2013 International Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE)

1. Bridging the gap between rhetoric and practice: data from 4 studies into the arts and creative writing for personal and professional learning Dr. Janice K. Jones 2013 International Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Adelaide, Australia 1 – 5 December

2. Dinawan Dreaming by Donna Moodie Acknowledgement of Country 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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. From transformative to didactic?

7. 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?

8. 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)

9. Arts – confidence Drawing

10. Drama games

11. Performing from a script

12. Dance for fun

13. In other forms of dance

14. Digital natives?

15. Not as we imagine

16. Music - notation

17. Making music

18. 4 studies in teacher education • Educators learning in natural and and play-informed environments • Learning by performing – teacher TV stars • Becoming a writer • 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

19. 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!

20. 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’]

21. 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

22. Study 2b – The Alternative School

23. A garden for the arts

24. ‘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 table and 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.

27. Trust the Child

29. Study 2c: Being TV presenters

30. 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

31. The challenge to write… I’ll always love you, Mum by Erin-Pearl Buchner I 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 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)

32. Study 4: Why it matters • Disillusioned and unhappy young people bored and lost – rejecting school • This group of artists were fulfilled by working together

33. 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.

34. A safe space to make mistakes Importance 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.

35. References Jones, 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 Co Phipps, 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.