New understanding of the nature and development of children's artistic expression

The way in which nature and development of children's artistic expression (CAE) are understood directly impacts the planning and implementation of the visual arts activities in kindergartens and schools. Apart from traditional theories of CAE development from the first half of the 20th century, there are also contemporary theories that are in line with the contemporary socio-artistic context, but the former still dominate and influence the approaches of the preschool and primary school teachers to visual arts activities. Using theoretical analysis, this paper compares and re-examines both groups of theories in the context of contemporary education. The aim of the paper is to point out the limitations of the traditional theories in recognizing the diversity and cultural specificity of CAE and to highlight the negative consequences of their dominance in practice, as they entail inadequate approaches to teaching in the field of fine and visual arts, which results in discrimination against the natural ways of CAE and alienation of children from art. The analysis shows that traditional theories do not encompass all forms of expression practiced by children, while contemporary theories include them. For this reason, the paper seeks to affirm the importance of the contemporary theories that would empower and train preschool and primary school teachers to develop approaches that encourage individual, culturally conditioned, and communicative ways of expressing children's artistic expression. Therefore, it is necessary that the role of preschool and primary school teachers be aligned with contemporary theories of the development of children's artistic expression, and that they should be trained to use different teaching approaches that encourage diversity and specific ways of children's artistic expression