Contemporary Issues in Arts Education: Research, Practice, and Advocacy

Dear Colleagues,

Contemporary education faces unprecedented challenges: rapid technological change, growing concerns about student wellbeing and mental health, increasing diversity in classrooms, and urgent calls for more equitable and inclusive learning environments. Arts education, with its emphasis on creativity, embodied learning, multimodal expression, and inclusive pedagogies, is uniquely positioned to address these challenges.

This Special Issue aims to bring together rigorous research from scholars and practitioners exploring how arts education is being conceptualised and enacted in response to contemporary issues, challenges and emerging trends, thereby sharing and advancing new ways of thinking about arts education and its contribution to meaningful learning in diverse and changing contexts.

Contributions are welcomed from across early childhood, school, and teacher education, as well as other higher-education and community-based settings. Of particular interest is research that develops the evidence base for arts education practices that contribute meaningfully to students’ learning, wellbeing and development, with the expectation that this in turn contributes to informed advocacy and policy development.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following examples:

Theoretical and conceptual foundations

• Theorising arts education's role in contemporary learning;
• Arts education, human development and sustainability;
• Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches;
• Philosophy and epistemology of arts education.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion

• Culturally responsive and sustaining arts pedagogy;
• Disability, accessibility, and Universal Design for Learning;
• Decolonising and Indigenising arts education;
• Twice-exceptional and gifted learners.

Digital and emerging technologies

• AI and generative technologies in arts education;
• Digital and hybrid arts education practices;
• Online and blended arts learning;
• Authenticity, authorship, and assessment in the digital age.

Wellbeing, mental health, and social-emotional learning

• Trauma-informed arts pedagogy;
• Social-emotional learning through the arts;
• Belonging, connection, and community building;
• Arts education and resilience.

Pedagogical innovation and practice

• Project-based, exploratory, and inquiry-driven learning;
• Student agency, choice, and voice;
• Signature pedagogies;
• Strengths-based approaches to arts education.

Teacher education and professional learning

• Pre-service and in-service teacher preparation;
• Professional development models and resources;
• Teaching artist development and support;
• Teacher identity, wellbeing, and sustainability;

Curriculum, policy and advocacy

• Curriculum reform and arts education;
• Standardisation, accountability, and the arts;
• Advocacy strategies and evidence for decision-makers;
• Community partnerships for curriculum delivery.

Dr. Judith Dinham
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• contemporary arts education
• arts education and wellbeing
• arts education signature pedagogies
• arts teacher education
• arts education advocacy
• arts education and equity
• culturally responsive arts education
• trauma-informed arts teaching
• arts education and social-emotional learning
• arts education and disruption