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In common conception, art is often confined to a painting, sculpture, architecture or performance; we maintain however that what enables any art or artistic practice to become aesthetic is human experience. Arts and aesthetic practices are integral to the everyday lives of the indigenous Sabar tribes of India, particularly, in ascertaining Sabar "ways of knowing, being and doing". This article describes the nature of Sabar aesthetic experience, and its educational relevance, through an empirical study employing ethnomethodology and innovative participatory tools. It examines definitions and identifies limitations considered through an indigenous lens before introducing the social actors of the study. Findings illustrates how aesthetic practices empower voice by enabling multitextual expressions, rebuilding trust with the community and generating data that other methods may render invisible. The article offers discussions on how everyday aesthetic experiences and practices are imperative to the development of an authentic being. It conceptualises an educational ecology towards the realisation of sustainable educational systems and culturally critical ideals of education. We argue for an education for emancipation, through difference not domination, through enabling aesthetic and authentic beings. Ultimately, we urge a critical and creative future citizenship that is empowered by education, not constrained by its demands.

This article presents exploratory research examining the strategies employed by art teachers who identify as dyslexic. The study originated out of the personal interest of the researchers better to understand the strategies for learning used by teachers with dyslexia and the potential influence it has on their pedagogy. The question that this interest generates is "What learning strategies, used by art teachers with dyslexia, can be used as pedagogical tools?" To help answer this question, three art teachers were chosen to participate in the research; this was a purposeful choice, based on their self-identification as having "severe" dyslexia. The research consisted of informal interviews and classroom observations. However, we found that autobiographical details, augmented by reflections their individual teaching and learning experiences were particularly useful. We focused on whether strategies used as learners were now informing their teaching. Although small in scale, the study connects several positive attributes often associated with dyslexia (such as visual spatial awareness) to classroom practices, in addition to empathy with struggling students.

A phenomenological approach was employed in order to record and present the lived experiences of three students during a five-hour art-making activity. Theoretical definitions of cognitive processes pertinent to art and design were compared with the descriptions gathered from the students. The research was intended to portray as accurately as possible individuals' experiences in order to ascertain whether there is a possibility for soundly ascribing cognitive functions to art-making processes. The descriptions of students' thought processes reveal the ways with which the selected students approach learning and also offer insights into the possible links between cognition and artmaking. The findings of the study suggest that intuitive and perceptive processes are utilised by the chosen participants in a variety of ways. The consideration of the ordering of visual elements is a process that all participants describe within their art making. The students' visual judgements appear to be a direct response to the art-work being made. (Contains 3 figures.)

This article examines the strategies that can be used to enhance students' understanding of how subjects link together and whether cross-curricular approaches, through a gallery project, have any real impact on students' understanding of the links between subjects. A substantial part of this article, however, describes the methodological aspect of the project. A phenomenological case study approach was used in order to engage fully with individual students' learning experiences. It was found that the students who were involved directly with the study felt that the links between subjects had more relevance to their learning when the teacher made such links explicit. They were unaware of the relevance of many cross-curricular links made in lessons, but the study indicated that cross-curricular learning can enable students to transfer skills and knowledge in order to understand concepts more fully.

This article is an account of a pilot project designed to help art & design teachers in training use their particular strengths to report on classroom observation through visual art. The project is underpinned by the notion that the arts provide a particular way of knowing and that teaching should be student-centred. I argue that if the arts can be seen to be a particular way through which we can understand the world then they can be used as both a pedagogical tool and possibly a vehicle for collecting data and reporting research. A group of 19 student teachers of art & design were given tasks which involved reporting on their school placement experience via a visual art form rather than through a text-based form such as writing. The resulting images were discussed in a seminar and a sub-group of three students was purposely selected for interviews. It was found overall, the students valued the approach taken and that they gained valuable insights into their professional placements through adopting an art-based approach to educational research.

This article is about the ways in which young people who have disengaged from learning in school can find a way back through leadership activities in art. It is based on a project which was funded by a small grant from the Wallenberg Foundation. The project explored the potential of an approach to developing positive leadership qualities in pupils who were not consistently committed to the school's learning purposes. This account describes and comments upon two pupils' guided attempts at peer teaching in art and its subsequent effect upon their self-esteem and attitude towards school. It was found that pupils who taught art to other pupils had an increased sense of self-worth and were more positively affected towards learning. However, broader issues, such as the negative nature of some school systems and their role in de-motivating pupils were highlighted.

This paper focuses on a built environment project with a mixed ability group of learners from year seven attending Deacon's School in Peterborough, England. The School caters for students aged between eleven and eighteen, from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds (including a substantial minority from the Indian Sub-Continent); it is an active participant within the University of Cambridge Post Graduate Certificate in Education partnership and is a 'beacon school'. In practical studio terms, the project was concerned with school students making 'pop-up cards' based on first hand observation of local architecture under the guidance of the Head of Art. [1] The focus for students' learning was on their critical responses to their built environment, in and around the City of Peterborough. In particular, students were encouraged to make full use of their sketchbooks and to engage in active oral work. The approach taken builds upon that advocated by Wolff and Geahigan [2] by emphasising the relationship between students' personal engagement with art and design and their personal response to it through their own art; students were encouraged to learn about art and design objects through the process of reacting, researching, responding and reflecting. [3]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]