Professional teaching standards and their implications for preparing art teachers in Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper reports on a research project that monitored four key features in an in-service teacher education course for secondary art teachers in Hong Kong. First, the content of the course was reframed to include focus on the attributes of good art teachers and standards of good art teaching. Second, the theory-into-practice model of previous courses was reframed to include a focus on understanding theory through its practical implications. Third, teachers were encouraged to use dialogue journals to reflect on how the ideas and information presented in the course confirmed or challenged their beliefs and practices. Fourth, jointly developed “standards of good practice in art teaching” were used for self and peer evaluation in the teaching practice. Data from dialogue journals and end-of-course interview as well as questionnaires suggest the value of such approaches for in-service teacher education.