Equipping future arts educators for primary schools of the 21st century: an Australian point of view

Abstract

This article discusses two interrelated themes. First, that arts education plays a valuable role in developing the skills required by successful individuals of an increasingly sophisticated knowledge economy; and second, that arts education programmes in initial primary teacher education courses should be linked to, and compatible with, the needs of future schools. If young people are successfully to develop skills, knowledge and understandings that prepare them as productive citizens of the creative economy, then those enabling that development should understand and in turn be able to demonstrate and foster these capacities.

Strumming your way into Foundation Phase Education

“…The preferred instruments in order of preference were the piano, recorder, guitar or ukulele. In contrast, in research done by Temmerman (2006) and Morin (1994), in-service educators felt that it was useless to learn to play the guitar or recorder at university because of the limited time available.…”

“…De Vries (2011), Temmerman (2006) and Heyworth (2011) mention the same limitation in Australian curricula. The limited time cannot ensure confident generalist music educators who have mastered a single instrument, "let alone the cadre of instruments often introduced in that short period of time" (Kite 1994, 2).…”

“…Previous studies show that educators end up never using the instrument they were taught to play at university due to various factors, including the absence of instruments in schools (Jansen van Vuuren 2010;Koutsoupido 2010;Kite 1994) and the lack of confidence regarding musical ability (De Vries 2011;Holden and Button 2006;Koutsoupidou 2010;Temmerman 2006). However, teachers who have appropriate skills on a more popular instrument like a guitar, might have more confidence to utilise their instruments throughout their teaching careers.…”

Creative Arts: An Essential Element in the Teacher’s Toolkit When Developing Critical Thinking in Children

“…One key element is the preparation and training of teachers to "use the curriculum as a resource upon which to draw, to shape learning programs to stretch individual children from their current stage of learning to the next achievable stage" (RoFfS -Final Report, 2011, p. 218). In the context of the proposed Arts curriculum, generalist teacher training programs do not prepare the new graduate to teach the arts (Alter, Hayes & O'Hara, 2009, 2009aDinham, 2006;Dinham, 2007;Ewing, 2010;McKenna, 2012;Temmerman, 2006;Torzillo, 2013). Currently primary teachers have limited if not poor backgrounds in the arts and have difficulty in providing effective visual arts education.…”

“…Providing children with the opportunities to satisfy these needs through the experience of creative arts means pre-service primary generalist teachers need to be prepared with the skills to teach across all arts subjects in the Australian Curriculum. To date, there is evidence that the arts have not been taught adequately in the pre-service teacher education courses and that there is little mentor support and professional development available once teachers graduate and are in the workforce (Alter, Hayes & O'Hara, 2009, 2009aDinham, 2006;Dinham, 2007;Ewing, 2010;Garvis & Pendergast, 2012;Garvis & Riek, 2010;McKenna, 2012;McLean Davies, Anderson, Deans, Dinham, & Griffin et al, 2013;Temmerman, 2006;Torzillo, 2013).…”