Abstract
This paper highlights three key findings from a research study conducted between 2022 and 2023 with five artists teaching in special education (SPED) schools in Singapore. The research examines the pedagogies and strategies of the artists in the special education needs classrooms, and the benefits of engaging students in and through the arts in SPED schools. Through the extensive field notes taken from the classroom observations of the arts lessons, in-depth interviews with the artists, students, parents and teachers in the SPED schools, key findings from the research include: i) artists adopting flexible pedagogical approaches based on an understanding of individual students; ii) the importance of a symbiotic relationship between the teachers in the classrooms and the artists; and iii) the sense of ownership and agency enabled in the students through the arts making processes. The presentation concludes with a short discussion on the challenges encountered by teachers and artists when they had to assess the efficacy and the collective impacts of the arts programmes, and proposes a reconsideration of how assessments of arts programmes could be designed to understand the development of the individual child.
Presenters
Jennifer WongAssistant Head, Senior Lecturer, Visual and Performing Arts, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Arts education, Arts Pedagogies, Special education needs
