Conflicting pedagogical philosophies and methodological approaches toward teaching art education: Art education methods determination to distinguish art education as a valued core subject in the educational curriculum of Suffolk County Public Schools

Art educators teach in isolation in almost every district in Suffolk County. These educators are responsible for creating their own curriculum, unit and lesson plans, gathering and/or creating the appropriate teaching tools and developing methodologies for delivering instruction to their students. Conflicts in pedagogical philosophies and methodologies for teaching art education in Suffolk County public schools may affect the stability of art as a viable core educational subject in the curriculum. Four distinct art education philosophies emerged during the research phase of this study as (a) art for art's sake, (b) interdisciplinary art education, (c) integrated art education, and (d) multiple intelligences art education. The disparity of these philosophies may impact how art education is viewed by public school administrators, art education teachers, and/or art specialists in each school district within Suffolk County. Because of these disparities, the views of these professionals may also influence how art is conceptualized by their broader learning communities. A survey instrument was designed to obtain relevant insight regarding how and why these attitudes reflect the pedagogical philosophies and methodological approaches preferred by these school administrators, art education teachers, and/or art specialists. Likert-style quantitative closed-ended and qualitative open-ended questions provided an arena for these professionals to objectively rate responses and to subjectively expound on their reasons for their responses. Art is a highly subjective and deeply personal field of study. The survey respondents have highly subjective and deeply personal reasons for their responses. The nature of these responses is important to analyze, synthesize, and accurately reflect upon the opinions of these professionals. The results form the basis for the final conclusions and recommendations.