The Agentic Positioning of Youth in Contemporary Visual Art Education Research: A Methodological Examination

• In Event: Youth Voices and Positionality in the Arts

Abstract

Creative, arts-based, and participatory research methods share a focus on facilitating research processes that engage with participants and, as such, aim to promote individual voice, facilitate reflection and dialogue, and enable the articulation of participants' unique experiences. To explore the degree to which participatory, arts-based research practices in PK-Grade12 visual art education realize these aims, the present study critically examines the agentic positioning of youth in current research through a systematic, methodological literature review. Findings from this review serve to ground proposed recommendations for more supportive research practices that carefully attend to the unique issues that arise during visual arts-based participatory work with children and youth in formal and informal educational environments – ethical considerations, individual agency limitations, and power inequities.

Author

• Angela L. Eckhoff, Old Dominion University