Art education as multiprofessional collaboration

• Published in: International journal of education and the arts 2012, Vol.13
• Main Authors: Nevanen, Saila, Juvonen, Antti, Ruismäki, Heikki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1529-8094; 1529-8094

In this article we explore the realisation of an art education project as multiprofessional cooperation. The multiprofessional collaboration pair in this study consisted of an artist working together with a teacher. This resulted in activities, which all actors, artists, teachers and administrators saw to be at an especially high level, both artistically and to the practice of teaching. Actually they all thought that the targets, which were set to the project, were clearly surpassed. At its best this working method connected artistic work with the pedagogic knowledge and experience of the children's group work. The work required common planning, flexibility from the traditional methods and culture together with a long-lasting timeframe, (1-2.5 year per each of the sub projects), which made it possible to try to develop new methods. In setting the aims and evaluating the results, the artist's highlighted the artistic significance, while the teachers focused on the instrumental values of art. In the end, both teachers and artists were satisfied with the results. [Publication abstract]