Harmonies of Form: Teachers Who Lead Art-fully in Primary Arts Education in Private Schools

Siobhan C Unwin

Teachers who lead from the classroom have been shown to improve teaching, leading, and school culture; however, it remains unclear what constitutes leadership in Arts education when Arts education is differentiated in large part by its aesthetic nature. Understanding this issue is important as Arts education has a fundamental role in developing knowledge and skills crucial in a 21st century world: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication, with effective leadership being critical. While teachers as leaders have been studied across contexts, learning areas, and school systems, there is a gap in studies on teachers who lead in Arts education. This study aimed to clarify how teachers lead in the Arts learning area. Using a narrative inquiry method, six primary teachers who lead in Arts education were interviewed. Evidence of leadership was drawn from participants’ experiences and presented through narrative portraits. The research findings indicate participants embody a form of leadership that is conceptualised as ‘Art-ful Leadership’. This conceptualisation can be seen as an ecology of practice comprising a gestalt of Practice-Based Knowledges: Propositional Knowledge (Knowing That), Process Knowledge (Knowing How), Personal Knowledge (Knowing Who), and Value Knowledge (Knowing Why). Art-ful Leadership embodies these knowledges in aesthetic ways of knowing, doing, and being, as well as through the ways in which these leaders interact with their social-aesthetic contexts. These interactions include the ways these leaders harmonise with their school contexts and, ultimately, how those interactions attempt to shift or modulate these contexts towards an imagined ideal. This study expands upon what it means to be a Teacher Leader in the Arts by exploring how aesthetic ways of knowing, doing, and being impact on teachers, students, and schools.

Harmonies of Form: Teachers Who Lead Art-fully in Primary Arts Education in Private Schools

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