Start with the arts: A teaching and learning melody for pre-service primary teachers

Abstract

The chapter as a whole draws on current thinking in the Australian arts education where the arts are positioned in the new national curriculum as occupying a special and unique place in learning. The Shape paper for the Arts asserts that "the Arts can be learned and can be used as a tool to learn about something else" (A CARA, 2010, p. 3) and in this chapter we explore the potential of the arts through the theme of "Start with the arts". This mantra captures our approach to primary teaching, pre-service teacher education, the writing method we have adopted in this chapter, and is interwoven through sections of monologue and dialogue through a creative retelling of the famous fairy tale, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. The Arts have a special relationship with learning, in that the Arts can be learned and can be used as a tool by which to learn about something else. Fully understanding the Arts involves critical and practical study. Through critical and practical study students have the opportunity to explore, experiment, create, analyse and critique, and ultimately discover multiple meanings in artwork.