Art Is Experience: an Exploration of the Visual Arts Beliefs and Pedagogy of Australian Early Childhood Educators Gai Maree Lindsay University of Wollongong
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University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+ University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2017 Art is Experience: An Exploration of the Visual Arts Beliefs and Pedagogy of Australian Early Childhood Educators Gai Maree Lindsay University of Wollongong Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong. Recommended Citation Lindsay, Gai Maree, Art is Experience: An Exploration of the Visual Arts Beliefs and Pedagogy of Australian Early Childhood Educators, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, School of Education, University of Wollongong, 2017. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses1/170 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Art is Experience: An Exploration of the Visual Arts Beliefs and Pedagogy of Australian Early Childhood Educators A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG by GAI MAREE LINDSAY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE 2017 To Murray, Amelia and James My loves My reasons My being My home ii Art is not an outer product nor an outer behaviour. It is an attitude of spirit, a state of mind - one which demands for its own satisfaction and fulfilling a shaping of matter to new and more significant form. To feel the meaning of what one is doing and to rejoice in that meaning, to unite in one concurrent fact the unfolding of the inner emotional life and the ordered development of material external conditions - that is art (Dewey, 1919). iii Certification I, Gai Maree Lindsay, declare that this thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the award of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of Social Sciences – School of Education, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. August, 2017 Supervisor statement As the primary supervisor, I Dr. Julie Kiggins, declare that all of the work in each article/book chapter listed below is attributed to the candidate Gai Lindsay. The candidate wrote the first draft of each and then Gai was responsible for responding to any editing suggestions offered by her supervisors. Gai has been solely responsible for submitting each manuscript for publication to the relevant journals/edited book, and has been solely in charge of responding to the reviewer’s comments. Gai Lindsay, PhD Candidate Principal Supervisor Dr. Julie Kiggins iv Thesis by Compilation Declaration The style of this thesis complies with the University of Wollongong thesis by compilation rules and authorship guidelines. Published journal articles and an edited book chapter are integrated into standard chapters required for a thesis. These published inclusions are presented in italics to distinguish them from the remainder of the chapter. An outline of the journal articles and edited book chapter included within this thesis is provided below. Letters of editorial consent to include the published material in the thesis are located in the appendices. A list of the conference and speaker presentations delivered in relation to this thesis is also provided. Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter one commences with an introduction to the research problem outlined in a published article written for The Conversation (Lindsay, 2015b). Appendix A.1. presents the creative commons copyright information permitting the inclusion of the article in the thesis. The introduction chapter concludes with a published article that outlines the researcher’s personal and professional journey toward PhD research (Lindsay, 2015e). Appendix A.2 presents the permission granted by the Editorial Board to include the article in this thesis. Chapter 2: Literature Review Chapter two presents literature review undertaken to inform the study. Chapter 3: Conceptual Framework Chapter three includes a published article that presents a socio-political, historical analysis of John Dewey’s philosophical influence on the post-war development of the Reggio Emilia educational project in Italy (Lindsay, 2015a). This article serves to ground and justify the RE(D) conceptual framework developed to inform the research. Appendix B.1presents the journal’s copyright requirements for the inclusion of the published work in the thesis. The chapter also includes a published article that elaborates on the visual arts component of the RE(D) conceptual framework (Lindsay, 2016a). Appendix B.2 presents the permission granted by the editors to include the article in this thesis. v Chapter 4: Methodology Chapter four concludes with a book chapter written for inclusion in an edited publication that presents international perspectives on visual arts dissertations in education. The inserted publication outlines a methodological metaphor that enriches and overlays the preceding discussion of the research design and methodology with a reflexive description of the researcher’s dissertation process. Appendix C.1 presents the permission granted by the book editors to include the accepted book chapter within the thesis. Chapters 5,6,7 and 8: Case Study Findings These chapters present the findings of the four case studies in narrative form. There are no published papers included in this part of the thesis. Chapter 9: Discussion Chapter nine concludes with a published article that collates several research findings and includes theoretical discussion of the findings (Lindsay, 2016b). Appendix D.1 presents the permission granted by the journal editors to include the article in this thesis. Chapter 10: Conclusion and Recommendations Chapter ten references two articles written for practitioner magazines that outline provocations from the research findings (Lindsay, 2015c; 2015d). The chapter also references the transcript of a professional learning module developed by the researcher (Lindsay, 2015f). The researcher was invited to develop the online learning module following the presentation of initial research findings at the 2014 Early Childhood Australia national conference. This research inspired professional development resources are available in Appendices E.1 and E.2 and E.3. Appendices E.4 and E.5 present the permissions granted to include these articles and transcript in this thesis. Reference list: In support of clarity and brevity, one reference list collates all references for published articles, published book chapter, thesis chapters and appendices. Conference Presentations The following conference presentations have been produced as a result of the research conducted for this thesis: vi Lindsay, G. (2017). Connecting minds and hands: Drawing upon brain theory and mark making to disrupt the fixed mindset of pre-service early childhood educators. Paper presented at the 7th International Art in Early Childhood Conference, Paro College of Education, Bhutan. Lindsay, G. (2016). A proposal to douse the flames of conflict. Paper presented at the Early Childhood Australia National Conference, Darwin, Australia. Lindsay, G. (2015). Do visual art experiences in early childhood settings foster educative growth or stagnation? A paper presented at the 6th International Art in Early Childhood Conference, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China. Lindsay, G. (2015). Visual arts pedagogy in early childhood contexts: The tangle of educator beliefs and practice. A paper presented at the Inaugural Early Start Conference, University of Wollongong, Australia. Lindsay, G. (2014). Arts education in early childhood contexts: Beliefs, pedagogy and pervading myths. A paper presented at INSEA World Congress, Melbourne, Australia. Lindsay, G. (2014). Educator beliefs and identity: Reflecting upon our image of the early childhood educator as artistic. A paper presented at the Early Childhood Australia National Conference, Melbourne, Australia. Lindsay, G. (2014). “Stitching” Voices into the Patchwork Quilt of Qualitative Research. A paper presented at the UOW Social Sciences HDR Conference, Wollongong, Australia. Lindsay, G. (2013). Constructing places in educator’s minds that inspire art learning in early childhood contexts: John Dewey’s foundational influence on visual art pedagogy in Reggio Emilia. A paper presented at the 5th International Art in Early Childhood Conference, University of Cyprus, Cyprus. Lindsay, G. (2013). Developing a Plan to Construct Artful Qualitative Research. A paper presented at the UOW HDR Conference, School of Education, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia. vii Invited speaker Lindsay, G. (2017). So, you think you can’t draw? A hands-on mark-making workshop to disrupt the fixed mindset of early childhood educators. A workshop presented at the Fairfield City Council Children and Family Services conference, Fairfield RSL, Sydney, Australia. Lindsay, G. (2016). So, you think you can’t draw? A hands-on workshop for the artistically nervous. A paper/workshop presented at the IEU Early Childhood Services conference, Sydney, Australia. Lindsay, G. (2015). Valuing art processes and products in early childhood education: A Deweyan Challenge. A paper presented at the UWS Early Learning Conference, University of Western Sydney, Australia. viii Acknowledgments “I have never believed, nor do I believe now, that a story belongs to only one person. Stories are always plural and their