Negotiating teacher-artist identities: “Disturbance” through partnership

Abstract

This article troubles the notion of “disturbance” in relation to teacher-artist identities within partnerships delivering arts education in schools. As such, a visiting artist/teaching artist entering an educational setting “alters” the space and forces the negotiation of professional (and personal) identities. These “disturbances” can be advantageous for schools, teachers, children, young people, broader communities as well as the artists themselves in offering key learning and development opportunities. Too often however, such partnerships lack critical debate and examination. This article offers findings from an in-depth teacher-artist partnership study in order to contribute perspectives on understanding how teacher-artist identities are negotiated so as to potentially transform policy and practice approaches to arts education in schools. The Irish government-supported partnership initiative involved a residential summer course, in-school work, as well as review days with six teacher-artist pairs over 22 months. Data was collected and analyzed from across interviews, reflective diaries, in-school observations and evaluations to illuminate the partners’ learning journeys and negotiated identities within the initiative. Thematic findings reveal three overarching themes relating to (re)forming, inhabiting and projecting identity. It was found that both teacher and artist skills, knowledge and understandings can complement each other successfully where meaningful, sustained partnerships are invested in. The significant value of a dialogical and relational approach within the partnership holds interesting insights for policymakers, schools, arts agencies, teachers, and artists to inform future arts education partnership initiatives and policy approaches.