Seeking Harmony: Teachers' Perspectives on Learning to Teach in and through the Arts

This inquiry examined teachers' perspectives on learning to teach in and through the arts by employing Integrated Inquiry and administering multiple protocols - a focus group, questionnaire and survey - to participants in a professional development program which involved the participation of artists. The study expands on previous findings that the comfort and confidence levels with the arts can be increased in a program where there is a balance of subject expertise, that is learning in the arts, and integrative teaching strategies, that is learning through the arts. The study examined this approach in-depth and identified the benefits for teachers. With a balanced approach and artist participation, the study found that teachers acquire the confidence to express themselves freely, they are willing to teach the arts in their own classrooms, they realize the potential and value of the arts within the school curriculum, and they develop arts-specific teaching expertise. Further, the teachers' sensitivity to their own creativity and openness to experimentation is heightened, and an awareness of the potential of the arts to develop a student's imagination, intuition, and personal expressiveness is developed.