Fine arts teachers, as educators in practice, are also focused on strengthening emotional and social skills as part of their pedagogical activities. In this study, we were interested in how fine arts teachers justify the importance of emotional and social skills as educators in practice and how they raise awareness of the emotional and social aspect of their personal situations through visual arts activities. We were also interested in how they implement visual arts tasks - what visual arts materials, artistic expressions, motifs, and other contents appear in the visual arts products created during the research. Four female fine arts teachers were involved in the research over a period of three months (12 meetings). Using the method of semi-structured interviews, we followed the activities, gained insights, and analysed the artistic solutions of the part-oriented activities. The research showed that teachers understand emotional and social skills as tools that help them deal with emotions, express needs, and perceive other people's emotions (empathy). Within the visual arts activities, teachers most often drew attention to content related to recognizing one's own thoughts, feelings, and values, also understanding their influence on behaviour (self-awareness category), while the least content related to the ability to establish and maintain positive and stable relationships with different people and groups (relational skills category). The visual arts products created in the process of artistic activity are mostly from the field of drawing and painting, using visual arts techniques and materials that allow for more structured or controlled artistic solutions. All visual art products reflect the reaction to partially structured content that served as a starting point for experiencing the subject in the context of the activity.
|
