Overview

In response to the provocative statement made by Bamford surrounding the lack of Australian research in arts education (cited in Gibson and Anderson, 2008, p.103: 'While substantial studies into the benefits of arts education have been undertaken in the USA and the UK, very little research has been conducted into the impact of arts education in Australian schools ... There is urgent need for a detailed study of the impact of arts programmes within the context of Australian schools', Christopher Klopper organised The Arts in Practice Symposium 2010 at Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia funded by the Griffith Institute for Educational Research.

The symposium proposed to lay the foundation for a closer examination of classroom-based arts education practice in Australia. The heart of curriculum transfer and transformation is in the classroom. And we are interested in documenting: What teachers are actually doing in relation to teaching arts education in the school classroom environment? What is the nature of classroom practice of arts education? This book is an initiative from that symposium to tap into current arts practice in Australian classroom settings.

Table of Contents

Overview

Foreword
By Professor Anne Bamford
London, May 2011

Chapter 1: Mend the gap! An overview of classroom-based arts education research in Australia
Christopher Klopper and Bianca Power

Chapter 2: The classroom practice of the arts: From the inside out!
Deirdre Russell-Bowie

Chapter 3: The arts in the early years
Susanne Garvis

Chapter 4: Start with the arts: A teaching and learning melody for pre-service primary teachers
Mia O'Brien and Elizabeth Mackinlay

Chapter 5: The heart of innovation: Arts education in the middle years
Danielle Twigg

Chapter 6: Arts and technology
Narelle Lemon

Chapter 7: Teacher as artist / Artist as teacher
Marta Kawka

Chapter 8: Technology and the arts
Jason Zagamii

Chapter 9: Something old, something new, something borrowed but certainly not blue!
Christopher Klopper and Susanne Garvis

Index

Reviews

This book fills a current gap by providing a substantial overview of classroom-based arts education in Australia. Internationally, Australia is known for its emphasis on quality in all forms of arts education and this book serves to highlight and analyse current arts education as it is enacted in the classroom. A problem many countries experience is to close the gap between the rhetoric of policy and to enable high quality arts education to occur in the classroom.

This book makes the leap from policy to practice and also serves to highlight key international research being conducted in the field. As such, this book is a valuable resource for educators working at all levels of arts education planning and delivery. Of particular interest is the deeper understanding the book gives to the importance of the role of the teacher and school leader in effectively ensuring all children receive their entitlement of arts and cultural education (Bamford, 2011).