Reflective Practices in Arts Education

It is an exciting time to be an artist and artist educator. Networks of schools and artists are being motivated by arts partnerships, a relatively new phenomenon in a field which whilst disparate in its character and practice, is marked by a common intention, to respond effectively and critically to politically driven agendas of accountability, school improvement and pupil attainment. More than ever artists and educators alike have begun to realise the need to develop practices which offer the development of artist educator pedagogies as agencies for change and political action. Understanding the function of reflective practice, the conditions which s- port it and its impact on learning, are addressed throughout this book. We hope that the book will motivate readers, with a diversity of interests and needs, to engage in reflections of their own professional practices and of the practices of the commu- ties in which they work This book is about reflection. The thesis about the field it covers and major premise of this book is that reflection matters at every turn in arts engagement and even more so in educational settings where artist educators share a passion for facilitating and understanding the 'how'of learners engagement with p- ticular art forms. It aims to show ways in which reflection can inform and transform practice in terms of what, when and how reflection is embodied in arts engagement.