Seeds in the Classroom: The Place of the Arts in Education

Seeds in the Classroom: The Place of the Arts in Education Article Seeds in the Contemporary Education Dialogue1 –16 Classroom: The © 2024 Education Dialogue TrustArticle reuse guidelines: Place of the Arts in in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-indiaDOI: 10.1177/09731849231222657 Education journals.sagepub.com/home/ced Samina Mishra1 Abstract This article examines the role of the arts in educatio. [...] Can the arts challenge the practice of these pedagogies of repression that emphasise tests and results? Can they allow for the development of the whole individual who seeks to alter conditions rather than adjusting to them? In this essay, I offer my understanding of the place of the arts in the classroom to provoke larger conversations that can enable us to find meaningful ways of engaging with th. [...] The conceptual framework guiding the project and this essay draws upon three key ideas: The need to listen to children contextually to move away from an emphasis on the authentic voice of the child, the question of researcher/educator positionality and the agency of the child in a process of co-creation. [...] Rogers writes: In therapy the person adds to ordinary experience the full and undistorted awareness of his experiencing—of his sensory and visceral reactions … In this sense the person becomes for the first time the full potential of the human organism, with the enriching element of awareness freely added to the basic aspect of sensory and visceral reaction. [...] The Question of Authenticity A question that some may ask is whether the meaning we then glean from work produced like this is ‘authentic’ or does the adult-led process mean that the work does not reflect the pure voice of the child? I would argue that we need to move away from an emphasis on the authentic voice of the child and in fact, question the idea of authenticity itself.