St. Michael's College Vermont

How does creative self-identity affect use of the arts by teachers in elementary school general classrooms?

Although most teachers say they value creativity and the arts, they often do not integrate arts into the daily curriculum. Visual literacy, empathy, creativity and critical thinking are among the increasingly important benefits of arts usage in education.

The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to examine how teachers� creative self-identities affect integration of arts into general elementary school classrooms. Teachers� views of creativity and the arts are examined along with issues that impede arts use in the classroom including teacher self-identity, lack of support for arts use and a lack of appropriate teacher training.

Qualitative and mixed-methods instruments will be used to gather data including: 1) surveys of Vermont elementary school teachers, 2) open ended interviews with teachers, 3) classroom observations and 4) interviews with specialists in arts in education.

Findings will be synthesized, compared to the literature, and conclusions and recommendations will be made. I expect to discover that teachers who self-identify as creative will show greater confidence in using arts in a general classroom. I also expect that specific training in arts facilitation and integration as part of pre-service training (or professional development) will contribute to arts integration.