From acculturation … to empowerment … to inclusion: How Asian students are expressing their ethnic and cultural identities through art education in secondary schools in New Zealand

Abstract

This study explores the researcher's experience of witnessing a transition from acculturation... to empowerment... to inclusion for Asian students in art education in secondary schools in New Zealand. The study was prompted by research in 2011 with Asian pre-service art teachers which found that Asian art and culture were invisible during their secondary school experiences; that they were 'acculturated' into the dominant European culture. A consequent pedagogical approach aimed at 'empowering' Asian pre-service art teachers to promote a stronger Asian presence in schools was implemented in course work in 2014. In 2018, the rapidly increasing Asian population in New Zealand motivated the researcher to investigate how 20 of her former pre-service teachers, currently teaching art in secondary schools in Auckland, are supporting their Asian students in art education. In this qualitative interpretive study data were collected from questionnaires and interviews, supported with artworks by Asian students. This article focuses on how a sample of four of the Asian art teacher participants are enabling their Asian students to 'be themselves', express their identities, and tell their stories through art. The findings suggest that the art teachers' youthful experiences of 'acculturation', and subsequent 'empowerment' gained through pre-service teacher education, have led to them using culturally 'inclusive', student-centred pedagogies, underpinned by an overarching sense of care for their Asian students.