This thesis maintains that creativity and a disciplinary orientation should not be viewed as a priori to the problems besetting art education in Queensland. Rather, it is argued that an adequate theory of art education for primary schools in which creativity is embedded as a valued human attribute should be explored. Drawing on the thought of Ernst Cassirer, in which man is defined as creator and user of symbols, a theory of art education in which creativity is not debased is postulated. The need, in primary school art education, to stress the child's continuous confrontation with the environment remains a central issue of this theory.