How can the “state bear become a quaint artifact”? Arts and vocational teachers at three school levels share narratives from their action research

Abstract

The importance of creative thinking that can be parlayed into action is clear in the calls of modern societies for innovation, and the creative industries are seen as important in modern work life. Sustainable development also requires creative thinking and action competence in order to solve problems and meet the complex and multiple needs of the world. This paper describes an action research project that ran from autumn 2016 until autumn 2018, focusing on creativity in teaching and learning. I, the first author, led the action research of eight arts and vocational teachers at three school levels. The teachers were three arts teachers, two textile teachers, two IT and vocational subjects (in Icelandic, verkgreinar) teachers, and one drama teacher. On the teachers’ behalf and in collaboration with them, I analysed the data and wrote the article with the support of a critical friend (the second author) who also participated in certain aspects of the research process. In this article we describe and analyse how the arts and vocational teachers sought to understand how they worked to enhance student creativity.

Data included journals, reflective notes, teaching plans, photographs, student information and transcriptions from research group meetings. The participants met monthly for two hours over each academic year, and the discussions and stories they shared were recorded and transcribed. Each teacher interviewed one other to identify and analyse what kind of teachers they aspired to be. At one meeting they made a collage to exemplify what they considered their professional working theory, and they also described the collage in words. In addition, they conducted an analytical exercise where they identified what kind of control they applied in a chosen part of their teaching, using Bernstein’s (2000) concepts of framing and classification. These exercises and interviews helped to shed a light on the teachers’ professional working theories and how they mastered the balancing act between strong and weak framing.

The data analysis is grounded in narrative inquiry, and the findings are presented through the teachers’ narratives. Using the different methods in the research process and exercises to understand their teaching, such as applying Bernstein’s concepts, interviewing and artistic approaches (collages), supported the teachers in reaching deeper and sharpening their focus on their practice and the spaces of learning they designed for their students. The findings were organized in two main categories: developing the culture of creative learning, and professional working theories and professionalism in teaching. Several themes were analysed in each category, and we show how they are exemplified in the teachers’ narratives.

The Icelandic curricula from 2011 identify creativity as one of six fundamental ideals meant to be the foundation for all education from preschool to upper secondary schools. This explicit incorporation of creativity into the national curriculum gave industrial arts teachers an opportunity to rethink their instructional methods. The teachers in this study identified elements such as instructions from the curriculum that set certain limits on freedom, but they also strived for a balance between teacher control (strong framing) and giving students agency and freedom (weak framing). The culture the teachers sought to develop was characterized by teaching foundational work methods, mixed with freedom and creativity, chosen “sparks” , experimentation, and creative conversations. By taking part in the research, the teachers showed professionalism and ambition on behalf of their subject and the teaching profession. They showed how it is possible to actualize projects such as the traditional task one of the textile teachers called the “state bear” in a creative and original way, “even quaint” , while at the same time fulfilling the requirements of the state curriculum for training subject skills.

This article is dedicated to the memory of Erla Dís Arnardóttir textiles teacher who died long before her time in 2020. She was one of the teachers presented in this research and we miss her and remember her with gratitude.