Art therapy as a resource for primary students' coping with a loss of a parent emagistrsko delo

Teachers in primary school are facing many problems and traumas which students bring to the school from their home environment. In such a case, it is our job to find the most appropriate way and method to help student solve that problems. There are every year more and more available ways to help children facing the problems and it’s our responsibility to figure out which type of assistance or the manner of expression is the most helpful for the individual student who is facing personal issues. One of the ways that we as primary school teachers can use are art activities. Even though we are not psychotherapist, we can use art activities to improve student’s well-being and life. As primary school teachers we teach fine arts and this knowledge can be a starting point also for the art activities with which we are trying to help students to improve the psychophysical condition, well-being and communication. This Master's thesis addresses and researches the effects of different art activities and materials used as a supportive form of assistance to a student who is facing the death of one parent. In a qualitative action research, which I conducted was included 10 years old female student from central Slovenia. The main purpose of the research was to analyse, how can usage of different art activities and materials helps to express student’s feelings and to experience them in the context of the fine arts class and at the same time reach syllabus that fine arts curriculum includes. There exist many researches on the effectiveness of art therapy, but at the same time I observed a lack of empiric researches in the field of assisting students by using fine arts which are facing their parents death, especially on the lower levels of primary education. The fact is that students need long-term support and permanent assistance in coping death event in their family, and that is the reason why we are in constant searching for new possibilities to help them. I believe that art activities are important option which can to certain extent help improving the quality of their lives. First part of my thesis focuses on definitions of art therapies and illuminates theoretical background which derive from art therapies researches. I am also dealing with grieving issue and its negative consequences for young students. That theoretical background served as a qualitative action research guideline. On the other hand, empirical part focuses on the key question of my master thesis – can art activities alleviate negative effects of student's grieving and at the same time reach the syllabus that fine arts curriculum includes. Using a creative medium method, we guided that student through the process of self-exploration and expression of emotions connected to event of losing one of the parents. As already mentioned, we conducted qualitative action research based on monitoring and evaluation of 10 sessions of art therapy. Person was 10 years old and she was chosen in advance in accordance with predefined criteriums. Each session included art activities, followed by conversation and interpretation of art product. For the purpose of my research I used an observational and questioning method, documentary material and my notes taken during each session. This Master's thesis includes a detailed description of art activities in the process of art therapy and as such, can contribute to every primary school teacher or other expert which is willing to include art therapy as an assistance method for their students