The artist teacher is an authentic model for teaching (Haanstra, 2003), whose quality lies within the fact that she/he does not differentiate between artistic and educational problems (Daichendt, 2010). The strength of the artist teacher is the fact that it unites a duality in practices, the liberated artistic practitioner with the teacher, in a single concept (Adams, 2005).

Despite the fact that artists are widely engaged in educational settings and that many art teachers maintain active artistic practices, qualitative research into the role and qualities of the artist-teacher and the relevance of this concept for (art) education is a relatively new territory.
The aim of this doctoral research is to analyse artist teachers’ pedagogical practices in intensive, small scale, qualitative investigation from the framework of pedagogical theory in order to construct knowledge on the significance of the artist teacher from a democratic, constructivist pedagogy’s perspective.

The research will consist of theoretical study, empirical inquiry and artistic research combined, in accordance with the nature of the subsidiary research questions. The use of various methods is motivated by the ambition to position the research in the heart of the pedagogical practice. By the use of ethnographic research methods, intensive, qualitative inquiry that draws from individual stories, a multilayered tapestry of practices will be woven (Heath, 2012) to develop a ‘thick description’ of the pedagogical practice of artist teachers. The knowledge that is incorporated in the pedagogical practice of the practicing artist teacher is expressed in praxis and will be obtained from that praxis. The framing of that knowledge however is inspired by theory on artistic teaching and pre-existing democratic pedagogies.

The outcomes of all empirical investigations within the framework of this research project will be analysed from the perspective of shifting educational paradigms. How does artistic teaching (Eisner, 1979), as a preliminary definition of the pedagogical practice of the artist teacher, relate to notions on democratic and critical pedagogy? The discussion will focus on significant relations between the practice of artist teachers and the ideals of innovative pedagogical theories in order to find ways in which the artist teacher as a model for teaching could contribute to educational change.
Promotors: Professor Jeff Adams and professor Rob Hulme, Faculty of Education and Children’s Services, University of Chester (UK)