Beyond Representation: Exploring Drawing as Part of Children's Meaning-Making

Drawing is an everyday feature of primary school classrooms. All too often however, its role within the classroom is limited to a representational' one, used to demonstrate the accuracy of children's images and representations of the world. Furthermore, drawings, which most closely match' objective, dominant perspectives are generally given greater value. Reflecting on the role of drawing in the classroom is particularly interesting at a time when there is increasing emphasis on evidenced-based' and research-informed practice within schools. Such a policy context, which is primarily concerned with objective' forms of evidence, raises questions about a possible role for drawing to support a more nuanced understanding of learning processes, taking account of the uniquely contextualised experiences of the children. In response to this context, this article reports on my engagement - as a primary school teacher in Scotland - with a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project with children aged five to seven. The project enabled us to explore how drawing could support our own, collective meaning-making. The process involved employing walking and drawing as methods to open up rich linguistic spaces to enable the children to engage with and reflect on their lived experiences. The analysis of the drawings that were created surfaced many tensions within the Scottish education system, highlighted from the perspectives of the children. Such findings point to the need for more relational interpretation of evidence', arising from classroom actions and interactions, which include the perspectives of children.