Examining Preservice Teachers' Preparedness for Teaching Art
Peter Hudson
Sue Hudson
Queensland University of Technology
Citation: Hudson, P., & Hudson, S. (2007). Examining preservice teachers'
preparedness for teaching art.
International Journal of Education & the
Arts, 8(5). Retrieved [date] from http://www.ijea.org/v8n5/.
Abstract
The Australian Federal Government's call for another teacher education
inquiry aims to investigate preservice teacher preparedness for teaching.
Art education was selected for this study as the teaching of art education
in primary schools occurs in less than ideal conditions and may often be
avoided by generalist primary teachers (Russell-Bowie, 2002). Eightyseven
final-year preservice teachers were surveyed on their perceptions
of their preparedness for teaching primary art education at the
conclusion of their Bachelor of Education program. The 39 survey
items were derived from the New South Wales Creative Arts K-6 State
Syllabus (Board of Studies, 2000) across four stage levels (i.e., early
stage 1, stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3). Percentages and mean scale
scores suggested that these final-year preservice teachers believed they
were generally prepared to teach art education in primary schools as a
result of a preservice teacher education visual arts unit. Nevertheless,
more than 10% of preservice teachers indicated they could not agree or
strongly agree that they could provide 20 of the 39 teaching practices
advocated by the syllabus and 20% indicated this for 7 of the 39
teaching practices. Tertiary education institutions need to be proactive
in responding to the challenge of determining preservice teachers'
preparedness for teaching. Surveys linked to a state syllabus may assist
in assessing preservice teachers' perceptions of their preparedness for
teaching and may provide valuable information for further development
of tertiary education coursework.
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