Monitoring the Level of Art Appreciation of Fourth-Grade Primary School Students

Modern visual arts education enables student’s permanent creative expression, while art appreciation plays an equally important role. This article presents the results of a study that monitored the level of art appreciation abilities of 10-year-old primary school students from north-eastern Slovenia utilizing a sample of 1,429 students (n=1,429). The study explored whether there are differences with regard to gender and stratum. Results indicate that the level of appreciation abilities is rather average. No statistically significant differences were noted as regards stratum (urban, suburban), there were however gender-related differences as girls displayed a higher level of appreciation abilities. The results allow us to conclude that our visual arts education arena pays insufficient attention to the development of art appreciation.