Abstract :
Recently, there has been considerable concern
among art educators and cultural policy makers
to promote art education in Hong Kong. The
launch of the new curriculum of a disciplinebased
character in 1996 generated debate in the
art education circle of Hong Kong. There were
diverse opinions on the rationale for teaching art.
Concern was expressed about the present
constraints of art teaching related to teachers’
ability and school administration poses another
important issue that seems to inhibit further
developments. This paper reports part of the
findings of a study on art teachers’ concepts of
teaching. It explores the concepts of about 20
secondary art teachers in Hong Kong. Several
categories of teaching are derived from interviews:
aesthetic development, moral development,
intellectual development, expression and
therapy, and intellectual and aesthetic development.
A scheme is developed which can be used
to analyze teachers’ concepts as education in or
through art on a continuum from subject to
learner centred.
