The classroom teacher and the future improvement of elementary art instruction

Abstract

One of the most remarkable facts about the status of art instruction at the elementary school level is its lack of status, a lack observed with appropriate misgivings by educators today just as it has been observed by a host of prominent educators for more years than any of us care to remember. Of course, it is true that numerous isolated examples of excellent instruction in art exist, but it is equally true that art instruction in the typical elementary school today is either neglected entirely or presented poorly. Pauline Johnson's contention that, Perhaps art is the least understood, the most difficult, and in many cases the poorest taught subject in the elementary curriculum, remains as appropriate today as it was twenty years ago when her article, Art for the Young Child, appeared in the sixty-fourth yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education. If we hope to avoid repeating similar statements in the future, we must exert substantial effort to improve the quality of elementary art instruction. And any such effort to succeed should specify the active participation of classroom teachers as a prime requisite. In most elementary classrooms today, the classroom teacher continues to bear the responsibility for providing whatever art instruction children receive. Relatively few schools enjoy the services of teachers trained specifically for the task of preparing and presenting art activities. Nevertheless, it would be both inaccurate and grossly unfair to place the blame upon classroom teachers for, apparently, a widespread lack of quality in elementary art instruction. One can hardly expect these teachers to demonstrate much enthusiasm for a subject infrequently specified as a requisite in their college preparation for teaching, seldom required for certification purposes, and rarely regarded as a necessary condition for employment. Even when those teachers, moreover, do enroll in college courses in art education they seldom encounter the more experienced and knowledgeable professors as instructors because these professors often avoid such courses. Consequently, future classroom teachers frequently are denied thorough preparation in art content and methodology that would enable them to cope with the task of planning and presenting meaningful art experiences to children. Equally damaging, many of these teachers complete their courses in art education without having gained an awareness of