Dialogues & Differences

Beyond the Generic : Beyond the Differences

A Symposium on contemporary Arts Education
Convened by Artistic and Creative Education
20-22 April 2006

Dialogues and Differences is a national symposium of arts educators and practitioners convened to consider the issues and challenges facing arts education within schools and universities, in professional training, in industry and in allied educational and social contexts. Questions relating to research and curriculum; theory, training and practice; 'productive pedagogies' and the intersections, commonalities and differences between and across arts disciplines, will be canvassed through two days of paper presentations, cross-disciplinary workshops, panel discussions and special interest groups.

The symposium will include a series of keynote addresses from eminent educators and practitioners: Professor John O'Toole, Chair of Arts Education, University of Melbourne; Professor Madeleine Grumet from the University of North Carolina; and Scandinavian arts education specialist Professor Anna-Lena Ostern. Professor Andrea Hull, AO, Chair of the Victorian College of the Arts will launch the symposium and Vice Chancellor's Fellow, the Hon Dr Barry Jones AO will close the event with a reflective keynote.

Symposium Themes

The symposium aims to investigate the following themes:

• Is there a generic pedagogy for artistic and creative disciplines or are there distinctive pedagogies for individual art forms?
• How can arts practice and pedagogy stimulate 'innovative' and 'creative' learning and teaching across the curriculum?
• What, if any, are the characteristics that distinguish 'creative' from 'artistic' learning and teaching?
• What kinds of assessment and evaluation might we use to enhance and accurately identify the outcomes of creative and artistic pedagogies?
• How can we maintain a united front in the arts while acknowledging the distinctive disciplinary qualities and educational advantages of each art form?
• Are there 'core' arts values and are they compatible with the political imperatives of contemporary international education?
• Can we match broad categories of research with forms and techniques of the arts? What kinds of pedagogical innovation might this involve in research training?
  Enquiries

Symposium Convenor
Dr Christine Sinclair
cesinc@unimelb.edu.au
Artistic and Creative Education
University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010
Phone: 03 8344 4465 Fax: 03 8344 8612

• Symposium details and registration form (doc)
• Registration form only  (pdf)
• Draft Program (pdf)
• About Melbourne