Becoming (p)art: Fostering socially engaged leadership for preservice art teachers through service-learning

Abstract

To provide a more socially engaged learning environment for preservice teachers in art education, the first author engaged them in a critical service-learning project. In five cycles of action and reflection on the engagement process, she generated evidence about student learning through observations, reflective notes, and visual images to support her self-study on how she could influence preservice art teachers to become educational leaders by adopting socially engaged practices. Qualitative analysis revealed that, after completing the module, students considered including socially engaged art in their teaching and showed qualities of becoming critical, accountable, and transformational leaders-and better prepared for teaching inclusively and in diverse contexts. The model developed from the first author's learning serves as a praxis-orientated instrument to guide pedagogies to increase social responsiveness amongst preservice art teachers to make their future practice more contextually relevant.