Marjam Tamm

Abstract
The aim of this master’s thesis was to find out the understandings arising from the teachers’ experience about teaching students of 3rd stage of basic school (7-9th grade) to become self-directed learners in art lessons. The National Curriculum (RÕK 2011) provides teacher guidance that at the end of the basic school students should be able to experiment with concept, art technique and new media and develop different variants and individual implementation possibilities to choose and justify their choices. The problem was the discrepancy between the information provided in the National Curriculum (RÕK 2011) and the activities seen in practice in the teaching of choice-making skills, and therefore the teachers’ understandings on this topic had to be studied. Teachers’ perceptions were studied by interviewing 10 art teachers with a phenomenological research method, asking five research questions – why is it important to develop choice-making skills of students of 3rd stage of basic school in an art class?; what do teachers do to develop choice-making skills of students of 3rd stage of basic school in an art lessons?; what are the opportunities for developing choice-making skills of students of 3rd stage of basic school in an art lessons?; What are the hindrances and limitations in developing choice-making skills of students of 3rd stage of basic school in an art lessons?; which knowledge and skills would teachers need to develop choice- making skills of students of 3rd stage of basic school in an art lessons?

The results showed that teachers consider the development of choice-making skills important, because it helps to form a self-directed learner, increases motivation and creativity. Choice-making skills are developed through various choices based on the learner, the environment and the teacher. Teachers saw the development of choice-making skills as an opportunity to develop choice-making skills from the earliest possible age, applying choice-based art education and justifying choices to the learner. Limitations on the development of choice-making skills depended on students, the environment and the teacher. In order to develop students’ choice-making skills better, teachers would like to gain more knowledge and skills from art-specific skills to psychology. The value of this master’s thesis can be considered the set of teachers’ understanding of the development of elective skills of students in the 3rd stage of basic school in art lessons, on the basis of which it is possible to conduct further research in this field.