Cultural, social and political issues in the Art classroom

Abstract

This research study explores the possibility of addressing cultural, social and political issues in the art classroom with 13-to 14-year-old Maltese students who opted for art as a subject specialisation. This study analyses whether cultural, social or political issues filter through the lessons of art and also through students’ art-making. This possible infiltration was studied by investigating the teachers' teaching strategies and their influence on the students as well as students' interests and preferences towards interpreting themes. This research project seeks to expand the expectations of art teachers and students on the potential of art in the classroom which is not solely the teaching and learning of art techniques and media. Hence, this study argues for a decentralised approach to teaching art to facilitate an open communication process which encourages critical thinking and sharing of ideas. However, as resulted from this study, art teachers and students are not using art to address issues which are cultural, social or political in nature. Instead, the main aim of the art lessons is to produce aesthetically pleasing artwork. Consequently, this research study proposes ways how teaching and learning in the classroom can become more socially and politically relevant such as by using news media as an instructional tool in the classroom and also by referring to contemporary artists as they have provided a framework for challenging and exploring social current affairs.