The thesis entitled Visual arts in the first three years of elementary schools in Novo Mesto presents visual arts disciplines and their main characteristics, including art techniques applied in these disciplines, taught in or suitable for the first three years of elementary school. Artistic evaluation as part of art education and its importance is discussed. General learning objectives of visual arts lessons—skills that are to be achieved by students through art education—are specified. Part of the theoretical analysis focuses on evaluation and assessment as a segment of completing an art task. Criteria for selecting art techniques are identified, namely: the age of the students, their personality and psychomotor skills. Another section of the theoretical part addresses the topic of selecting the visual motif, providing a suitable environment for artistic creation and exhibiting works of art and its importance for the students. Finally, individual elementary schools participating in the research are briefly presented.
The empirical part introduces the results of the research, providing an insight into the state of art education in its general sense in the first three years of study at five schools in Novo Mesto. 31 out of a total of 44 elementary school teachers participated in the research. The results of the research were obtained using a questionnaire consisting of 28 questions: 23 close-ended and 5 open-ended ones. The responses were analyzed using the descriptive method.
The research showed that the teachers, in accordance with the Curriculum, employ all the disciplines of visual arts, selecting various art techniques within them. When selecting a visual arts discipline, their decisions are largely based on the predetermined work plan and the availability of appropriate materials and tools—the lack of which poses problems to some of the teachers surveyed. The least used visual arts discipline is graphic art; students most enjoy painting, sculpture, and drawing. Textbooks are not often used in visual arts classes. The results also showed that teachers encourage exhibiting students’ art works in the school premises and appreciate the importance of providing a proper creative environment.
Based on the results, it was found that the respondents’ visual arts classes are fairly varied; however, certain art techniques are not sufficiently represented, and that the teachers face various challenges in the implementation of certain art tasks.
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