Success through collaboration: a community-based model for pre-service teachers

This study investigated benefits for pre-service teachers of participating in a community art education project called A Street in Hong Kong. The study was part of a collaborative project involving the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd), schools and artists between 2007 and 2008. The data for the study was collected by means of questionnaires, individual and focus group interviews and classroom observation. Feedback was also obtained from the school principals, artists, school art teachers and primary-school pupils. The study found that the pre-service teachers benefited in several ways: they learned ceramic-making skills from the artists they could teach in primary schools and how to design art lessons through teamwork with peers and about classroom teaching from schoolteachers. They also learned how to find resources for community-based art lessons; and to help them organize a group exhibition; and were pleased to receive financial support for the project.