Some research within developmental psychology shows a slow period of development in children's expressive drawings during the primary school years. Developmental researchers suggest that ‘educational factors’ could contribute to this dip in development but have not explored these factors. This study explores links between educational policy – in terms of the English National Curriculum – and the development of expression in child art. A Foucauldian style analysis of interviews is presented which investigates how ten primary school teachers working in two Staffordshire schools approach art. A specific concern is to explore how different understandings of art and teaching practices are shaped and managed by the curriculum. This allows links between the demands of the curriculum and the observed dip in expressive drawing development to be investigated.

This article presents an analysis of the way art is conceptualised in the British primary school curriculum and provides an historical framework that maps an evolution of ideas that have shaped the way art is presented in the modern day primary curriculum. In order to achieve this a Foucauldian style genealogical analysis is utilised to trace the discourses (systems of meaning) surrounding the nature of children's artistic development and how these discourses are used in the present day British primary curriculum to construe art in different ways. The analysis in this article is threefold. It explores the presentation of art in the curriculum as (1) an expressive subject, (2) a skills based subject, (3) a subject which focuses on art history and art appreciation. Second, the teaching positions associated with each approach are identified as follows (a) the facilitator, (b) the expert and (c) the philosopher; as well as the issues teachers face when adopting these positions. Third, attention is given to how these theoretical principles might be linked to practice. In so doing this article contributes to the debate surrounding the value of art in the primary curriculum and the way in which the curriculum serves to shape teaching practice.

Based on a wider research project which critiqued the centricity of cognitivism in research investigating children's drawings this article explores the relationship between social interaction and materiality. Case studies are presented to systematically analyse a range of naturalistic data collected from art classes held in two Staffordshire primary schools. Use of a multi-level analysis demonstrates the ways in which materiality (space, tools, and materials) work as enabling constraints which shape discursive interaction. Concurrently, photographs of artwork created in the lesson examine how interaction guides the creation of material objects-child art. The analysis demonstrates that the creation of child art is not an individual endeavour and questions the assumption that artwork is a mirror to the child's mind. Instead, it is inextricably bound to the discursive and material contexts it is created in. Thus, ethnography is presented as a useful tool for examining interactions between discursive and material practices.

An investigation into the ways in which art is taught in English reception classes. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 5(2), 177-185.

This paper utilises a Vygotskian framework to examine the ways in which teachers shape the creation of children’s artwork in educational contexts. Reflexive ethnography (Burgess, 1984) and a bottom up approach to discourse analysis (Edwards & Potter, 1992) are used to analyse a range of qualitative data including photographs, observational notes and audio recordings collected from a Year 1 and a Year 4 art lesson held in English Primary schools. It is argued that the co-creation of art in the classroom is a dynamic and collaborative process which is negotiated between teachers and children in different ways. This argument is discussed in relation to the ways in which different teaching approaches shape and limit the creation of children’s artwork