Exploring the Significance of the Arts in the Integrated Proposal Designs of Trainee Teachers

Abstract

In this contemporary era, the world has become a complex web of interconnections that requires integrated solutions to address the problems that we are facing. The need is emphasized in education, and even more so in teacher training to integrate knowledge from various disciplines, including the arts. However, when the arts are incorporated into integrated proposals, there is a tendency to adopt an instrumentalist perspective, and to relegate the intrinsic value of all artistic disciplines to a secondary level. Therefore, the aim of this study is to inquire into the ways that trainee-teachers can include the arts within the design of integrated didactic proposals, in order to detect their significance and the shortcomings and areas for improvement in teacher training. To do so, during the 2023–2024 academic year, N = 15 students following the Bachelor’s Degree in Primary Education at the Faculty of Education of the University of Burgos (Spain) were asked to design Learning Situations. The results confirmed that the arts were still at the service of other disciplines, and that learning within this area continued to be superficial, to such an extent that there was almost no learning of artistic competency. It concludes by reflecting on the benefits of teaching collaboration, co-teaching and the approach of integrated practices to improve this situation.