Professional Development for Arts Teachers

Introducing Social Emotional Learning to Music Education Professional Development

“…The research focus on music education PD has been on teacher preference and needs, effectiveness of the experiences, and what types of experiences comprise PD, with much of the research focused on teacher perceptions of the value of PD (Bauer, 2007). Music teachers stated that summer university coursework and music organization conferences were the most preferred method for receiving PD (Bauer, 2007;Conway et al, 2005). These experiences largely involved individual choice as to what courses to take or what sessions to attend and would primarily deal with the subject-specific content of music.…”

“…The issues discussed by Conway et al (2005) and Bauer (2007) remain unresolved and were still important in 2011 in Conway's (2011) discussion of PD reform. These issues included the following: a) Arts educators need to continue to advocate for PD options that allow teachers time and informal settings to share ideas and stories of teaching; b) Arts education researchers should create and study PD in 'communities of practice' and other inquiry-based settings; c) The profession must encourage art teachers and those providing PD to study their programs to fill in the gaps of what we know from research about arts education PD; and d) Policy-makers and researchers must begin to consider the changing PD needs in a teacher's career.…”

Race to the Top: Implications for Professional Development in Arts Education

“…Arts educators are once again left out of the framework of professional development. As Conway et al (2005) have noted, however, professional development is most effective for arts teachers when it is situated within the content and teachers are allowed the flexibility to obtain professional development in a number of ways. RTTT encourages administrators to keep arts educators from those opportunities and focus on subjects that are measurable.…”

The Art Association/Higher Education Partnership: Implementing Residential Professional Development

“…In a recent survey of Michigan schools, for example, when asked how many days of professional development had been scheduled for arts specialists during the prior year, 56 percent of respondents reported that none was offered (Arts Alive 2001). For the most part, states and districts remain at a loss regarding what to offer art teachers in the way of content-based professional development, and often turn such responsibility over to nonprofit arts agencies or advocacy organizations (California Department of Education 2004;Conway et al 2005;Dreeszen 2001). …”

“…There are many examples of institutions of higher education partnering with school districts and arts or cultural organizations to provide arts-oriented professional development (Charland 2005;Conway et al 2005;Dreeszen 2001). Large funders of arts-in-education initiatives, including the Lincoln Center Institute's Higher Education Collaborative and various titles under the NCLB require such configurations.…”