Supervisors’ perceptions of art therapy in the Israeli education system

Art therapy has considerable advantages when treating children, and is regularly made available as a form of therapy in schools. In Israel, the Ministry of Education is now the largest employer of art therapists, but the synergy between the education system and therapy is challenging and complex. This study examined supervisors’ perceptions of the role of art therapy in the school system. Fifteen interviews were conducted with art therapy supervisors employed by the Ministry of Education using Hill’s Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) analysis method (2012). Four primary domains emerged from the findings as formulated by the supervisors: (1) The benefits of using art therapy in the school system; (2) The difficulties arising from the presence of art therapy in the school system; (3) The setting and the benefits versus the challenges of supervision; and (4) Suggestions for better integration of art therapy into the school system.