Exploring students’ experiences of arts-based pedagogy: An a/r/tographical journey

• Author / Creator

  Purton, Fiona L

• My research seeks to understand the experience of students who were labeled with learning disabilities and/or behavioural issues and subsequently transferred to an arts-based school. Specifically, I focused on students’ sense of belonging and self-efficacy, their willingness to take academic risks and their aspirations for their future. The methods employed to collect the students’ stories were one-on-one, semi-structured interviews and an arts-based focus group. My methodology is arts-based. I practice métissage as a/r/tography by weaving together life writing, visual and textual metaphor, and theory and research. The findings of this research suggested that in the arts-based context 1) students feel confidence, hope and aspiration; 2) the students’ current arts-based school is a supportive community; and 3) students feel recognition and appreciation of their strengths and efforts. I situate my discussion primarily in the work of Maxine Greene while also drawing on central tenets of constructivism and critical theory.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Curriculum
  • Arts-based
  • Disabilities
  • A/r/tography
  • Pedagogy
  • Greene

• Graduation date

  Spring 2013

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3SH9K

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.