Abstract
In this paper, I am trying to introduce some special approaches how to use gender as a topic in Art Education which can develop the abilities of visual literacy. These approaches are conducted on a long-term pedagogical research of art education discourse (started in the Czech Republic by Marie Fulková in the 90s) specified gender issues within a cluster of Culture as an encounter with the Other.
The theoretical background of this kind of research is developed on interdisciplinary turn in humanities which comprise perspectives of structuralism, poststructuralism, linguistics, semiotics, psychoanalysis and cultural/visual/gender studies. On specific examples, I will present the didactic methods of working with visual representations, which content gender issues.
These methods are critical analysis pictures of a popular/mainstream magazine and specific contemporary artworks, artography (teacher as an author presents his own artwork) and re-creative interpretation of an artwork. All these methods teach pupils going through or beyond the image surface to human reality and life experiences.
According to my latest research (2017), teachers in the Czech Republic use the topic of gender and gender stereotypes in Art Education lectures but not always deliberately and competently. Art education, aiming at developing functional visual literacy, creates an educational environment that does not neutralize unreflected stereotypes, but on the contrary, teaches to perceive and work with stereotypes in a creative way.
Art in art education is understood as a medium of seeing the world around us, which is very complex and involved.