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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.