Value Creation Stories: Professional Learning Experiences of Artist-Teachers

Through intentionally designed authentic professional learning experiences, artist-teachers can be provided with opportunities of value. The purpose of this qualitative study is to increase understanding of the indicators of professional learning experiences within a community of practice that create value for arts educators. This qualitative study used a semi-structured interview protocol adapted from Wenger’s Value Creation Framework. Interviews were conducted with five artist-teachers in South Carolina who were identified as active participants of arts-specific professional learning. Interview data was used to compose researcher-generated Value Creation stories from study participants. Data was analyzed using Value Coding to identity the values, attitudes and beliefs of study participants. The primary themes from data analysis were (a) establishing relevance to teaching the arts (b) facilitating a shift in participant mindset; (c) enabling growth-oriented beliefs. These results can be used to effectively design arts-specific professional learning opportunities of value for artist-teachers to experience growth in confidence as professionals, increased capacity as educators and increased retention in the field of arts education. Keywords: Authentic professional learning, Value Creation, Arts-specific professional learnin