Becoming a visual arts teacher with a/r/tography

Examination practice in art teacher education in Sweden is a part of the development of professional practice in compulsory, secondary and upper secondary education. Visual arts as a school subject entails a hybridity of artistic and didactic perspectives. In art teacher education, a double didactic perspective involves the learning of the student teacher and their future teaching of students in the visual arts. This article focuses on an examination of student teachers in the visual arts. An entry point is the methodology of a/r/tography, which entails exploring different subject positionings as artist, researcher and teacher in student teachers’ examination projects. Three examination projects were presented exemplifying how the use of art-based methods supports an understanding of subject didactics in the process of becoming a visual arts teacher. The examinations consisted of written academic texts and art-based explorative investigations in different visual media. The study also elaborated on how student teachers’ artistic production supports an understanding of the subject’s theoretical and practice-based content. The results indicated how a/r/tography can be used for reflected learning in becoming-teacher through student teachers’ efforts to encompass their future professional roles. The results also showed the challenges of student teachers in confronting their desires, doubts and fears in their learning processes during art teacher education. Photo and artwork: Pseudonymized Student "X" (with permission)