www.sgemvienna.org Bahrom Mohd Isa GALLERY EDUCATION: HOW GALLERY EDUCATORS APPROACH SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS IN GALLERY SETTINGS? Bahrom Mohd Isa Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom ABSTRACT This paper is part of an ongoing doctoral study that looks into the approaches employed by gallery educators at Balai Seni Visual Negara (BSVN) in conducting their educational programmes to a number of special education teachers from a school that specialises in special education. As such, the three primary aspects that function as the focus of the study are: i) perceptions of gallery educators upon the expectations of the school principal, the teachers, and the parents; ii) the organization of the programme in BSVN; as well as iii) its impact upon both special education teachers and administrators. Meanwhile, the methods utilised for data collection are interviews, diary entries, observation, and document analysis. In addition, this study adopts the qualitative case study design with the naturalist paradigm. With that, the discussion generated in this paper only emphasises on the early pre-test data derived from one-to-one interview between a gallery educator and a special education teacher. Keywords: gallery education; special education teacher; art education; qualitative research; 1. INTRODUCTION Gallery education is a significant value that carries essential weight in schools that specialises in special education. This is because; it can be used to inspire special education teachers who are involved directly in teaching art subject in their special education school throughout Malaysia similar to other core subjects (such as mathematics, language, history). For instance, this subject initiates the movement of the eye, which can be trained via multiple visual art activities; generates ear test through listening to music, develops coordination of body movement, as well as practice of facial expression through theatre and drama arts [1], [7]. Furthermore, the number of gallery education abroad has risen substantially within a year. For example, several art galleries at the United Kingdom have focused on educational activities, besides developing some good models and practices [2], [12]. Moreover, the educational activities carried out in these galleries found in the United Kingdom have displayed highly positive impact to various backgrounds of the audience. This includes informal visits from the public, group visits, as well as various educational practises from both private and government agencies. In fact, this new activity has been seen to be expanding at a rapid rate with a spark of interest from the society especially upon contemporary art painting exhibited in several galleries in the United Kingdom, including several European countries. On top of that, such activity is also supported by art communities through the establishment of Contemporary Gallery Education (GCE) [3], [8].