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THE ROLE OF PREVIOUS ART EXPERIENCES IN STUDENTS’ SELF-REFLECTIONS AFTER CONDUCTING VISUAL ARTS ACTIVITIES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD AND PRESCHOOL EDUCATION

Self-reflection is an important part of initial teacher education and lifelong professional training. When students reflect on their practical experiences in the application of visual arts teaching methodologies, they are able to better understand education in practice and critically examine their performance so that they can develop and improve their teaching competencies further. The purpose of this study was to determine how after-school art education was associated with the students’ reflections on their visual arts teaching performance. A sample of 185 first- and thirdyear early childhood and preschool education students from the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb participated in this study. The results showed that students who consider themselves more proficient in the arts given their previous experiences in after-school art education were more likely to be satisfied with their overall performance in the classroom and more confident in the evaluation phase than students who did not consider themselves as proficient. It is also important to note that third-year students were significantly more self-critical than firstyear students. Those results indicate that previous experiences in the arts can improve students’ confidence for practical teaching experiences during initial teacher education, but initial teacher education helps them understand their potential for improvement.

self-reflection, initial teacher training, lifelong professional training, arts teaching methodologies

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