The following professional learning programs can be used by Arts faculties or by groups of teachers wishing to strengthen the ways in which the Arts curriculum and teaching pedagogies include a focus on Asia. The programs vary in length and can be adapted to fit with school needs and available time.
The Asia Scope and Sequence for The Arts professional learning program introduces teachers to the Asia Scope and Sequence for The Arts, the accompanying units of work developed for Arts classrooms and the National Statement. It explores the rationale for a focus on Asia as well as providing time for discussion about useful resources and pedagogies.
The Visual Arts PLP, for primary and middle years teachers, consists of three workshops that demonstrate connections between quality curriculum resources and practices in Arts classrooms. The workshops focus on the themes of Place, Celebrations and Ceremonies and Contemporary Asian Artists.
'Different values define us: materialism and glory (the Westerner) in contrast to contemplation and nature (the East Asians), to hierarchy and time (the Indians and Balinese), to survival and belonging (the Aboriginal artists).' In a recent Asialink essay Ignorance is Not Bliss; Art and its place in Australia-Asia Relations, Alison Carroll describes the landscape art traditions of various cultures in a way that provides insights into each society. 'Though we might expect our way of seeing to be universally understood, we do not see a bush or a tree or a piece of land in the same way at all.' Her ideas with accompanying artworks form the basis of thought-provoking professional learning or potential teaching activities.
Alison Carroll is Director of the Arts Program at Asialink, the leading program for arts exchange between Asia and Australia. Her new book, The Revolutionary Century; Art in Asia 1900-2000 is out in 2010.
Speakers: Justin Breheny, Professor Tim Lindsey, Chris Wardlaw, Anna Rose
Video: 11:38
