Abstract

The education system, as one of the important institutions in society, is responsible for providing the necessary conditions for the growth and development of the capacities and talents of individuals in society. In order to fulfill this important task, various educational programs and strategies must be designed and formulated. An important part that plays a role in the growth and development of students' talents and is often ignored is art and its functions. Art education helps to reduce behavioral disorders and plays a significant role in raising socially compatible individuals. Attention to art as a tool for fostering creative and critical thinking is always accompanied by problems in the Iranian education system, such that it is frequently heard and seen that a small share of art hours is allocated to other subjects or that teachers who specialize in the field of art are not hired, and even the lack of comprehensive and targeted educational planning, as well as a low view of art fields compared to other scientific fields, have been faced. This research aims to identify and rank the obstacles that have weakened the position of this field in the education system by focusing on the challenges in art education. Based on the review of domestic research conducted on art education in the education system, it can be said that their main focus has been on identifying implementation problems, lack of resources and infrastructure, and weaknesses in educational planning. In many studies, problems such as the lack of specialist teachers, lack of financial and educational resources, weak content of textbooks, and lack of attention to aesthetics and art as an important educational element have been reported. Also, teachers' view of art education is often positive; but due to the lack of specialized training, insufficient time, and inappropriate structures in schools, this positive attitude is not translated into practice. Some studies have also emphasized that art education can lead to improving social skills, enhancing creativity, and increasing students' interest in learning, but this capacity has not been properly activated in the current education structure. In general, domestic studies have focused more on structural barriers, implementation challenges, and curriculum evaluation, and have paid less attention to new approaches to art education, creative teaching methods, or comparative studies. Foreign studies in the field of art education have focused more on the developmental, innovative, and interdisciplinary functions of this type of education, improving curriculum content and creating open and flexible educational environments, the effects of art education on social and cultural growth, art education as a tool for reducing educational inequalities and improving academic performance, the challenges in art education in different countries, the role and perspective of teachers in art education and the challenges they face, the impact of art education on academic achievement and social skills of students, the status of art education in schools, and the challenges related to resources and facilities, as well as the relationship between art and other fields of knowledge.The approach of the present research was a mixed-methods using an exploratory sequential design. The research method in the qualitative part was a case study and the participants included elementary school teachers and art teachers in Babol city, which was conducted based on purposive sampling, using the type of desired semi-structured interviews, and theoretical saturation was reached with 16 people. Transferability and reliability criteria were used for validity and reliability. In this study, an attempt was made to fully describe all the details of the research from sampling to the process of data collection and analysis so that there was no ambiguity about transferability.Reliability in a qualitative study also depends on the validity of the research. If the study has full validity, reliability will also be there, which is one way to ensure reliability in a qualitative study by using the audit path. In the present study, an external observer with experience in qualitative research was used. The analysis method was also thematic analysis (comprehensive, organizing, and basic).
Research method in the quantitative part; Descriptive-survey and the statistical population included art teachers and elementary school teachers in Babol city who were teaching in the academic year 2024-2025. From this population, 20 people were selected. The instrument in this section was a researcher-made questionnaire that was designed based on the findings obtained from the qualitative section to rank the challenges of art education.The questionnaire included 87 items in five ranges: very high, high, medium, low, and very low and was developed in the form of the components of goal formulation (7 items), goal implementation (13 items), content formulation (6 items), implementation of the developed content (8 items), educational time (5 items), educational space (5 items), teachers (12 items), students (9 items), evaluation goals (7 items), and evaluation implementation (7 items).In addition to examining face validity, content validity based on CVR, with the participation of 12 experts, was 85%, and Cronbach's alpha test was used to assess reliability, which was 0.96. The analysis method in the quantitative part was a fuzzy approach, based on which the challenges extracted from the previous stage were ranked.The VIKOR method is considered as one of the multi-criteria decision-making methods.This method focuses on categorizing and selecting from a set of options.The qualitative findings were categorized into one overarching theme, four first-level organizing themes (objectives, content, teaching–learning strategies, and assessment), and eleven second-level organizing themes, including goal formulation and implementation,content development and implementation, time, space, teacher, student, tools and facilities, assessment objectives, and assessment implementation, along with basic themes. In the quantitative phase, the challenges of artistic education were classified and prioritized into eight major challenges: lack of workshop spaces and art studios; absence of an art textbook at the elementary level; teachers’avoidance of art classes due to difficulties in classroom management; the high cost of teachers’participation in extracurricular art training courses; limited familiarity of non-specialist teachers with specialized knowledge of art education; shortage of art workshop tools and materials; general neglect of the status of art and its perception as an optional subject; and teachers’ lack of attention to art education, perceiving it merely as a time for rest and leisure. Analysis of the results shows that the challenges of art education in Iranian elementary schools are primarily due to structural problems, weak educational policies, lack of specialized human resources, and lack of physical and content facilities. To improve the quality of art education in schools, a comprehensive approach must be adopted; including developing coherent textbooks, equipping schools with art facilities, training art teachers, and reforming the attitudes of administrators and policymakers toward the importance of art in developing students' personalities and skills.