Edith Cowan University Research Online Theses: Doctorates and Masters Theses 2015 Assessing Western Australian Year 11 students’ engagement with responding in Visual Arts Julia Elizabeth Morris Edith Cowan University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses Part of the Art Education Commons Recommended Citation Morris, J. E. (2015). Assessing Western Australian Year 11 students’ engagement with responding in Visual Arts. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1627 This Thesis is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1627 Edith Cowan University Research Online Theses: Doctorates and Masters Theses 2015 Assessing Western Australian Year 11 students’ engagement with responding in Visual Arts Julia Elizabeth Morris Edith Cowan University Recommended Citation Morris, J. E. (2015). Assessing Western Australian Year 11 students’ engagement with responding in Visual Arts. Retrieved from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1627 This Thesis is posted at Research Online. http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1627 Edith Cowan University Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorize you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement. Where the reproduction of such material is done without attribution of authorship, with false attribution of authorship or the authorship is treated in a derogatory manner, this may be a breach of the author’s moral rights contained in Part IX of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). 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My interest in visual arts, and responding to visual arts, led me to complete a Bachelor of Arts (Education) and Bachelor of Creative Arts (Visual Arts) after significant encouragement from my own secondary Visual Arts teacher. In 2012, I was given the opportunity to begin researching within the fields Visual Arts and Education at Edith Cowan University. I have since worked as a significant contributor to an Arts Teaching and Research Group, focussing on pre-service primary teacher engagement across the five Arts subjects: Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and Visual Arts. I have also actively researched and supported the use of online technologies in pre-service teacher education within the University. Recently, I was included in a team that has been mapping the history of Visual Arts education in Western Australia, based on a gap I uncovered in the literature during this doctoral study. I have also been privileged to teach within the University, across primary and secondary pre-service teacher education (including a semester where I coordinated the Visual Arts secondary education course), as well as teaching Visual Arts history within the School of Communications and Arts at Edith Cowan University. The completion of this doctoral study marks the beginning in a journey of research, teaching, and (a recently-neglected) visual arts practice, which I hope contribute to Australian and international visual arts advocacy. Julia Morris 23 January 2015 ii NOTES ON STYLE Throughout the thesis italicised text is used to denote emphasis or specialist terminology. Within Chapters Five and Six, italicised text is used for interview vignettes, to distinguish participant voices from quoted literature. Visual Arts has been capitalised when specifically referring to Visual Arts as a school subject or course. Lowercase visual arts are used for when referring to the discipline of visual arts generally, including the practice of visual arts beyond the school context. iii ABSTRACT Responding to visual arts is an important outcome of both the Western Australian and the Australian (F-10) Curriculum in Visual Arts (ACARA, 2014; Curriculum Council, 2008; School Standards and Curriculum Authority, 2014a). Responding is important because it facilitates students’ development of visual literacy, or the ability to decode and recode meaning through visual media (Flood, 2004; Flood & Bamford, 2007; Avgerinou & Petterson, 2011). This mixed methods research study investigated Western Australian students’ engagement in responding within Year 11 Stage 2 Visual Arts. A diagnostic instrument was created to quantitatively assess the engagement of 137 Year 11 Visual Arts students. Additionally, 10 students and 11 Visual Arts teachers participated in semi-structured interviews to explain and extend the quantitative findings. Five Heads of The Arts and eight Principals also participated in interviews to position the students’ engagement with Visual Arts responding within a broader school context. The findings of this research emphasise the importance of diagnostically assessing students’ engagement, particularly within senior school (Years 11 and 12) Visual Arts courses that emphasise responding in student assessment. Additionally, early childhood intervention is important for students to learn the foundational skills and knowledge required to be successful in senior school Visual Arts. In addition, professional learning is essential to support Visual Arts teachers to respond to the increasing complexity of visual culture and critical theory in the curriculum. Professional learning is also important to shift school culture from the perception of Visual Arts responding as part of academic rigour and assessment, to a perception of responding as necessary to students’ development as active citizens in a visually saturated twenty-first century life-world. iv The declaration page is not included in this version of the thesis ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I’d like to thank all my supervisors for their unwavering support and mentorship. To my Principal Supervisor, Dr Geoff Lummis, thank you for giving me the opportunity to collaborate in research as a colleague and doctoral student, and for the many coffees along the way! To my Associate Supervisor, Associate Professor Graeme Lock, thank you for your advice and attention to detail, it has been very much appreciated. To my Associate Supervisor, Dr Lisa Paris, thank you for teaching me so much in both my undergraduate and postgraduate study in Visual Arts education - you inspired me to return and complete this doctorate! Thank you to Associate Professor Susan Ash (Edith Cowan University) and Associate Professor Christine Howitt (University of Western Australia) for your generous feedback and support through the proposal stages of this project. To Susan Hill, thank you for your encouragement and insights into research and academia. To my parents, Mike and Jacqui, I cannot express enough thanks for your unconditional support. You have both read countless drafts and actively discussed this research for the past few years – I am so grateful to have parents with a genuine interest in what I am doing. Thank you for always encouraging me to pursue my passions, and to push myself that little bit further. To all my friends, but especially to Stephanie Preston, thank you for your encouragement, celebration of the key milestones along the way, your interest and conversation about teaching in The Arts, and for knowing when I needed a break! Lastly, to the 15 schools that participated in this study, thank you for giving up your time to participate in my research and for the positive feedback I received. I hope the findings of this study can be implemented to support your ongoing teaching and learning in Visual Arts. vi GLOSSARY ACARA Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. ATAR Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank. Anime Audio-visual animation using Japanese style influences that are mostly produced for film and television. Art Making One of two content strands in the Australian Curriculum: The (or Visual Arts Arts (ACARA, 2014a). The Making content strand relates to any Making) artworks produced by a student, from design to product (ACARA, 2014a). Art movement A particular school or style of artworks, often influenced by contextual factors (e.g., Dada artists working during/after World War I had a style that aimed to break with traditional art conventions and media). Art Responding The second content strand in the Australian Curriculum: The (or Visual Arts Arts (ACARA, 2014a). The Responding content strand relates to Responding) the interpretation and evaluation of artworks, both of the students’ own works and those by other artists (ACARA, 2014a). Baroque An art movement circa 1600-1750 (Kleiner, 2009), defined by exaggerated forms, and grandeur in scale and detail of the artwork. Often associated with Catholic Counter