Module 1: THE ARTS IN THE CURRRICULUM

• What are the arts?
• The arts in your life
• The arts and education
• Learning in and through the arts

In the first series of Intensive Arts workshops you will be introduced to arts education and consider the arts as a learning area in the curriculum. 

Module 1 overview

Learning about the arts in the curriculum requires some thinking about the arts as part of our human experience. Everyone participates in the arts in their communities. We listen to music, we look at the images others have created, we share stories and, at times we dance. The arts are an intrinsic part of our lives, part of our development, our identity, our culture and our learning. Educators play a key role in facilitating young people’s learning in the arts. What is important is that young people have opportunities to make their own art and to learn from adults about what this involves. The arts help us make and share meaning in different ways and we use the arts to communicate, think, and learn.

This arts education course begins with the spotlight on you as a lifelong learner (Graduate Quality 2). The course acknowledges that you are a developing teacher with a body of knowledge. It looks back and to the future, aiming to strengthen the knowledge you have gained by reflecting on the ‘funds of knowledge’ (Moll 2001) that you bring to your role as a pre-service arts educator (Graduate Quality 1). This requires identifying influences on your attitude to and valuing of the arts. As a future professional with an education degree, you will be leading students and others in the field and therefore need to be informed and knowledgeable as well able to identify your goals for arts education. In addition, you need to be able to advocate for arts education by communicating these goals and value of this learning area to other professionals and members of the community (Graduate Quality 6).

The module consists of six topics, introducing you to the scope of arts education and each of the five arts 'subjects' as identified in the Australian curriculum: Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and Visual Arts. External/Online students should follow the sequence below. On-Campus students follow the sequence as indicated in the course outline calendar, adjusted according to staff availability.

The Learning Tasks in each topic are designed for External online students. However, as an Intensive student you may find it helpful to work through some of these. You are encouraged to follow up on recommended reading and listed references as independent study, and you may wish to comment on this in the Course Discussion Forum. Note that that learning task discussion forums are not activated for this offering. 

At the end of the module you will be able to:

• Identify relevant aspects of your own background that impact on your role as an arts educator
• Recognise the different contexts that affect the arts curriculum
• Demonstrate understanding of key concepts in the field of arts education
• Identify practices and use terms used in each of the arts ‘subjects’ as identified in arts curriculum documents
• Plan for authentic arts teaching and students’ learning

Before you begin you should have read the course outline, the introductory material for this course, as well as the completed the course orientation tasks and any readings.

Readings

Text;  Dinham, J (2017) 3rd Edition, Chapters 1 and 2

Bamford, A (2006). The WOW Factor: Global research compendium on the impact of the Arts in education. Germany: Waxman.  Chapter 6 digital e-Reading)