Preparing Primary Teachers to Teach Art & Design Effectively

This paper is an account of an action research project funded by the Teacher Training Agency and co-ordinated by the Institute of Education, University of London. It critically considers the features, methodology and main findings of an enquiry into the nature of art and design components of courses of primary initial teacher education in nine institutions of higher education in the U.K. The project provides evidence to support ways in which primary teachers can effectively transform their subject knowledge in art and design into subject-specific pedagogical knowledge. The value –for the participants – of a collective case study approach to research, along with some wider implications for art and design courses in initial teacher education are also identified.