11:15 - 13:00 : Symposium - Understanding and evaluating children's art and artistic experience from different educational perspectives and methodologies

Lead author	Richard Jolley
Institution/organisation	Staffordshire University
Co-author(s)	Sarah Rose1, Esther Burkitt2
Institution(s)/organisations	1Staffordshire University, 2The Open University
Title	A survey of children, teachers and parents on children's drawing experience and behaviour at home and school

Abstract

The influences from teachers, parents and children that shape children's drawing experience have been scarcely considered in research. This study addresses this issue by surveying these key players to establish how a wide range of attitudes and practices interact and relate with children's developing drawing practices and attitudes.

Two hundred and seventy children (aged 5-14) participated in a semi-structured interview after being randomly selected within nine age groups. Forty-four teachers responsible for teaching art to these children participated in a semi-structured interview and 153 of the children's parents completed a survey. All surveys included both open and closed responses and were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively.

Results of the project provide a comprehensive and systematic investigation into psychological and artistic influences on children's drawing behaviour at school and home. From a large database of information we shall concentrate in particular on time spent drawing, enjoyment of drawing, perceived drawing competence, motivation to draw, types of help received with drawing, art values, and views concerning a potential age-related decline in drawing activity. We shall then discuss some of the interesting relationships and interactions between the responses provided by the children and their parents and teachers in relation to these aspects of children's drawing experience and behaviour.

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Lead author	Sarah Rose
Institution/organisation	Staffordshire University
Co-author(s)	Richard Jolley
Institution(s)/organisations	Staffordshire University
Title	The development of children's representational and expressive drawing in Steiner, Montessori and National Curriculum schools

Abstract

Learning to draw enables children to appreciate art and equips them with sufficient skill to express themselves. Furthermore, drawing education aids the development of many skills including observation, visualisation, communication and concentration. There is much uncertainty, however, about how to best to teach children to develop their drawing skills, creativity and appreciation of art. In particular, little is known about how differing approaches to teaching drawing influence the development of realistic and expressive drawing skills. This study addresses these issues by investigating the development of expressive and realistic drawing ability of National Curriculum, Steiner and Montessori pupils.

One hundred and thirty five children participated, 45 from each educational system (15 from each of the three age groups, 5-, 7- and 9-year-olds). Children completed three expressive drawings (happy, sad and angry) and three realistic drawings (copied artist mannequin, a house and a free drawing). The expressive drawings were assessed for the number of appropriate expressive content themes depicted, the use of formal properties (line, colour and composition) and the overall quality of expressiveness. Realistic drawings were assessed for their level of realism.

Results indicated that in expressive drawings Steiner pupils generally depict more content themes, use formal properties more expressively and produce higher quality expressive drawings than Montessori and National Curriculum pupils. Where there are differences between National Curriculum and Montessori on these measures the Montessori children tend to do better than the National Curriculum pupils. Few differences were detected in the realistic drawing ability of children from the three different educational pedagogies.

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Lead author	Jenny Hallam
Institution/organisation	Staffordshire University
Co-author(s)	Mani Das Gupta, Helen Lee
Institution(s)/organisations	Staffordshire University
Title	The evaluation of child art from differing perspectives

Abstract

Within developmental psychology considerable research has investigated child art. Researchers such as Carothers and Gardner (1979), Ives (1984), Winston Kenyon, Stewardson and Lepine (1995), Davis (1997) and Jolley, Fenn and Jones (2004) have utilised methods informed by positivism to 'map out' the development of expression in children's drawings. In this research independent adult raters use a scoring system - devised by the researcher - to transform children's artwork into 'hard' quantifiable data. It is argued that use of a standardised scale ensures that adult raters score the artwork in an objective way. Consequently results which 'access' and 'measure' expressive devices present in artwork are considered valid and replicable. This approach has been questioned by Kindler (1997) and Wilson (1997a, 1997b; 2000a, 2000b) who argue that art is a socially constructed concept that cannot be objectively measured. This paper develops this argument and brings a new perspective to the study of child art. Qualitative data collected from art lessons and interviews with teachers from two Staffordshire Primary schools is presented. Analysis focuses on artwork created in Reception, Year 1, Year 4 and Year 6 classes. This artwork is evaluated from multiple perspectives as children, teachers, the researcher and an artist discuss the artwork in their own terms. Attention is paid to the multiple ways artwork can be interpreted and the wider socio-cultural values drawn upon when evaluating art. As such it enters debate surrounding the interpretation of child art.