Session Information
Contribution
In order for early career teachers to utilise innovative learning and teaching practices including negotiated curriculum and assessment within their own classrooms, they need to experience such strategies as part of their education courses at the tertiary level. Over the past three years, final year students enrolled in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) program at the University of Sydney have had an opportunity to undertake a year long unit of study which places the Creative Arts at the core of the curriculum and thereby challenge traditional transmissive learning and teaching approaches. Student feedback has indicated a new awareness of the value of learning in, through and across the Arts as a result of this course. The researchers were keen to develop a better understanding of if and how this espoused change translated into teaching practice. This presentation reports data from interview and focus group discussions with course graduates. Findings demonstrate that they perceive such appraoches are pivotal if teacher education is to refrom classroom practice. As part of a longitudinal study, ten primary teachers who had undertaken the unit of study, Integrating the Creative Arts as part of their undergraduate degree (between 2004 - 2006) were interviewed to ascertaini) If they saw a clear relationship between their Creative Arts experiences at university and their current teaching practices? ii) What aspects of their teaching had been affected i.e. where did they feel a change had occurred? iii) Could they identify specific instances where they had utilised ideas, approaches, suggested strategies, etc.from the unit of study to meet the needs of their current students? iv) What suggestions did they have for improvement of the course unit? The project is ongoing in 2007. Preliminary findings of this study both inform and support the notion of the value of evidence-based educational practices. By challenging student teachers' notions of best practice at the teritary level, the researchers were able to investigate the continuing influence of these experiences in their teaching practice. Further analysis will be shared at the conference. Boomer, G. (1992). Negotiating the curriculum: Educating for the 21st century. Washington DC: Falmer. Ewing, R. & Gibson, R. (2006). Empowering students through negotiated assessment. Presented at Best Preactice Forum, University of Sydney, June 16. Gibson, R. & Ewing, R. (In press). Integrating the creative arts (with integrity). Journal of Policy and Practice in Education. Gibson, R. & Ewing, R. (2006).Creative teaching or teaching creatively? Using the creative arts to improve teaching and learning. Presented at International Conference on the Arts in Society, Edinburgh, 15-18 August. Gibson, R. & Ewing, R. (2005). Transforming teaching and learning in tertiary contexts:A case study. http://www3.educ.sfu.ca/conferences/ierg2005/viewabstract.php?id=208
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