1. Research topic/aim: The overall purpose of this thesis is to describe and discuss preconditions for theenactment and the construction of fundamental values in art education in secondaryschool.
2. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework used in this study is a combination of policy enactmenttheory (Ball et al. 2012) and Bernsteins (2000) concepts Classification and Framing.This combination allowed to analyse the influence of context and existing subjecttraditions and teaching practice in art education.
3. Methodology/research design: The study is based on ethnographic methods, including classroom observations,video recordings and interviews with art teachers and pupils. Three art teachers and36 pupils in grades eight and nine (age 14-16) have participated in the study.
4. Expected results/findings: The results show that the conditions for policy enactment are created by severalfactors that interact. Together with existing subject traditions and teaching practicesin art education, the unique contextual mix that every school provide creates theconditions for enacting the fundamental values in art education. For example, the artsubject carries an image-making tradition that pushes aside more theoretical syllabuscontent, such as image analysis. The situated context influences the professionalculture and, therefore, they function as a lens for selecting and translating thecurriculum; hence, different groups of pupils receive different democratic education.Also, the school's goal and result management focus on measurable subjectknowledge and therefore marginalise the fundamental values. Together, this makes itchallenging to incorporate fundamental values in subject teaching.
5. Relevance to Nordic educational research: Democratic education is essential in all Nordic countries, and these results helpexplain why it is not always easy to incorporate the more generic democratic goals inthe subject teaching.
The poster will show a model of how different factors interact as the curriculum isenacted.
References:
Ball, S. J., Maguire, M. & Braun, A. (2012). How schools do policy: Policy enactmentsin secondary schools. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203153185
Bernstein, B. (2000[1996]). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: theory,research, critique. Rev. ed Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
School of Education, Univeristy of Iceland , 2022. p. 169-170