The Role of Family in Promoting Art Education

A. R. Ghobadi, Ph D

M. J. Mahdavinejad, Ph D

M. Ghadami, Ph D

K. Afzali

One of the main goals pursued by families and school authorities is to nurture children and adolescents’ creativity and talent. This is due to the fact that creativity is pivotal to human development. It is evident that promotion of creativity depends on motivation and opportunities provided mainly by families and schools. Family is the first institution in which individuals are included and educated consciously and unconsciously. The extent to which families can have an influence on children’s socialization and the proper age at which families can exert more influence on purposeful education of art are controversial issues which have caught researchers’ attention and can pave the way for more effective personal and group education. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of family in promoting art education among students. Qualitative and quantitative methods as well as Pitrium Sorokin theory were used to meet this objective. The sample of the study comprised Tehrani students studying at vocational high schools and affiliated art institutes. The students’ performance was studied both individually and in relation to their families. Results of the study showed that there was a strong positive correlation between families’ performance and students’ art achievement even though the observed correlations varied by different components of the variable under study.

Key words: art education, family, student, social capital, cultural capital