| Art is often one of the subjects that is cutback or eliminated from the curriculum during difficult economic times. Many art educators have made advocacy part of their teaching practice in order to help key decision-makers understand the critical role art experiences have in the development and learning of all children, PK-12.;This study examined the beliefs, attitudes and dispositions or actions of visual art educators towards advocacy. Grounded Theory, Art Education Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Theory of Reasoned Action provided the theoretical framework used in the design of this mixed methods study. A survey instrument was developed, tested and administered to members in fourteen states of the Western Region of the National Art Education Association.;Relationships between three sub-measures of teachers' beliefs/attitudes of advocacy and three sub-measures of teachers' dispositions/actions of advocacy were quantitatively examined across seven demographic areas including: age of teacher, state, type of school, grade level taught, number of years of experience and number of art teacher colleagues in their building. Narrative qualitative responses were coded to provide detailed explanation and understanding of the correlations in the quantitative study.;Findings from this study showed differences in the beliefs and attitudes of visual art educators towards advocacy across grade levels and school settings. These findings have implications for advocacy organizations in the development of advocacy tools and for higher education art education programs for use in developing curricula to teach future art educators' advocacy competencies. |
