Magdalena Novotná

Reflective Portfolio in Art Education

Magdalena Novotná – Department of Art Education, Faculty of Education, Charles University, Czech Republic

Abstract:

The contribution entitled Reflective Portfolio in Art Education presents the portfolio as a suitable tool for reflection on art subjects, specifically art education. The text is focused on art education didactics. It is written at a time of increasing emphasis on evaluative processes in all fields, in which the art domain solves the problem of how to bridge the subjectivity of evaluation, most often with the help of two rational processes: consensus, i.e. agreement between experts, or the formulation of criteria that represent an analytical tool for assessment. Even pedagogy favours increasingly formative assessment over summative or normative. Evaluation, assessment, classification, reflection, and the feedback are in the foreground now. The contribution presents a research study that employs a hybrid methodology combining discursive analysis with the grounded theory, participatory visual research and curatorial practices. It is theoretically straddled between the fields of visual communication, collaborative art, curation, pedagogy and psychology. The study explores, uses and connects concepts such as creativity, critical thinking, metacognition, creative independence and self-regulated learning. Research findings define more precisely the so-called discursive approach to art education and emphasize its social dimension and cognitive orientation. They are based on an empirical basis and summarize the author’s ten years of experience teaching art in primary school.