Why Do Good Art Teachers Find it Hard to Stay in the Public School System?

Abstract

This study is part of extended research that explores how beginning art teachers negotiate their teaching identity and beliefs within the public educational system. The research involved 28 former art student-teachers who recently graduated from the School of Art, Beit Berl College in Israel. In the beginning of this article I briefly describe the difference between the terms: “teacher's role” and “teacher's identity.” This provides the conceptual framework for my analysis of the difficulties the art teachers described as conflict between their roles and their beliefs and teaching identity. The art teachers' partial tales of the challenges, problems and satisfactions they encountered, and the descriptions of their negotiations within their marginal place in the schools, provide an opportunity to pay close attention to the difficulties and conflicts in their practice. The major challenges emerging from the teachers' tales include a feeling of isolation, having to negotiate the status of art, and conflicts with the educational system. In conclusion, some possible answers to why good art teachers find it difficult to stay in the public school system are offered.