Bridging the gap between rhetoric and practice: data from 4 studies into the arts and creative writing for personal and professional learning

2013 International Conference of the Australian Association for

Research in Education (AARE)

Adelaide, Australia 1 – 5 December

Dr. Janice K. Jones

Acknowledgement of Country

Dinawan Dreaming by Donna Moodie

I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands where USQ teaching and research is conducted: the Gaibal, Jarowair, Ugarapul and Butchulla peoples of Queensland. I honour the wisdom of Elders past, present and future, seeking to walk together in the spirit of reconciliation.

The vision

Educators: Transformative Flexible, creative, adaptable, skilled

Broad and deep knowledge of arts theory and practice

Learners: Creative,

experienced across a broad and deep range of arts and culture

Formal learning Lifelong/informal

The Vision - the Practice?

VISION for education ACARA (2010); MCEETYA (2008)

Creativity, adaptability Sustainability Diversity, equity and

social justice, includes First Peoples’ ways of knowing/being/doing

Holistic - wellbeing affective/relational/cultural/spiritual

Drivers for PRACTICE PISA, NAPLAN Globalisation

Neoliberalism: Learners “atomistic” units of economic exchange in competition (Brohman 1995, p. 297)

Driving Focus on science, maths, literacies, testing, reporting, benchmarking

A new ‘third world’?

A new Third World of ‘haves and have nots’ in education

Fear of the unfamiliar/new

Teaching to the test

Following set curricula

Drill and repeat Unimaginative

approaches Playful learning

squashed

From transformative to didactic?

The single arts course…

First year, 1st semester

15 week arts curriculum course

Serves ALL pre-service teachers

Visual arts, drama, media, music and dance

Fully online With videos 2 weeks per area Textbook, group

task + exam Planned return to

authentic and community based assessment?

Commencing students’ confidence in arts/creativity/sustainability 2010 Respondents: 115/537 yr 1 students

aged 17 – 30 93.8% believe creativity and sustainability

very or extremely important for teaching 82.1% believe understanding nature is

important for a sustainable 21st century But – Minimal experience in the arts or

natural environments since primary school? “I feel locked in my head” (respondent)

None A little Moderate High Very high05

101520253035404550

22

47

33

10

2

S7a: My visual art skill - Drawing

Skill Level

Par

tici

pan

ts

Arts – confidence Drawing

None A little Moderate High Very high0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

14

38 37

1411

S8A: My drama skill - Drama games

Skill Level

Par

tici

pat

ion

Drama games

None A little Moderate High Very high0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

13

3634

19

12

S8D: My drama skill - Performing from a scriptSkill Level

Par

tici

pan

tsPerforming from a script

None A little Moderate High Very high0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

13

22

39

26

14

S9A: My dance skill - Fun/Social

Skill Level

Par

tici

pan

ts

Dance for fun

None A little Moderate High Very high0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

67

24

118

4

S9C: My dance skill - Ballet/Contemporary/Jazz

Skill Level

Par

tici

pan

tsIn other forms of dance

No response None A little Moderate High Very high0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2

3634

24

11

7

S11C: My media skill - Creating/editing film

Skill Level

Par

tici

pan

ts

Digital natives?

None A little Moderate High Very high0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

3741

21

10

5

S11H - My media skill - Creating a blog/wiki/website

Skill Level

Par

tici

pan

tsNot as we imagine

None A little Moderate High Very high0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

5045

30

17

11 11

S10D: My music skill - Reading music

Skill Level

Par

tici

pan

ts

Music - notation

None A little Moderate High Very high0

10

20

30

40

50

60 57

30

1410

3

S10E: My music skill - Creating/writing music

Skill Level

Par

tici

pan

ts

Making music

4 studies in teacher education

1. Educators learning in natural and and play-informed environments

2. Learning by performing – teacher TV stars

3. Becoming a writer4. Why it matters…

Creative and authentic assessment: community-engaged

Student films become teaching tools

Workshops for schools Troubling – learning as

personal, social and contextual

Deep reflection

STUDY 1a – Arts learning outdoors

6 weeks 120 students: integrated arts experiences in natural environment

Students create drama/story performance in context – use shadows/textures/bamboo forest

Waterfall, bridges, rocks, winding pathways, cabins and arbours

Pre-service teachers rediscover play!

1b. Experiencing the Land – 3 Ways

Smaller group (12): full day’s immersion experience Gummingurru Stones Site

Amarroo Environmental Education Centre

Cobb and Co Museum – Settler history[Learning through being in the land, understanding in keeping with Indigenous Australian peoples’ ‘ways of knowing/making meaning’]

Study 2a: Learning by performing: Pre-service teacher workshops

Assessment task: 15 students run workshops in any 3 (or integrate) arts in traditional schools 2005 – 2010) Prepare notes for teacher use.

Data gathered - film, student reflections, course evaluations, anonymous surveys

Teacher evaluations of the workshops Children’s evaluations of the pre-

service teacher workshops

Study 2b – The Alternative School

A garden for the arts

‘Someone playing music…that’s a wind chime…and that’s a tree with apples on it…that one too…and…that’s the beautiful sandpit and a picnic tableand the beautiful grass all around it.’ Chantelle, 6 yrs

Chelsea aged 5 drew lettuce, sunflowers, beans, carrots, flowers, a sandpit, apple trees, and a pond.

Trust the Child

Study 2c: Being TV presenters

Study 3 Becoming writers

Critical pedagogy challenged to unlearn and relearn questioning received ideologies

“writing stories” (Richardson, 2000)

Writing upon writing (Richardson and Adams St Pierre 2005)

“Re-writing our world” Wink, 2005

The challenge to write…

Pre-service teachers were challenged to write a poem, a playlet or a short story during their final year of study.Many considered giving up the course – or asked to write ‘something for kids’However, when they began writing, most found the experience transformative.…inductive, intuitive, spiralling in approach, poetic methods - if we may speak of assembling words and the wide white spaces around them and using them in such a way as to create a ‘how’ - may provide a choreography, something of the spin and grace of dance (Saunders, 2010, p.362)

I’ll always love you, Mum by Erin-Pearl BuchnerI remember our day in that busy, bright place,I remember the warmth from your hand,I remember how cold the autumn breeze felt,And how alive my face became from being near you,I remember the bustle and hurry of that city,I remember how we ate that huge ice-cream,I remember walking close to you to keep warm,With your arm around me,Even though now that the autumn breeze is blowing again,I remember savouring that day with you,But now memories are all that I hold,As I parent you.

Weaving Words: Personal and professional transformation through writing as research (Jones, J.K. Ed. 2014) Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Study 4: Why it matters

Disillusioned and unhappy young people bored and lost – rejecting school

This group of artists were fulfilled by working together

A challenge for educators

The alternative school was forced to close in 2008 – 20 families affected

The youth centre and safe space to sleep closed in 2011

The most rapidly growing form of education in Queensland?

Homeschooling. Creative and

confident children and teachers and children are vital for our future.

A safe space to make mistakesImportance of being honoured as learners and teachers:

I remember going to class and thinking “Are you nuts? I can’t possibly do that!” …then walking out with a feeling of achievement. I remember going to your office for the first time and seeing my picture on your wall. It was a good feeling.

ReferencesJones, J.K. (2006). Work in progress: The Magic Gardens Project: A child-centred curriculum in a non-traditional school meeting state targets for the arts The International Journal of the Arts in Society, 1(1), 1-16. Jones, J.K. (2008). In the Third Space: The Storied Self, Uncertainty and Transition. In R. Henderson & P. A. Danaher (Eds.), Troubling Terrains: Tactics for Traversing and Transforming Contemporary Educational Research (pp. 193-210). Teneriffe, Queensland: Post Pressed.Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2008). New Learning: Elements of a Science of Education. Port Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press. MCEETYA. (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Melbourne: Curriculum CoPhipps, A., & Saunders, L. (2010). The sound of violets: The ethnographic potency of poetry? Ethnography and Education 4(3), 357–387. Zajda, Joseph (Ed.). (2010). Globalisation, Ideology and Education Policy Reforms New York: Springer Netherlands.