Robin Pascoe

In my work in curriculum and teacher education, I have observed that the most powerful change agent for a teacher is another teacher (van der Heijden, Beijaard, Geldens, & Popeijus, 2018). Programmed professional learning and initial teacher education courses, as well-intentioned as they might be, cannot match the power of story of lived experience. Teachers listen to the stories of others even when they are sometimes shared incidentally and anecdotally. Stories are the lifeblood of building effective Communities of Practice. These stories produce purposeful benefits that contribute systematically understanding “quality education”.

This paper argues for using two story-based approaches to enliven and spark reflective change in teachers. Case Stories (Norris, McCammon, & Miller, 2000) vividly told, sitting alongside Critical Incidents (Tripp, 1993/2012) as powerful situated reflection, provide two lenses for teacher reflection and action. Used together they carry similar power and purpose when used with intentionality in changing future practice.

The School of Education at Murdoch University has been commissioned through funding from the Australia Council for the Arts (and the Western Australian Departments of Culture and the Arts and Education) to work with a team of Teaching Artists for two years. This commission involved identifying and developing skills and processes of five Teaching Artist – one for each of the five arts subjects in the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. These Teaching Artists co-teach with Murdoch University academic staff students in the Primary Teacher Education programs – Graduate Diploma of Education and Bachelor of Education. Each workshop begins with the Teaching Artists working with their artistic medium processes and principles; the second part of each workshop is led by the Murdoch staff member focusing on the specific pedagogy for the arts subject. The project has been funded for two years. An integral part of the project is development of Teaching Artist skills and processes through a Summer program designed to introduce them to the content and principles of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. As a project running over two years, this presentation will report on impact at the conclusion of the first year.