Early-Career Art Teacher Educators’ Professional Tensions as Catalysts for Growth

While research studies in art education broadly suggest some of the tensions that collegiate art teacher educators face on the job, research has not yet specifically explored how new art teacher educators experience their earliest years in the role, nor the specific tensions that accompany this transition. This multi-case study involving eight full-time art education faculty members with less than three years in these positions, responds to this issue, understanding that new knowledge-for-practice is often generated within spaces of creative tension such as career transition. Analysis of interview, questionnaire, and participant reflection data revealed that participants’ tensions were predominantly influenced by discrepancies between (1) their established occupational roles/identities and practices, and expectations placed upon them that they had not fully anticipated, and (2) their own, and others’ values about art and art education. Significantly, participants’ critical reflections on their tensions indicated gains in professional self-understanding and in strategic knowledge for teaching about teaching. The data suggest that more intentional preparation and support for this role prior to and during the early years would benefit art teacher educators’ adjustments into the academy and facilitate their building of role-specific pedagogical content knowledge.