정보통신기술의 발전과 함께 다양한 분야에서의 국제교류가 가속화됨에 따라 지구촌의 각 나라들은 다른 문화를 이해해야 할 필요가 절실해졌으며 아울러 자국 문화의 정체성을 수립하고 문화경쟁력을 기르지 않으면 안되는 시대로 나아가고 있다. 우리 미술교육계에서도 문화 이해력에 초점을 맞춘 미술교육에 관한 관심이 고조되고 있다 (이수경, 김정, 이주연, 2003; 이성도, 김혜숙, 김서진, 손명선, 2005). 2000년도 이후 발표된 미술교육 논문들을 보면, 일명 시각문화에 기초한 미술교육(visual culture art education)의 필요성에 대해 미술교육자들이 공감하고 있음을 발견하게 된다. 최근에 거론되고 있는 미술과 교육과정 개정안도 일명 시각문화 소양교육이란 이름 아래 미술교육이 문화교육의 차원으로 확대될 것(양윤정, 2005)을 전망하면서 이러한 공감을 가시화하고 있다.
As international exchanges in diverse areas has expanded with a rapid development of information technologies, every society in the global community needs to understand each other's culture as well as to establish its own cultural identity in the age of culture. In the 1990s, art educators in Korea began to pay attention to cultural aspects of art education. Known as VCAE(visual culture art education), a new trend of art education has been continuously discussed in Korea since the beginning of the 21th century. However, there are still misunderstandings of VCAE among art educators. In this study, the researcher identifies what their misconceptions of VCAE and examines the possibilities of VCAE as a means to do visual inquiry about traditional culture and establish our cultural identity. It deals with two questions: 1) Can VCAE be expanded to include traditional culture? 2) How can visual culture art education focusing on cultural identity contribute to art education in Korea? To examine these issues, the researcher collected student art works and their critiques from a paper crafts lesson for preservice teachers at a national teacher education institution in 2005. This study selected a case study as research methodology, analysed the data collected, and discussed them. to find the answers of the questions. The study showed that traditional culture can be explored in VCAE by examinig themes derived from Korean old tales and this will help students to establish their own cultural identity.