Arts Education Artefacts

2. REFLECTION OF LEARNING
1: Reflection of learning with examples from intensives
Entering the first day of the Arts Education intensive I had little idea of what
to expect. It was the first day of my journey to becoming an educator
and as excited as I was I was also terrified; a fear which increased when
I realised that all those around me were much further into their journey
to become an educator than I was. However what the 3 days of
intensives underlined for me was how the Arts bring people together
and are excellent ways to ‘break the ice’. For me it was highlighted
during our dance workshop in an activity where Jeff had us walk around
to the music staring at the floor, and at each interval we would look at a
person’s shoulders, then faces, then say hello as you walked past; that
when interactions starts in small non-threatening manner that even
those who are more introverted that others of the group begin to feel
more confortable in participating. I feel this is such a highly useful skill
that I will be able to utilise as a future educator in my learning space
with children.

3. ARTS PEDAGOGIES FOR EFFECTIVE LEARNING
2: Use of Arts pedagogies for effective learning
The Arts aim to engage children in creative use of their imagination and
expressive potential (http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/the-
arts/introduction) As a method of achieving this educators engage
primarily with four pedagogies as suggested by Dinham (2017, p. 120).
These are Open-ended, Close-ended, Free exploration and Directed
experience. Each pedagogy serves a purpose in providing children with
a safe and successful learning experience when engaging in the Arts
depending on the task at hand.
Being aware of the different culture’s within the class and exploring those
within your Art’s practice in a respectful manner is essential. Where
possible I would approach the partent’s of the child to see if they are
available to come into the learning space and support the cultural
learning experiences for the children.

4. ISSUES IMPACTING CONTEMPORARY ARTS
LEARNING IN AUSTRALIA
-The idea that the curriculum is crowed and runs with limited staffing and
resources in some case is not a new one (Schippers, 2009). With this it
translates into pre service teacher training, with many of the Arts
concepts being worked into a shorter period of time than other
‘academic’ subject, (Joseph, 2015) resulting in lower teacher confidence
in teaching the Arts. Joseph (2015) goes on to states that the use of
Government tools such as NAPLAN (National Assessment Program-
Literacy and Nurmeracy) further the pressure for teacher and
Universities to ensure students and pre service teachers are achieving
at a particular standard for these subjects, thus redirecting the focus
further away from the Arts.
Joseph (2015) research spoke with pre service teachers who felt their lack
of confidence in incorporating the Arts into their classrooms stemmed
from not having enough time to utilise, trial and have sessions role
modeled to them during their placement experiences.