PEDAGOGY & CURRICULUM
KEY LEARNING areas & AIMS
The VCE Art Creative Practice course explores the significance of art across social, cultural, contemporary and historical cultures- highlighting how artists contribute to the growth of artistic knowledge, traditions, and experiences both locally and globally (VCAA, 2022).
Schools are opportunities where students do not merely learn the assigned curriculum but engage in routines with underlying cultural assumptions through the teacher’s influence, how classmates relate to each other, and the values the school system embodies (Rogoff, 2023).
This is evident in the Unit 2 curriculum, with a focus on how artists use their practice and creations to express personal experiences, cultural values, beliefs, and viewpoints.
By examining artworks from diverse cultures and time periods, students gain insight into the messages and meanings conveyed, as well as the impact of these works on their audiences. Through analysis, students can be equipped with knowledge to be able to critically evaluate and debate concepts and issues raised by artists and their evocative works.In this VCE subject, students refer to the study design as a guide to meet learning outcomes and engage in inquiry-based learning to explore the artistic and collaborative practices of various artists.
Teachers can also encourage collaboration between peers in the classroom setting, as research shows cooperative learning activities (such as group work that promoted accountability and interdependent skills) show an increase in higher order thinking that benefits all learners (Churchill et.al, 2022). Furthermore, fostering diversity through creativity acknowledges Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory, particularly emphasizing visual/spatial and bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence which hold the potential to enhance equality and engagement among learners of all kinds (Armstrong, 2017).
Knowledge is always communal, hence exposure to environments and other cultures bring a new sense of reality to a student which may have eluded them
(Palmer, 2017)
In Area of Study 1, students explore how art reflects the values and traditions of its originating societies and build an understanding of how artists express social and personal ideas through their work.
Through the Cultural Lens (along with other Interpretive Lenses when relevant), they analyse and compare the practices of three artists from different cultures and time periods across selected themes. The three artists selected for study must include:
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an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person
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an artist who collaborates with other artists, technicians or with the viewer or audience as part of their practice
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an artist from a historical period of time that has used at least one traditional art form and traditional materials and techniques
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a contemporary artist whose practice is influenced by contemporary ideas, materials, techniques, processes or approaches.
For the worked folio example I have created, I selected three artists who specialise in the chosen medium of printmaking. This would allow students to explore techniques, materials and processes in depth and provide scaffolded consistency. Furthermore, choosing artists and artworks from the same art form assists in comparative art analysis.
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Aboriginal artist and activist- Kevin Gilbert (1933-1993)2.
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Japanese ukiyo-e artist from the Edo period - Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
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Melbourne-based Chilean visual artist- Miguel Villanueva (exhibited from 2018-present)
The artist, society and culture
Edgar Degas once said that “art is not what you see, but what you make others see” (Vollard,1986)
The Intercultural Capability curriculum focusses on understanding different cultures and practices. It encourages students to examine and question their own beliefs, assumptions, and preexisting stereotypes and to explore how intercultural experiences can shape and transform their attitudes and beliefs (VCAA, 2022).
Integrating cultural and social relevance in the art room helps students to learn to overcome prejudices within their community (Oakes, 2018). Gaining this understanding aims to foster a student’s adaptability to complex issues in a globalised world and navigate cultural differences, leading to greater empathy, respect and openness to social interactions. For example, the ‘Story Sharing’ and ‘Land Links’ components
of the framework (presented in the folio example) align with Archie Moore’s ‘Kith
and Kin’ art project which portrays the cultural significance that the land and living things have on Indigenous Australians’ kinship systems (Creative Australia, 2024). Students can draw on their own ‘map’ to understand the First Nations perspective
on place, people and time.
It is the responsibility of schools to consider their duty of care when teaching Intercultural Capacity curriculum for the health and wellbeing of students. Furthermore, when teaching about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural expressions, teachers must adhere to the protocols and policies established by the Department of Education and Training and the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated (VAEAI). These policies are designed to preserve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture to ensure all Australians engage in a respectful manner.
INTERCULTURAL CAPABILITY
“Culture does not make people. People make culture.”
— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2014.
Pedagogical approaches
The very act of creating enables learners to hold ideas in their minds as they visually voice their own unique experiences as young adults
(Clay, 2001).
Jeffrey and Craft (2004) offer a clear distinction between teaching creatively and teaching for creativity: teaching creatively means applying imaginative approaches to “make learning more interesting and effective” (p. 1), whereas teaching for creativity focuses on teaching attitudes towards creativity and teaching how to develop students’ creative thinking skills and behaviour. They emphasize a combination of the two approaches if teaching and learning is to be effective. By developing materials and approaches that motivate students to learn, teaching creatively impacts the level of ownership and control in the learning process and innovation in thinking.
Bloom’s Taxonomy model can help teachers identify and evaluate students’ cognitive processes to synthesise gained knowledge to produce concepts and ideas of their own on a continuum from simple-complex-concrete-abstract (Chavda et.al, 2024). Due to the visual and kinaesthetic nature of the art studio context, it lends itself to consider Humanist pedagogies and Experiential Learning pedagogies by the students’ learning through ‘doing’, processing how it was implemented, and connecting the activity to relevant context and knowledge through focussed reflection (Darling-Hammond et.al, 2001).
An artist is constantly reflecting, reworking, evolving and transforming their ideas. Robin (2021) attests that if we replace the word ‘artist’ with ‘teacher’ in the former statements; that the meaning would remain true.
Unit 2, Area of Study 1 provides students with the opportunity to examine their own cultural identities and practices (VCAA, 2022) towards greater sense of student agency and places artists in the role of cultural ambassadors through their representation of culture through a diverse range of art mediums (Tran, 2023). Holistic pedagogies such as Reggio Emilia that can be applied in the art room to promote a student’s sense of sovereignty, choice, and citizenship within their world (Foucault, 2010). Teachers can uncover a student’s knowledge and skills by providing opportunities for them to be the ‘expert’ (Esteban-Guitart, 2014), thus handing them the responsibility to examine their own art to clarify their intentions towards the central themes in their work. Barton et. al (2015) affirms how students can become empowered tellers of their own stories by engaging with such documentation processes as portfolio use. By empowering students to forge connections through collaborative practice and research; they are more likely to spark dialogue, inspire change and promote mutual understandings regardless of language barriers and political differences (Tran, 2023).
Drawing from arts-based pedagogies, this unit of study encourages students to engage in higher-order thinking skills such as problem solving and critical thinking through idea generation, concept development and refinement. The teacher can enhance their students’ understanding of creating and interpreting art by encouraging them to explore the dual roles of artist and viewer, through independent practice and collaboration. Student-centred, learner-directed pedagogies can also be applied through creating opportunities for students to experiment with visual language, materials, techniques, and processes to develop their own artistic processes. As part of self-directed learning, students can be encouraged to interpret their own learning objectives from VCAA’s study design; giving them the autonomy to focus on subject matter they felt passionate about whilst tailoring goals to their learning needs.
Lastly, integrating Place-Based pedagogies can allow teachers to bring awareness to how an environment can shape a student’s identity.Ecocultural pedagogy emphasises a deep connection to local places, fostering understanding of the ecological, social, and political aspects of those places (Cameron, 2003). This pedagogical concept is underpinned by the belief that environment can guide movement and behaviour, with affordances involving dynamic, instructive elements and materials (Barrable & Barrable, 2024).
