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Collaborative Practices in Art Education in Croatia

Provoked by detected lack of specialized educational materials for children with developmental difficulties, as well as issues with their availability outside the main urban centers in Croatia, exploring the possibilities of collaborative practices in primary art education studies, I initiated the cooperation between The Department for Teacher Education Studies and the Association of Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities named Bees from Gospić, Croatia. The project deals with the specific discrimination issues in educational processes, reflecting the existing available materials in relation to specialized needs of particular children through art educational project. Approaching the research process that interconnects theory and practice, exploring collaborative possibilities in art education, I hope to introduce my students to understand art as a complex, multisensory experience. The task of designing learning materials for children with developmental difficulties was placed at the center of interdisciplinary learning practices, balancing between exploring the work in different materials, experimenting with various techniques and reflecting communicational and social aspects of the project. Grounded in the principles of inclusive education the project was strongly influenced by the social issues orientation and required a dynamic collaboration among very heterogeneous group of people. It focused on specific children with various spans of difficulties, their parents, therapists and pre-service teachers, enforcing the sense of community and trying to reimagine learning environment. The project determined to sensitize students of basic education studies to particular special requirements of pupils with development difficulties and equally important – to emphasize the exceptional importance of art as an intermedia experience of creation reinvigorating its role in educational processes.

art education, interdisciplinary practices, creative process, collaborative practices

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