Elementary instruction classroom teacher students' experiences of art and skill subjects at school and in teacher education

This research focuses on elementary classroom teacher students' (N=10) experiences of art and skill subjects at school and in teacher education. The data was collected by narrative accounts of students' experiences of music, visual arts, physical education, and crafts. Both positive and negative experiences were found from these subjects. Every respondent had negative experiences in some of the subjects. At worst, the experiences were so traumatizing that respondents suffered from the consequences even after twenty years. This shows the importance of the teacher's behaviour in evaluation and feedback at school. Young pupils are at a sensitive developmental stage when in elementary school and at the high school level, as students' self-conception is still building. The art and skill subjects may cause students to feel more vulnerable than other subjects, because everyone can see or hear immediately when something goes wrong. Teacher education should be developed in a direction where future teachers are emotionally sensitive and discrete to avoid traumatizing their pupils.