Publication Date

2022

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Freedman, Kerry K.

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

School of Art and Design

Abstract

Parents’ intentions and actions are crucial factors that influence young children’s early art learning experiences. By learning about parents’ perspectives and experiences related to art educators, art education, and placing their children in an out-of-school art program, researchers can gain an in-depth understanding of parents’ values about art education. Further, analysis of the parents’ attitude and resourcefulness about early childhood art education helps art educators develop positive communication with parents. The purpose of this research is to probe the contexts and experiences of parents in Taiwan and the United States when they place their children in an out-of-school art program. This study is a dual-case, cross-cultural, phenomenological qualitative study, using interviews, observations, and artifact collection as data collection approaches. Two research sites were included in this research. The first site was in DeKalb, Illinois, US, focusing on the Northern Illinois University (NIU) Art Express Saturday art program, which is a university outreach art program for the local community. The second site was in Taipei, Taiwan, and took place in the National Taipei University of Education (NTUE) Children’s Art Camp and a private children’s art program called Magic Power of Art in Taipei City. In this study, I delved into the context of each research site, including the communities and parents’ social/ cultural capitals, and analyzed how the contexts influenced the participants’ mindset regarding placing their children in out-of-school art programs. The findings showed that community structures, resource accessibility, and district atmosphere were significant components of the parent-participants’ exosystem. Those components profoundly and inadvertently shaped their social and cultural capitals. Additionally, the parent-participants’ art-related experiences and the influences of peer groups constituted their mesosystem, which further enhanced or sculpted their social and cultural capitals as well as their perspectives toward art learning. Moreover, parent-child interactions and in-class dynamics were the direct microsystems that demonstrated the practices of the parent-participants’ parenting approaches. Furthermore, the parent-participants’ educational philosophy, perspectives toward art, descriptions of the art programs, and descriptions of children’s art productions constituted their reflective thought, which was the impetus for their parenting approaches and purposes for selecting out-of-school learning for their children. Also, this research revealed the hidden issue of information asymmetry between art teachers and parents. In other words, parents’ expectations of art education did not always align with current critical conversations in the field of art education. Because parents are vital stakeholders in education, art educators must develop an effective communication channel with parents to ensure children’s better in-school and out-of-school art learning environments. Having sustainable support from parents allows art education to continuously grow and thrive in the K-12 school system and communities.

Extent

327 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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Art Education Commons

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