Artists in the classroom: A case study on collaborative work in the field of plastic and visual arts

Abstract

This article is the product of the research carried out by members of the group HUM816: Art and Literature, on an educational project that every year develops the CEIP Miguel de Cervantes, from the province of Malaga, with the intention of taking the art to the classrooms of infant and primary education, thanks to the collaboration of a group of artists who become teachers for a few days at the invitation of the center.

Using the information obtained through qualitative strategies, -observation, interviews and focus groups- in which the protagonists of this experience -artists, teachers and students- have participated, the objectives of the case study are to identify the contextual conditions - legislative, social, cultural, formative - that determine the development of the artistic curriculum in formal education, analyze the participation of the professional artist in the training process and discover the previous ideas handled by the teaching staff to approach the artistic area.

With this approach, the article relates an initiative that brings to light the shortcomings of the educational system in artistic matters, but also the desire of an educational community that puts all their efforts into achieving that Art Education is oriented towards social and cultural understanding of the world.