This paper was delivered as a response to a presentation by Jan Kronberg MLC, Chair of the Education and Training Committee, Parliament of Victoria that published a report of the "Inquiry into the Extent, Benefits and Potential of Music Education in Victorian Schools." Her presentation and this response were part of a forum conducted by…

Background: The high school production offers our students a creative way to develop their literacy, numeracy and social skills to mention a few. Why then do we permit anyone to teach the production and usually expect teachers to volunteer? Purpose: To do research into why the school production should be adopted as an integral part of our…

This paper challenges the orientations and assumptions underpinning policies for disadvantaged young people (DYP) in Australia. We argue that policy interventions for young people generally exhibit a binary divide, some policies fostering leadership and creative endeavours targeted on "high-functioning" young people, especially within…

Based on over half a century's personal experience with the Australian community's poor understanding of art, this paper concludes that exposing thousands of secondary students to the subject "Art" over this period has had little or no effect on competency. Instances are documented. Possible reasons explored include: the common…

Discusses three types of distance in art education that should be bridged: (1) between studio art and art criticism/history; (2) between thinking in images and thinking in words; and (3) between art and culture in cognition. Recommends a curriculum to integrate studio work with criticism and teach art along with culture. (CFR)

The "new reality" of Australia's involvement with Asia has brought an added urgency to the call for curriculum inclusions that ensure appropriate and positive levels of Australian engagement with countries of the Asian region. This paper discusses the "Delors" report and considers its "Learning To Know, Learning To Do,…

Presents some dilemmas faced by educators in Australia and elsewhere in confronting issues related to the teaching of the arts of indigenous peoples in the classroom. The comments of two Australian Aboriginal educators and an Aboriginal artist are included. (MDM)

This document outlines a policy for the art education of and about Aboriginal people. Teachers in art education should have an understanding of Aboriginal education issues, and developers of art programs should consult with Aboriginal people before beginning work on a program and continuously throughout development. Teachers should take into…

The objectives of this paper are: to describe art education in New South Wales, Australia; to explain the Student Centered Art Appreciation (SCAA) Model; and to examine how and why the model works in the classroom. Art education is explored from four perspectives or theoretical frameworks: (1) the New South Wales Visual Arts Syllabus; (2) the SCAA…

Outlines Australian Aboriginal perspectives, groundedness in particular, on life and the world around them. Shows the need for adopting Aboriginal conceptions and ideology in western industrialized societies enabling those cultures to experience the textures of life. Emphasizes the role of listening as a way for other cultures to adopt Aboriginal…

Discusses the Australian "Share the Joy" project which promotes art appreciation experiences for young children and adults in a gallery setting. Describes and reflects on the reactions of children to original art works in museums and examines the responses of children and parents to a prepared studio environment. (GEA)

Asks ten questions about the future of art, crafts, and design education. Focuses on why art, crafts, and design education should be included in the curriculum; how the curriculum should be defined; and how art educators should respond to conflicting calls for cultural relativism and for cultural nationalism. (DSK)

The depressed economies in countries such as Australia have led governments to view education as a means to serve the national economic interest, with the result that art education receives a low priority in the curriculum and in education budgets. Argues that the arts can serve as a key to educational reform and enhancement. (MDM)

In an effort to ensure that the arts receive equity with other areas of study, this paper presents an argument for the value of arts education in children's development. The argument is based on the work of four experts: (1) Nelson Goodman, who held that symbols are indispensable to communication, and that children's capacity for acquiring…

Although by no means universally so, urban graffiti is commonly regarded as vandalism. It costs authorities in Australia hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove each year, and it offends many adults as callow effusions of the territorial markings of "human tomcats." Authorities are mounting campaigns to catch the offenders in the act…