‘The way I know is by looking back’: English primary school children’s views of making progress in arts subjects

Thomson, Pat; Maloy, Liam; Hall, Christine

Abstract

Educators are concerned that children make progress in their learning. While there are both policy and professional debates about how progress should be monitored and assessed, the views of children are rarely considered. Grounded in the ‘voiced’ research tradition, this paper reports on 158 focus group interviews with upper primary school students in purposefully selected arts rich schools in England. Children were asked about what they thought progress in arts subjects was, and how it was achieved. No children talked about grades or marks and only a handful mentioned rewards schemes. Their own evaluations and those of significant others, teachers, friends and family were very important. Children saw progress as supported and shaped by teacher pacing, scaffolding and feedback. Their own commitment to practice, use of feedback, persistence and self-belief were also highly significant. We suggest that these children’s understandings have implications for the work that arts teachers do, and in particular for the ways in which children use feedback and develop their own criteria for self-evaluation.

Citation

Thomson, P., Maloy, L., & Hall, C. (2024). ‘The way I know is by looking back’: English primary school children’s views of making progress in arts subjects. Education 3-13, 52(2), 251-263. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2023.2253075

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 24, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Sep 1, 2023
• Publication Date: Feb 17, 2024
• Deposit Date: Aug 25, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 11, 2023
• Journal: Education 3-13
• Print ISSN: 0300-4279
• Electronic ISSN: 1475-7575
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 251-263
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2023.2253075
• Keywords: Primary; arts education; progress; formative assessment; pupil voice
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/24584199
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03004279.2023.2253075