίτερο πεδίο των προγραμμάτων εικαστικής αγωγής, δε λαμβάνει υπόψη στο καθορισμό των κριτηρίων αξιολόγησης τις ανάγκες των τοπικών σχολικών περιοχών και τη συμμετοχή όλων των μετόχων της εκπαιδευτικής διαδικασίας και εστιάζει σχεδόν αποκλειστικά στην αξιολόγηση της γνωστικής ανάπτυξης του μαθητή, χωρίς να δίνεται η απαιτούμενη προσοχή στην ανάπτυξη και αξιολόγηση των μεταγνωστικών και αναστοχαστικών δεξιοτήτων και στρατηγικών μάθησης των παιδιών. Ως εκ τούτου, από τα παραπάνω αποτελέσματα προκύπτει ένας εύλογος προβληματισμός ως προς το «κατά πόσο» και «πώς» αξιοποιούνται οι κατευθύνσεις αυτές από τους εκπαιδευτικούς στην εκπαιδευτική πράξη των προγραμμάτων εικαστικής αγωγής / The rational of this current thesis concerns the study of the assessment issue in primary visual art classroom. More precisely, the objective through a focused inquiry of visual art assessment literature is to form an image with regard to the parameters resulting from the consideration of the scientific context at national and international level and the official Greek educational policy, as well as their comparative consideration, enlightening consensus and disagreement. The presentation and analysis of the data were formed by organizing the fore mentioned viewpoints and stances in two frameworks respectively, according to the following criteria: carriers of materialization, methods and techniques, objects and setting the purposes of assessment. The results, despite the agreement that seems to arise between the two frameworks with regard to the philosophical base of the assessment, indicated essential disagreements in the framework of the official Greek educational policy, due to the fact that its construction is mostly based on the In brief, it does not lead to the development and the construction of separate and distinct assessment measures and methods to be used that concur with the procedures inserted in the field of the visual art programs, it does not take into consideration, as far as the setting of assessment criteria is concerned, the local school needs and the participation of all the stakeholders of the educational procedure and it exclusively focuses on the assessment of the cognitive development of the student without paying the required attention to the development and assessment of metacognitive and self-reflective skills of children’s learning strategies. All in all, we can safely infer a logical question of “how much” and “in what way” the most of these guidelines are made by teachers for practical implementation in visual art classes.

This thesis deals with analysis of the Framework Educational Program for Elementary Education (FEP EE) and finding means to meet the objectives of FEP EE in art education which leads to a concept of seventh grade curriculum. Thesis also reflects the author's personal approach to the formulation of the contents of the curriculum. The theoretical part focuses on examining the FEP EE and finding means to meet objectives in the form of curriculum concept for the seventh grade. The findings of the theoretical part is complemented by comparison of curricular documents for art subjects of Czech Republic and Great Britain. The empirical part describes the procedures for defining the curriculum concept. It includes transmission analysis of the FEP EE objectives to the content of the curriculum, which is based primarily on teaching practice. Analysis is followed by personal perception of the FEP EE requirements in the form of teaching aimed at the creating process and by description of the analyzing process of author`s teaching in connection with the FEP EE concept exploration at selected elementary schools. The didactic part concludes the research process with application of findings in implementation and evaluation of two thematic wholes in art education The output of exploring practical experience and...

Due to developments in visual technology, teachers and students are exposed to an increasing number of images in their everyday life, which also finds its way into the classroom. This study aims to contribute to further understanding of how knowledge and positions are constructed in visual meetings in the classroom by problematizing the discursive practice of visual art education in upper secondary school.  The study investigates how art teachers construct positions when talking about their choices of images for teaching and what kind of knowledge thereby is constructed as valuable. The study also analyzes how art teachers and students construct positions in visual meetings in the classroom and what kind of knowledge thereby is constructed as valuable.   The study is theoretically framed by theories and concepts in visual culture and Foucauldian discourse analysis. The concept visual meetings refers to how art teachers and students interact and make meaning when using images that the art teachers have chosen. The perspective of discourse analysis involves that classroom interactions are seen as expressions of knowledge and power in general and of prevailing views on visual art education in particular.  Data production is carried out through ethnography, which involves interviews with two art teachers and observations of eleven lessons in visual art classes at two upper secondary schools.  The results show that a dominating overall school discourse regulates how the art teachers and students are constructed as active/adult/experienced and passive/child/unexperienced subjects. One of the classroom practices is shown to prioritize position and knowledge constructions related to production of aesthetically pleasing images. The other classroom practice is shown to prioritize position and knowledge constructions related to image interpretation in terms of understanding cultures and contexts. Both classroom practices also show that despite the art teachers’ stated intentions in constructing independent and critically examining positions for the students, looking practices are formed in the classrooms that do not allow such positions for the students to any great extent.  The study concludes that the dominating discourses in these two classroom practices reveal régimes of truth that regulate what kind of knowledge constructions that are valued within these two examples of visual art education.

The aim of this paper is to analyse how future art teachers talk about gender identity and sexuality in the context of an image analysis. In order to gather the empirical data used for this paper we sent out a questionnaire to student teachers with art as their primary subject. This questionnaire contained both closed and open-ended questions where they were instructed to analyse and describe four pictures of individuals that could be perceived as queer-coded, as well as answer questions regarding the core content of visual arts in the Swedish curricula for grade 7-9. The answers were then looked at through a queer theroetical lens using critical discourse analysis as our method. Based on the answers of the questionnaire we concluded that future art teachers use a politically correct and norm critical approach when speaking about gender identity and sexuality. We could however also see some confusion in the answers that possibly stems from a lack of knowledge and experience on the subject of gender identity and sexuality.

This licentiate thesis focuses on the development of the idea process in art education using digital peer feedback. In the school subject visual art, the visual idea process, e.g., when students sketch their ideas, is an important phase in a project. When an idea takes form, there is the possibility for considering the idea in a new way, for others to study and discuss it, and most importantly, for generating new ideas. By digitally sharing their visual idea process and providing feedback, students can become more aware of their own and others' creative processes. Peer feedback in this thesis leans on two theories. The first is self-regulated learning, meaning that students formulate goals and identify needs (both their own and others’) when learning. In the feedback activity, the student is responsible for their own idea and for the visual feedback given to other students. They also receive valuable input when providing feedback. The second feedback theory is social constructivism and the zone of proximal development, i.e., the difference between what students accomplish in learning with the help of others and what students accomplish by themselves. In this study it is shown (by focusing on the social aspects of peer feedback) that when students help others, they develop their own products far more than they might have done if working individually. On two occasions, I observed and investigated how students (an eighth-grade and sixth-grade class) developed and digitally shared visual ideas supported by digital peer feedback. Thematic analysis was used on data gathered on both occasions (i.e. in both iterations of the study) to identify different types of feedback provided by students. In the first iteration, the feedback was in written form, and through analysis, five themes were created that described different types of peer feedback. In the second iteration, feedback was provided using various visual techniques, and through the analysis, four themes were formed. In each iteration of the study, four categories were created to describe the degree of change between the first and final sketches. The results suggest that using digital tools and peer feedback activities in visual art could help improve students’ abilities to develop ideas. The methodological contribution of this research is its new use of peer feedback using visual feedback. With this form of feedback, students stayed within one medium, using a sign system to communicate visual solutions on the sketches of other students. At the same time, they received practical tips and direct advice that they could immediately apply to their sketches. / Den här licentiatuppsatsen fokuserar på att utveckla idéprocessen i bildundervisning med hjälp av digital kamratfeedback. I skolämnet bild är den visuella idéprocessen, till exempel när elever skissar sina idéer, en viktig fas i ett projekt. När en idé får en form blir det möjligt att betrakta den, för andra att studera och granska, och kanske viktigast av allt, att generera nya idéer. Genom att digitalt dela med sig av sin visuella idéprocess och ge feedback kan elever bli mer medvetna om sina egna och andras kreativa processer. Kamratfeedback, peer feedback, i uppsatsen lutar sig mot två teorier. Den ena är själv-reglerat lärande, vilket innebär att formulera mål och identifiera behov i lärandet. I feedbackaktiviteten är eleven ansvarig för den egna idén och för den feedback som ges till andra elever. Eleverna får också värdefull input när de ger feedback. Den andra teorin är socialkonstruktivism och den proximala utvecklingszonen, dvs. skillnaden mellan vad elever åstadkommer i lärandet med hjälp av andra och vad elever åstadkommer på egen hand. Den här studien (som fokuserar på de sociala aspekterna av kamratfeedback) visar att när elever hjälper andra utvecklar de sin idé mycket mer än vad de skulle ha gjort om de hade arbetat individuellt. I två omgångar undersöktes hur elever i åttonde och sjätte klass utvecklar och digitalt delar visuella idéer med stöd av digital kamratfeedback. Inspiration från tematisk analys användes i båda omgångarna för att identifiera olika typer av feedback från eleverna. I den första användes skriftlig feedback, och genom analysen skapades fem teman som beskrev olika typer av elevernas feedback. I den andra omgången gav eleverna varandra feedback i form av olika visuella tekniker, och i analysarbetet skapades fyra teman. I båda omgångarna bedömdes graden av förändring mellan den första och den sista skissen. Fyra kategorier skapades i varje omgång. Resultaten tyder på att det skulle kunna vara fördelaktigt för elevernas förmåga att utveckla idéer med hjälp av digitala teknologier och kamratfeedback-aktiviteter i bild. Den digitala delningen underlättade för eleverna att dela och granska varandras idéarbeten och feedback. Det metodologiska bidraget från denna licentiatuppsats är att kamratfeedback har använts på ett nytt sätt, visuell feedback. Genom att stanna kvar i ämnets visuella språk och kommunicera feedback visuellt återanvändes föremål och former i den ursprungliga skissen.

This is a study that aims to investigate assessment and communication within visual art education. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used to analyze how teachers and students perceive assessment, grading and communication. The study is based on empirical methods that consists of a survey that was answered by students in grade 9 and semi-structured interviews with 4 teachers that all teach visual art education. The theoretical starting point is supported by contemporary research about assessment and grading in the Swedish school system, assessment within visual art and the importance of teacher to student communication. The results found, show that the teachers that participated in the study, use similar methods for assessment where they document all processes and results to help for themselves. They also assess the process of learning as much as the result. The key to teacher to student communication is clear instructions and the need for repetition. The students’ perception of teacher instruction communication is that it is often done but less often as clear as the teachers try to make it. Assessment and grading are viewed as fair but the students also perceive that their behavior affects their grade, something that was not brought up by the teachers.

The aim of this thesis is to describe and review the visual art teaching profession from a wider cultural perspective. This can lead to a better understanding of how teachers in 2000s Sweden manage change and relate to their task. This is a starting point for the formation of question areas that are of concern: the importance of their own specific interests in various visual art media for the development of their professional knowledge; what conditions different types of schools provide for the development of the subject and the strategies visual art teachers (in the study) use to develop their teaching on the theme of contemporary art. The theoretical framework is based on a socio-cultural perspective. Analysis combine cultural semiotic and frame factor models. Institutional art theory focuses on art’s audience and the art institutions which are central to contemporary art manifestations. The thesis is based on two case studies conducted by three separate teacher-training days at Bildmuseet in Umeå. 14 Visual Art teachers from four different types of schools: compulsory school, years 7-9, upper secondary school, folk high school and volountary art school (Swe. kulturskola) participated in the study. The investigations has generated data produced through interviews, observation, self-reports and images. Contemporary Art is involved in society's constant change and mix of new medias. The changes concernes the visual art educational field. The opportunities different school contexts provides for education, has an impact on how knowledge is transformed. Conformity, solid structures, formes of assessment and low legitimacy shape resistance. Teaching in visual art is highly based on teachers' own choices. A fragmented knowledge-culture with focus on manual or digital mediations leads to different knowledge-selection. This study highlights resistances that affect applying contemporary art on its own terms. Contemporary art’s starting points and new perspectives represent other paradigms than traditional art classifications. This sigifies tension between the artworld and the educational field. To reducie the tension, a dialogue and interaction between the fields on equal terms is recommended. The study identifies a lack of procedures and resources for formal continuing professional development. There is a need of developing the collective body of knowledge, covering both the theoretical and practical knowledge in the visual art teacher culture.