Current research literature reveals that there are numerous benefits such as personal growth, academic success and exposure to multiple perspectives surrounding arts-based learning (Brice Heath, 2001; Cole, 2011; Cote, 2010). According to McMahon, Klopper, & Power (2015) it is important for students to "see themselves as decision makers and understand that they can influence their own learning experiences" (p. 19). Additionally, these same researchers emphasize that teachers need to "focus on the learning experience of the students and understand that the greater value of engaging in the arts resides in the students' art making process" (p. 19). Current research has concentrated predominantly on studies of student experiences at the time that they are enrolled in arts-based programs. My study is unique as I engaged participants retrospectively on their former experiences of learning in an arts-based program. More specifically, my research question asked "what are the effects of attending an arts-based secondary school program on the subsequent lives of six former students, including myself, who graduated two decades ago?" To answer this question, I used narrative inquiry and arts-based methods supported by a social constructivist theoretical framework. More specifically, I analyzed my research through the use of an online whiteboard entitled Miro, and then expressed my findings in the form of a "factional" story (Kallio, 2015) co-narrated by myself and my participants. This 'factional' story is told through fictional characters based on my research analysis, and also includes fictional elements. Though participant stories varied, key themes emerged as they grew as people through the experience, carrying with them lingering memories that continue to influence their lives today.

This conversation is an invitation to a research and artistic experience engaging in teaching and learning with sensitivity and consideration, and in the course of doing, revealing insights about the transformative processes of becoming-teacher in art education. Invoking the architecture of the contemporary triptych, this installation involves structural frames of arts research processes, practices and products, and iconographic frames of becoming-teacher as unfolding, unexpectedness and uncertainty. I explore how arts research opens possibilities through the act and art of sharing stories and visuals in a triptych which may be read sequentially, or out of order, as a relational experience, entering at any point across and/or within each panel. In doing arts research, I question: What insights are generated through the arts in a case study concerning the lived and learning experiences of women becoming-teachers? How does arts research inform research processes, practices and products? How do I theorize arts research as customary methodological ecotones? Based on this study, a number of key issues are illuminated concerning teacher education. The reconceptualization of teacher education in terms of health and well-being is critical. Emphasis on geographies of self and the evolution of situated knowledges as a means to negotiate becoming-teacher, along with notions of teacher as researcher and collaborative leadership in teacher education, provide a basis for active reform in teacher education. An emotional journey, complex and complicated, rich in artful expressions, this conversation moves between theoretical and methodological considerations and culminates in a series of realizations about becoming-teacher and arts research, honouring the knowledge creation of research partners, and my discoveries and realizations as an arts researcher, to make this expression of arts research an opportunity to share alternate perspectives within teaching culture.

The artist/teacher identity is often a contentious site in which the two roles are perceived of as in opposition to one another, rendering relationships between the two challenging to negotiate. This thesis explores ways in which identity transformations are navigated. Specifically, I have investigated what it feels like, looks like and means to practice as an artist and a teacher through my art making practice. Culminating in an art exhibition, my work takes the shape of an autoethnographic, arts based inquiry framed by the methodology and renderings of A/r/tography placed within a five phase creative process proposed by Barone and Eisner. This inquiry involved making art work that was provoked by acts of (re) membering and (re) making as I engaged with a lifetime of photographic images while looking for persistent patterns and themes that in turn would illuminate aspects of my fragmented identity.

This conversation is an invitation to a research and artistic experience engaging in teaching and learning with sensitivity and consideration, and in the course of doing, revealing insights about the transformative processes of becoming-teacher in art education. Invoking the architecture of the contemporary triptych, this installation involves structural frames of arts research processes, practices and products, and iconographic frames of becoming-teacher as unfolding, unexpectedness and uncertainty. I explore how arts research opens possibilities through the act and art of sharing stories and visuals in a triptych which may be read sequentially, or out of order, as a relational experience, entering at any point across and/or within each panel. In doing arts research, I question: What insights are generated through the arts in a case study concerning the lived and learning experiences of women becoming-teachers? How does arts research inform research processes, practices and products? How do I theorize arts research as customary methodological ecotones? Based on this study, a number of key issues are illuminated concerning teacher education. The reconceptualization of teacher education in terms of health and well-being is critical. Emphasis on geographies of self and the evolution of situated knowledges as a means to negotiate becoming-teacher, along with notions of teacher as researcher and collaborative leadership in teacher education, provide a basis for active reform in teacher education. An emotional journey, complex and complicated, rich in artful expressions, this conversation moves between theoretical and methodological considerations and culminates in a series of realizations about becoming-teacher and arts research, honouring the knowledge creation of research partners, and my discoveries and realizations as an arts researcher, to make this expression of arts research an opportunity to share alternate perspectives within teaching culture.

This conversation is an invitation to a research and artistic experience engaging in teaching and learning with sensitivity and consideration, and in the course of doing, revealing insights about the transformative processes of becoming-teacher in art education. Invoking the architecture of the contemporary triptych, this installation involves structural frames of arts research processes, practices and products, and iconographic frames of becoming-teacher as unfolding, unexpectedness and uncertainty. I explore how arts research opens possibilities through the act and art of sharing stories and visuals in a triptych which may be read sequentially, or out of order, as a relational experience, entering at any point across and/or within each panel. In doing arts research, I question: What insights are generated through the arts in a case study concerning the lived and learning experiences of women becoming-teachers? How does arts research inform research processes, practices and products? How do I theorize arts research as customary methodological ecotones? Based on this study, a number of key issues are illuminated concerning teacher education. The reconceptualization of teacher education in terms of health and well-being is critical. Emphasis on geographies of self and the evolution of situated knowledges as a means to negotiate becoming-teacher, along with notions of teacher as researcher and collaborative leadership in teacher education, provide a basis for active reform in teacher education. An emotional journey, complex and complicated, rich in artful expressions, this conversation moves between theoretical and methodological considerations and culminates in a series of realizations about becoming-teacher and arts research, honouring the knowledge creation of research partners, and my discoveries and realizations as an arts researcher, to make this expression of arts research an opportunity to share alternate perspectives within teaching culture. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This thesis explores the role of youth workers who utilize the arts in Soacha, Colombia. Through a historical and anthropological lens the findings reveal the objectives of the workers and the impact the work has as an intervention with the children. Through the case study of nine youth workers and two administrators of the local NGO, La Fundación Proyecto de Vida, I show how a comprehensive approach strengthens youth's social and personal capacities. This Colombian model of intervention includes workshops that cover areas such as music, visual arts, movement, physical health, and the environment. In addition to the workshops the organization provides psychological resources through family counseling, art and psychodynamic therapy, along with onsite cafeteria service. Ultimately I illustrate how this comprehensive, arts-based approach to support the youth can break the cycle of violence that is otherwise perpetuated by the lack of governmental social programs.

No description available.

In this arts-based thesis for a Masters degree in art education, I explored the meaning of my artwork through a constructivist investigation. During the process of artist research and making artwork, I was able to push boundaries for my art and myself and I was able to discover what kind of artist I was and what meaning was behind my artwork. This process of research,questioning, reflective documentation, and discovery has provided new tools and styles for teaching my students how to find their own personal voice in their artwork.

This research challenges the notion of evaluation as being necessarily reductive, judgmental and often leading to ill-fated results by using creative methods to evaluate a nonprofit arts-based children's program. Using photography as an ethnographic approach to form the basis of in-depth interviews and by collaboratively creating an artwork from participants' photos, the results of the research reveals that evaluation can be an elightening and rewarding experience for stakeholders and evaluators alike. In addition, this research provided a nonprofit arts-based children's program with a useful, comprehensive evaluation and it encourages further exploration into creative evaluative techniques.

This research explored the views of home-educators and the young people in home-education around their reasons for opting out of school-based education, their level of satisfaction with their decision, what education looks like to them, aspirations for the future and perceived support from the Local Authority (LA). Phase one took the form of a parent/carer questionnaire. The questionnaire was shared nationally and yielded sixty complete responses. Data has been analysed and is displayed in frequency tables and descriptive statistics. Phase two implemented a case-study methodology. Recruitment for this part of the project was extremely difficult and possible reasons for this are explored. I visited five families, speaking to eight young people and either both or one parent. There were some structured arts-based activities which I used as a vehicle to open the dialogue with the young people. These sessions largely took place in the participants’ home, or in another venue of their choosing. With participants aged ten years and over, I adopted a narrative approach, with much guidance taken from Brown and Gilligan’s (1993) “The Listening Guide.” Phrases starting with “I” are taken from the participants’ transcripts and used to create a poem which represents their story, constructs and feelings. These poems were then taken back to the young people in order to check that they were satisfied with the meaning that had been captured. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) framework for analysing qualitative data was implemented as a tool for analysis across cases. Emergent themes included the value that home-educated families place on child-centred learning, allowing children to develop at their own rates and enabling them to pursue topics of interest. Implications for educational psychologists’ (EPs) practice are discussed.