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How Young Children Come to Value and Engage in the Visual Arts: Examining the Impact of Bi-Directional Interactions on Children as Imaginative Visual Researchers

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Abstract

This study examined the contextual factors that shape how young children come to value and use the visual arts in their learning. The research sought to understand more deeply, the impact of visual arts practices that are informed by sociocultural theories on children’s and their family’s perceptions and engagement with the visual arts in their learning. Recognising the profound impact of bidirectional relationships in the early years (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), this interpretive qualitative research focused on the interactions between children, teachers, and families at three early childhood settings and at six children’s homes in Auckland, New Zealand. The theoretical framework and study design were underpinned by sociocultural theories, bioecological theories, and by narrative inquiry. Participatory arts-based methods were fundamental as they allowed the research participants to play significant roles in telling their stories through textual and visual means. Through multi-layered analysis, a complex web of influences shaping how children engage in the visual arts emerged. A key finding was the impact of bi-directional interactions within settings and between settings. The teachers in this study wove together rich, contextualised visual arts curricula and actively engaged with children through the visual arts. They prioritised disseminating the value of these practices to their educational communities. As a result, parents recognised how visual arts can enrich and support their child’s learning. Teachers who actively role modelled enjoyment and expertise in the visual arts were a particularly potent influence. These findings demonstrate that developing shared values between settings in the microsystem can enrich children’s capacity to become imaginative visual researchers.

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Notes

  1. Psychological tools help to guide children’s thinking and actions and technical tools enable them to transform materials (Miller, 2011).

  2. Māori are the Tangata whenua (original inhabitants) of New Zealand.

  3. The term ‘Pasifika’ is unique to New Zealand to describe migrants from the Pacific region who now reside in New Zealand.

  4. Te ao toi directly translates as ‘the world of art’. At Awhero this term refers to the large art studio.

  5. A wharenui is a meeting house.

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Correspondence to Sarah Probine.

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Ethical Approval

Particular emphasis was placed on ethical considerations due to the way this research drew heavily on stories of personal lives and involved young children. Approval to conduct the research was granted by The University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee (UAHPEC). All participants were issued with participant information sheets and consent forms which outlined the intentions of the research, ways in which the research would be disseminated and the participants rights to voluntarily participate and maintain anonymity (except in the case of the key child participants and their parents, who could consent to be identifiable). All child participants were given assent forms in which children could indicate their decision to participate in the research by circling a smiley face or a neutral face. The assent form helped me establish initial consent. Prosser and Burke (2008) assert that researchers should consider children’s assent as ‘provisional’ and that they must address ethical knots that arise throughout the research in an environment of respectful collaboration. In keeping with this, I responded to children’s changing needs and emotions as they arose drawing upon my experience as a qualified early childhood teacher to perceive if a child did not wish to be observed. All data created by research participants (including the teachers reflective journals and the children’s and parent’s images) remained in the participants possession, and with permission, I created copies of these that were stored securely. In addition, participants were given the opportunity to offer their perspectives on the stories, images and interpretations that were to be included in the final reporting of the research.

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Appendices

Appendix A

Questionnaire for Parents/Caregivers

How important are the visual arts in your family and culture?

What kinds of visual experiences do your family experience?

What visual arts experiences does your child most enjoy?

What kind of visual art does your child make at home?

How often does your child engage in these activities?

In what ways are you involved in your child’s art making?

What role do you think visual art plays in your child’s learning?

How important do you think the visual arts are as part of your child’s education?

Please describe you your child’s early childhood centre values visual arts and how they use them in their programme?

How do you think this impacts your child’s learning?

In what ways do you think your child’s peers influence you child’s ideas about art they want to create or the frequency with which they make visual art?

Is the kind of visual art your child makes at their early childhood centre different to what they create at home? Is so, how?

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Probine, S. How Young Children Come to Value and Engage in the Visual Arts: Examining the Impact of Bi-Directional Interactions on Children as Imaginative Visual Researchers. Early Childhood Educ J 50, 795–809 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01204-2

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