Addressing Contemporary Social Issues in Art Education: A Survey of Public School Art Educators in Georgia

Abstract

This descriptive research utilized a written survey to investigate the current attitudes and practices of Georgia public school art educators with regard to addressing social issues through the art education curriculum. Teachers' narrative comments along with basic descriptive data provided an informative image of teacher values, preferences, and practices in the art classroom, as well as the school atmosphere in which they teach. Generally the participating teachers voiced strong support for addressing social issues through art education, and often addressed social issues through art history content or discussion in art criticism or aesthetics. Teachers voiced concern regarding parental and administrative support for discussing sensitive social issues. Also noted was the lack of time for the development of appropriate teaching materials and adequate pre-teacher training, especially in developing mediation skills for dealing with sensitive topics during classroom discussions.