Educational approaches within US art teacher education: The status of ecological and environmental education

Abstract

Over the preceding half century, ecological and environmental art pedagogies have been put forth within the field of art education. In this study, we sought to understand their contemporary emphasis in US art teacher education and how that emphasis compares with other educational approaches. Through surveying art teacher educators and pre-service art teachers, we found the emphasis of ecological/environmental art education was the lowest of the educational approaches surveyed. In contrast, multicultural education, visual culture and social justice were some of the highest-ranked approaches. The gap in emphasis, between these approaches and ecological/environmental education, represents an opportunity to draw attention to their shared characteristics. We recommend art teacher education adopt an ecofeminist orientation to facilitate its transition towards intersectionality in pedagogy, so it can effectively prepare pre-service teachers to engage with social, cultural and ecological content and issues through art curriculum and pedagogy.