Currently the teaching of contemporary art lies outside formal art education curriculum and policy in second level schools in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) (Granville, 2012). In UK schools there is also a shown reluctance to use contemporary art within the curriculum (Downing 2005; Adams, 2010). This paper will examine how student teachers utilise a contemporary artwork database as a reflexive, pedagogical tool to inform both their own practice and curriculum development. Themes that will be explored will include an examination of how student teachers can be encouraged to use issue based contemporary art with primary and second level children. Furthermore, through an action research intervention within the Professional Masters in Education (PME) at NCAD, they will explore socio-political, environmental and European citizenship themes from the tripartite perspective of their practice as artist, educators and activists. The contemporary artwork database, created by the Finish team, for the Creative Connections project (2014), will act as a key resource to enable student teachers to unpack citizenship based themes, through the lens of Art and Design Education.. Over the duration of the intervention the student teachers will collaboratively create art works and design schemes of work for school curriculum based on these citizenship concepts. Art educators and theorists put forward a substantive argument that recognises the symbiotic relationship between both the practical and critical domains that are essential to a visual arts programme (Pringle 2009; Efland, 2002; Buchanan 1995). To ensure that we are effective communicators, it is crucial that today’s learner has the skills to construct knowledge and convey a range of meaning through the process of seeing, thinking and responding to imagery (Messaris, 1994). The paper will examine the effect of the action research intervention on the student art teachers’ ability to engage in critical thinking, socially engaged art practice and citizenship concepts within their curriculum planning in the initial teacher education programme.

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