Issues and Concerns in Teacher Education: From Critical Period to Rebirth?

Abstract

discipline, intrinsically and extrinsically. While an intuitive mode and a philosophical stance that promoted creativity and self expression for their own sake was a natural and seemingly easy attitude for art educators to adopt in the 1960s and early '70s, the economic and social realities of the 1980s necessitate a different approach. In 1975, a cursory glance at Canadian art education indicated that it flourished in an utopian landscape. The relatively short history of growth in Canadian art education (MacGregor, 1979) indicates that in less than thirty years, dedicated professionals created a climate in which visual arts became a respected subject that encourages imaginative and holistic thinking. In 1955, C. D. Gaitskell became the first president of The Canadian Society for Education Through Art. As a result of his efforts, bringing together art educators from the provinces, visual arts education acquired a national forum. In the expansionist period that followed, the characteristics of Canadian art education became more diverse. New curricula were developed to accommodate avant garde attitudes in visual art forms such as video, film, and photography. Programs expanded and diversified as money became available to purchase expensive equipment and build the elaborate facilities which seemed necessary to support participation and learning in contemporary visual arts studies. Aspiring artists increasingly turned to established degree programs to receive academic and professional training. Rifts between the professional artist and art educator narrowed as artists