A Faculty of Education team has been awarded a $7891 UTAS Community Engagement Grant to showcase creative teaching and learning in Tasmanian schools.
The Curious Schools Project is a public online platform and series of live events coordinated by senior lecturer Dr Mary Ann Hunter who has partnered with Chicago Arts Education specialist, Arnold Aprill.
They will develop an internet platform that schools can use to document and share what is usually hidden from public view; already Brooks High School and Glenorchy Primary have signed on for the project.
“Schools often showcase the products of student work, particularly in the arts,” Dr Hunter said.
“But if we are to sustain and improve creativity and critical thinking in our classrooms, we need to showcase the processes of quality teaching as well.”
Curious Schools will be supported by the Tasmanian Department of Education as a peer-to-peer professional learning tool. It will document and profile the creative work of Tasmanian teachers and learners and connect them internationally with peers as well.
“International evidence shows that fostering curiosity through inquiry-based arts learning leads to improved outcomes for students across the curriculum,” Dr Hunter said.
“This project builds on this by valuing what makes teachers curious as well.
“Unfortunately, the community perception of what teachers do is becoming more narrowly focussed on student test scores. Yet the learning and engagement that happens on a day to day level in classrooms is far richer and more substantial than that.
“Our goal is to work with teachers to communicate this more effectively, even the messy bits! We aim to make creativity in Tasmanian schools more visible”.
Dr Hunter will work with assistant Sherridan Emery to support schools in using the platform before launching the public site mid-year with an exhibition and professional learning event.
“In a state renowned for its innovative creative industries, this is a great opportunity for teachers to share their own processes of inquiry, innovation and creativity with a view to making Tasmanian education the best it can possibly be,” she said.
Dr Aprill visited UTAS in 2012, giving a public lecture entitled Putting the Arts at the Centre of Curriculum and Schooling.
He is a Fullbright senior specialist and founder and lead consultant of Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, co-author of Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning, and is a contributor to the Routledge International Handbook of Creative Learning.
He consults nationally and internationally on the role of the arts in effective school improvement and has been recognised by the Leadership for a Changing World initiative, supported by the Ford Foundation.