An investigation of behaviors in art activities, arts participation, and art self-concept among teacher trainees

Abstract

Problem Statement: Teachers are responsible for making a difference with students and society. Therefore, improving the personal development of teacher trainees and their subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge is an important concern for educators and counselors. Counselors are concerned about investigating teacher trainees in terms of behaviors and self concepts in the field of arts because of their professional commitment to the total development of the students and their role as a consultant to administrators and curriculum planners.

Purpose of Study: This study was designed to examine Turkish teacher trainees in terms of their behavior in arts activities (BAA; consumption, production, or indifference), participation in art activities in free times (PAA), and art self-concepts (ASC). Based on earlier literature, this study also will investigate these characteristics in relation to gender and the demographic and familial predictors of ASC.

Methods: A descriptive study was conducted on 199 (117 females, 82 males) teacher trainees selected from volunteering students of the Faculty of Education of Middle East Technical University. Data were collected by using the Art Self-Concept Scale (ASCS) and a questionnaire designed to gather demographic and background information from the participants.

Findings and Results: Although most of the teacher trainees were art consumers, art production behavior was rare among the teachers of the future. Moreover, a great deal of the teacher trainees reported insufficient PAA and lack of family guidance toward arts. While gender was not found to be related to BAA, a significant gender effect was found on ASCS scores in favor of females. Moreover, females reported significantly less PAA than males. The results also revealed that art producing behavior was the best predictor of ASC for both gender groups. However, for males there were two additional predictors of ASC-family's guidance toward arts and place of residence in most of life.

Conclusions and Recommendations: Based on these findings, examining the possible reasons for limited art production behavior or arts participation in free time among teacher trainees should be investigated in further studies. Moreover, providing male teacher trainees with opportunities to improve their art self-concepts can be the focus of future studies.

Problem Durumu: Öğretmenler hem öğrencileri hem de içinde yaşadıkları toplumu olumlu yönde değiştirme sorumluluğu taşırlar. Alan bilgisi ve pedagojik bilgilerini kullanarak öğrencilerinin entelektüel, duyuşsal, sosyal ve tinsel gelişimlerinde rol oynamalarının yanı sıra, öğretmenler öğrencileri için önemli birer rol modeli de oluştururlar. Bu nedenle, öğretmen adaylarının yetiştirilmesi sürecinde, konu alanı ve etkili öğretmenlik konusundaki gelişimleri kadar, kişisel gelişimleri de önem taşımaktadır. Öğrencilerin sanata zaman ayırmaları ve sanat alanında eğitim almaları, sanatın bireylerin çeşitli alanlardaki zekâlarına,yaratıcılıklarına, akademik başarılarına, kendilerini ifade güçlerine ve akademik başarı, öz-saygı, öz-güven, doyum vb. pek çok kişisel ve sosyal özelliklerine olan olumlu katkıları nedeniyle pek çok eğitimci tarafından önerilmektedir. Bu bakımdan, öğretmen adaylarının sanatsal etkinliklere katılıma yönelik davranışlarının incelenmesi önemli görülmektedir.