Developing a shared sense of purpose for visual arts education
There should be a consultative and collaborative approach to planning for the visual arts. Good communication between the partners will help to develop a common purpose and ensure the involvement of boards of management, parents and teachers. Parents play a crucial role in stimulating and sustaining children's interest and development in art throughout their primary schooling.
The board of management will provide support for the development and implementation of the school plan for the visual arts within the resources available to it. This will involve consultation with all the partners. The visual arts programme will be reviewed as part of the board's overall review of the school plan.
A clear sense of purpose and of shared responsibility for the visual arts withinthe school will evolve from discussions between the principal and the teaching staff. Both the planning process and the written programme should provide the teacher with a valuable policy document and a clear sense of direction and purpose. Individual staff members who have particular interests or expertise in visual arts education could be invited to lead the discussion. Such teachers would act as catalysts in helping to develop and/or co-ordinate the implementation of the visual arts programme but would not take over the role of the class teacher.
Evaluation procedures should be discussed during the planning and implementation stages. Self-assessment would be an important factor in designing and implementing a visual arts programme, where teachers constantly reflect on and question their teaching strategies, and children's responses to them. In the process, new ideas would be developed and tried out and what proved effective taken into account. Regular evaluation would enable teachers to identify weaknesses or gaps in the programme and would ensure quality teaching and learning.
A regular and adequate supply of materials and tools is essential for building on staff interest and enthusiasm. It is also important to plan for ancillary resources, such as cleaning materials, drying facilities and display and storage space. Principals, in consultation with staff members, would co-ordinate the year's whole-school programme, showing how it would be implemented. Such a time frame would help in estimating the amount of resources required for the programme and the time needed to implement it.
Identifying support for implementation
Staff members could pool information on sources of support for implementing the visual arts programme. Prominent among them would be:
Parents as partners in education
Planning with parents to generate support for the visual arts curriculum is a central factor in successful implementation. Their active interest in helping their children to develop a personal visual language is vital, and they should be assured of the value of their contribution. Support would include providing their children with stimulating sensory growing experiences which inform their visual expression and, as far as possible, the visual arts materials and tools with which to express them. It would include devising short art activities at home with the children, perhaps based on a topic they are developing at school or on some significant event in family or community life. Constructive assessment of children's art work is essential. Displaying and discussing their work at home helps to build confidence and may encourage children to develop their interest in art beyond school.
Parents as links with the community
Children's interest in art can be stimulated by visits to galleries, museums and exhibitions and, where possible, to artists and craftspeople at work. It is important that they have a sense of the importance of visually creative people in the community, for example painters, potters, stonemasons, musical instrument makers, furniture-makers, weavers, signwriters, sculptors, printmakers and basket-makers. Their attention should also be drawn to interesting landscape and streetscape features and, where possible, they should visit buildings of architectural and decorative interest. Links can be forged between school art and art in the community by initiating, where appropriate, or by co-operating in arranging visits to or by artists and craftspeople. Organising art enrichment programmes and displays that help to make children's art a prominent feature of local festivals and community events are among the roles parents can play in supporting the implementation of the visual arts programme.
Parents should be kept informed of programme developments through parent-teacher meetings and/or through the school newsletter.
Artists in residence
The Arts Council funds an artist-inresidence scheme for schools. This scheme allows an artist to work in a school for up to six months or so, on a project that is devised jointly by the artist and the school. Some county councils fund one-day, or longer, visits by artists to schools, and details are available from county arts officers, where applicable. The Arts Council also lends art reproductions and arranges touring exhibitions to second-level schools. It may be possible to arrange for primary children to view them or to visit a local school's art room, on occasion.
Museums and galleries
Some museums and galleries hold workshops for children both during term and during the holiday period. Workshops for teachers that centre on their work with children are also available. Local art galleries, libraries and art societies may also provide support. Preparation and follow-up activities are essential to ensure that the children derive the maximum benefit from a visit to a museum or gallery.
Craft centres
Visits to craft centres where children can watch a craftsperson at work, or where they can make a craft object, can be stimulating experiences.
Television and video
Programmes on the work of artists are shown from time to time on television, and some are available on video. They can be useful for the insights they give into how artists work and what inspires them. Programmes dealing with adult painting techniques are less useful for the purposes of implementing the visual arts programme.
Information and communication technologies
Computer art programs that allow children to create original imagery are widely available. Intuitive programs are best, providing immediacy in use and allowing generally for a correlation between the images produced and the child's stage of development. Programs on art and artists are also available on CD-ROM. The collections of some of the major western galleries and museums are now accessible on the internet.
Art reproductions
The National Gallery has produced both slides and a CD-ROM of selected masterpieces from its collection. The principal museums and galleries usually have postcards, posters and calendars showing selected reproductions of their collections, and children should be encouraged to make their own collections. Books covering a wide range of artists and art styles are also available. The larger public libraries generally have a section on the visual arts, or would request a particular book from another library for a member. Some of the larger libraries also offer a print-lending service.
Education centres
Education centres offer occasional courses in art for teachers during term time. They may also offer advice on the use of computers in the art class. It is useful if whole staffs, and perhaps staffs of adjoining schools, avail of professional advice from their local centre on aspects of curriculum design and implementation, as the need arises.