Creative Collaboration: Professional Learning In And Through The Arts

The solitary plight of the arts specialist  

Arts educators, depending on the nature of their educational setting, can experience a level of professional isolation not experienced by those educators of subjects that are taught more often throughout a week and for a longer period of time (for example: English). Educators may work in small departments, potentially working as a department of one, and without the counterpoint of arts colleagues much of the work can be solitary; the design and delivery of the curriculum becomes a solo effort.

Whilst this may involve the seeming benefit of the chore of securing the consensus of others when preparing teaching materials, it does prove to be demanding to devise and resource a curriculum free of collaboration. ‘There is a clear recognition that fostering peer collaboration among arts and music teachers is particularly challenging, much more so than for teachers specializing in other content areas’¹ due to the lack of time to connect with colleagues beyond their own settings, and typically the lack of fellow specialists within their own setting. Additionally the practices known to be beneficially for professional learning are often not available to specialist arts educators.² This article will share recent work at connecting arts educators and building the professional networks to minimise the effects of professional isolation.

‘Art education students who become art teachers are, for the most part, educated first as artists and second as art educators. Given this dual education, there is some evidence to suggest that they may experience contradictions in their career development that seriously impact the construction of their professional role and identity as art teachers.’³ This is an important point, as it sets the tone for the networks arts educators seek to join and interact with; and how the educator considers their identity will drive the professional learning choices they make throughout their career. I suggest education does not always recognise, or value, artistic practice as a form of professional learning deserving of central funding and support; pedagogically driven professional learning and networks may be considered more valuable to those who fund professional learning activities.

Models of professional learning for arts educators

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