Popular media such as films, television programmes/commercials and magazines have become the dominant source through which children learn about others and their world, develop attitudes and beliefs as manifested in media expressions, and formulate their sense of identity. Popular media have enormous influence on children who are constantly…

The teaching of photography provides many opportunities to attack the assumption of universal heterosexuality, which is central to our society, in order to provide space for other sexualities such as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender. This article is based on many years of lecturing in art schools and focuses on the classroom teaching of…

In this article I discuss the relationship between theories of identity and making practices in secondary art and design. Of particular interest is the way students are invited to explore identities in relation to a sense of self and the extent to which this is informed by schools' concern to make diversity visible through multicultural…

In this article it is argued that the effects of an education system that normalises and perpetuates heterosexuality as natural, by positioning lesbian and gay teachers as the "natural others", reduces attempts at equitable visibility through inclusive practice to marginalised silence. Manifestations of the pressure on lesbian and gay teachers to…

The article seeks to explore some of the difficulties that may be experienced within higher art education both by the student of art who is lesbian and by researchers focusing on the subject of lesbians and art. For those interested in this area of study there may be particular obstacles which are not present for heterosexual students and which…

This article is an account of a pilot project designed to help art & design teachers in training use their particular strengths to report on classroom observation through visual art. The project is underpinned by the notion that the arts provide a particular way of knowing and that teaching should be student-centred. I argue that if the arts can…

The origin of this article is an investigation of an academic course, "Graphic Arts and Design for students of natural and social sciences." The article describes the benefits of attending the class for the science students, which were an increased ability to solve problems, new and different ways to observe the environment, greater self…

The purpose of this article is to describe how the Department of Art Education at the University of Lapland in Finland has developed winter art as a method of environmental and community-based art education. I will focus on the Snow Show Winter Art Education Project, a training project funded by the European Union and the State Provincial Office…

This article discusses, contextualises and locates in contemporary theory, an autobiographical case study of an artist-teacher in the "learning community" of a Sixth Form College art department. It reflects on the educational potential of enabling teachers of art and their students to investigate issues of culture and identity through engaging…

While rejecting modernist philosophical aesthetics, the author argues for the use in art education of a current, ordinary-language definition of aesthetics as visual appearance and effect, and its widespread use in many diverse cultural sites is demonstrated. Employing such a site-specific use of aesthetics enables art education to more clearly…

This article is an investigation of art and design graduates' identities as they embark upon their training as teachers. The expressive, "confessional" nature of forum posts from their Virtual Learning Environment are analysed in relation to the students' identity transformation into teachers. This transition is profound in the case of artist…

This article looks at the concept of Black History Month and its implications for teaching and learning in art and design education. It argues that the concept of Black History Month should be discarded because it tends to promote a separatist notion of culture and that it deflects from an understanding of culture as a plural and intermeshing…

Children's learning involves, in the simplest terms, assimilating knowledge and understanding and acquiring skills though being, doing and feeling. This requires a connection at a personal level. Furthermore, learning is given to fluctuation determined by the needs of the individual and the requirements of the educational system. This research…

This article investigates very young children's use of a stylus-driven, electronic painting and drawing on the tablet PC. The authors compare their development in the use of this device with their use of other mark-making media, including those which derive from pencil and paper technologies and also with mouse-driven electronic paintbox programs.…

An international education opportunity has been created for design students at West Virginia University. This experience is unique because it takes an interdisciplinary approach to design that exposes students to the idea of a larger design methodology common to design professions. Students take core courses with students from a variety of design…