Abstract
Promoting teacher resiliency is rarely the top priority of visual art educator preparation programs. Programs concentrate instead on creative explorations, curriculum design, classroom organization, developmental theories, differentiated instruction, and other issues important to the immediate success of their pre-service art teachers. Preparing visual art teachers solely to enter the classroom and find quick success is undeniably somewhat short-sighted; educator preparation programs need rather to equip and then continue to support their pre-service teachers as they enter into teaching visual art, find lasting success, and most importantly commit to staying in the classroom. The year-to-year teacher attrition rate (e.g. the percent of educators moving from one teaching position to another or leaving the field entirely after a limited time in the classroom) in the United States of America approximates sixteen-percent; each year eight-percent of working teachers move from one teaching position to another while an additional eight-percent leave the profession completely. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: 1) To examine evidence-based practices educator preparation programs that can be implemented with pre-service teachers to help reduce high rates of teacher attrition in visual art classroom; and 2) To introduce preliminary findings from an ongoing research project that consists of interviews with ‘highly resilient’ visual art teachers (e.g. teachers who have remained in the same position for 5+ years) and campus site visits to educator preparation programs in visual art education reporting higher levels teacher retention in students graduating from their programs.
Presenters
Justin MakemsonAssociate Professor of Visual Art Education, Department of Art, University of New Mexico, New Mexico, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Visual Art Education, Teacher Preparation, Teacher Retention, Resiliency Practices
