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Associate ProfessorAbbey MacDonald

(she/her)

Associate Professor in Arts Education

Education

Orcid identifier0000-0003-4774-0244 (opens in a new tab)⁠
  • Associate Professor in Arts Education
    Education
  • +61 3 6324 3170 (Work)
  • Faculty of Education, Education, Rivers Edge, Room 223, Inveresk, TAS

RESEARCH SUMMARy

A/Prof MacDonald’s research portfolio comprises diverse and extensive examples of traditional and non-traditional knowledge creation and dissemination that translate research into applicable insights. Recognised for her contributions to advancing methodological innovations for practice based research, her research regularly features in significant methodology compendia and handbooks, including invitations to speculate upon novel applications, new paramaters and future agendas for arts-based research.

 

Research expertise:

 

As a leading Australian scholar in conceptualising professional practices of education resource creation, A/Prof MacDonald works to articulate the methodological, philosophical, positional, and motivational factors that underpin this work. Her research, practice and praxis for conceptualising education resource creation is informed by extensive and longstanding collaborations with creative, cultural and education practitioners in Gallery, Library, Archive and Museum settings. She is nationally sought after and internationally recognised as a leader in her approaches to this work.

 

A/Prof MacDonald partners with environmental conservation and social change organisations, teachers, artists, scientists, curators and cultural practitioners to investigate the most pressing challenges facing educators today. Further, A/Prof MacDonald undertakes commisssioned evaluation research with arts, culture and education industry and community partners, and is well versed in collaborative co-design, leadership and management of such research projects.

 

 

Primary research projects:

 

  • Uncreative Australia: Impacts of declining participation in arts education (2026-2028)

 

This ARC Discovery Project examines the long-term consequences of the decline of creative arts programs in Australian universities and what this means for Australia's cultural future. Centring the voices and stories of current and prospective creative arts students, the project investigates the factors shaping young people's post-school study choices and the growing movement away from creative arts pathways. Using an innovative arts-led methodology, the research captures the lived experiences, aspirations and decision-making processes of young people to better understand how these shifts are reshaping Australia's creative ecology. Findings will generate new evidence of the social, cultural and economic value of creative arts education, informing policy, education and industry practice. Through partnerships with government, cultural organisations and educators, and public engagement initiatives including podcasts, digital platforms and community conversations, the project seeks to translate research into action and support more sustainable and equitable creative futures for Australia.

 

Collaborator/s: Professor Sandra Gattenhoff, Professor Donna Hancox, Dr Freya Wright-Brough (Queensland University of Technology),  A/Professor Abbey MacDonald (UTAS), Professor Craig Batty (Adelaide University); Professor Peter Cook (University of Southern Queensland) Professor Daniel X Harris (RMIT University)

 

Advancement of UTAS Transitions: Education; Tasmanian Stories, Productivity

 

Mobilising themes/ways of working: Regionally networked 'with' and 'in' the community; Commitment to programmatic research; Equity; Quality teaching and distinctive student learning experiences; Solving problems that matter to people/place.

 

  • Ngarrngga: Contributing to the advancement of methodological and pedagogical possibilities and education resource creation for "65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art"  (2024 - ongoing)

 

A/Prof MacDonald contributes to a range of tailored research initiatives that advance the work of Ngarrngga. Her ongoing research collaborations extend from education resources and teacher professional learning initiatives developed for the landmark exhibition 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art (May–Nov 2025) at the Potter Museum of Art. This work continues through refining bespoke methodologies for resource creation and translating critical insights into accessible, classroom-ready materials. Through cycles of ongoing review and iteration, these resources strive to equip and support educators across Australia, spanning schools, higher education, museums, and galleries, in their efforts to engage meaningfully with Indigenous Knowledge.

 

Collaborator/s: Professor Melitta Hogarth, Glen Hayres, Sara Tajima (University of Melbourne); Ngarrngga

 

Advancement of UTAS Transitions: Education

 

Mobilising themes/ways of working: Grounded in Indigenous excellence and knowledge, Regionally networked 'with' and 'in' the community; Quality teaching and distinctive student learning experiences; Commitment to programmatic research; Equity

 

 

  • Recipes for resilience: How school kitchen garden programs nourish people and place (2021 - ongoing)

 

A/Prof MacDonald works with a diverse ensemble of school, community and industry partners to evaluate school kitchen gardens programs. Her work grounds in mutuality and is guided by a relational approaches to knowledge co-creation. She engages in research through meaningful dialogue and the respectful surfacing of lived experiences with community partners, fostering long-term, trusting relationships that form the foundation of ethical and culturally responsive knowledge creation. Her ongoing co-research in and with school kitchen gardens seeks to extend and amplify the evidence of their impacts in addressing inequity, fostering care, and supporting academic and social-emotional outcomes for young people through real-world learning with food systems. Committed to research translation, her evaluation findings are widely shared across mainstream media—including print, radio, and television—with coverage in outlets such as The Guardian.

 

Collaborator/s: Professor Sue Kilpatrick (UTAS), The Material Institute Lutruwita/Tasmania

 

Advancement of UTAS Transitions: Education; Health, Climate, Tasmanian Stories.

 

Mobilising themes/ways of working: Grounded in Indigenous excellence and knowledge, Regionally networked 'with' and 'in' the community; Commitment to programmatic research; Equity; Quality teaching and distinctive student learning experiences

FUNDED PROJECTS

  • GRANT
    Uncreative Australia: impacts of declining participation in arts education
    1 Jan 2026 - 31 Dec 2028
    People funded by this grant:
    • Gattenhoff S,
    • Hancox D,
    • Wright-Brough F,
    • MacDonald A,
    • Batty C
    Project Total: $374,252; Australias arts and cultural sector has faced significant changes due to the post-COVID environment, cost of living crisis, and workforce reform. Despite increased demand for arts activities, there has been a reduction in creative arts courses at universities, affecting training and innovation. This research investigates factors influencing young people's decisions to abandon creative arts studies and examines long-term impacts on Australias cultural landscape. The mixed methods approach includes in-depth interviews and co-design workshops with young people to uncover motivations behind education choices, providing a nuanced understanding of the decline in creative arts education and solutions for the sector's future. NIT: Uncreative AustraliaThis project examines the long-term impact of downsizing creative arts programs in Australian universities and the broader effects on the countrys post-COVID cultural landscape by centring new voices to understand potential creative futures. Despite contributing $63.7 billion to the economy in 202223, the creative sector faces declining university enrolments and workforce challenges. This research fills a critical gap in understanding how program cuts influence young peoples study choices and the sustainability of Australias creative industries. Project findings will deliver economic, social, and cultural benefits by providing data on the value of creative arts education, informing policymakers, educators, and industry leaders, thereby ensuring better investment in the sector. A strong creative workforce drives innovation, strengthens national identity, and supports Australias global cultural influence. To maximise impact, findings will be shared through policy briefs, public reports, media engagement, and industry forums. Collaborations with government, cultural organisations, and educators will help translate findings into action. Digital platforms, podcasts, and community discussions will make the research accessible to students, parents, and industry stakeholders. By bridging academia, industry, and policy, this project aims to ensure a sustainable creative sector that benefits all Australians Project Description: Currently, significant decisions about the sustainability of and access to Creative Arts Education are being based on incomplete data. The central issue with the existing data is the absence of young peoples voices and perspectives. This research will capture the lived experiences of current and prospective Creative Arts students using an innovative arts-led methodology. Uncreative Australia seeks to understand the motivations and experiences of young people driving post compulsory schooling choices and the resulting impact this may have on Australias creative ecology (policy, processes, people, place, products) (Harris, 2016). The aims of the project are threefold: Map the extent of reduction and cancellation of creative arts courses across secondary and tertiary education to create a comprehensive picture of available information and identify missing data.Develop and implement an art-based methodology to capture new data centring young people to improve curriculum and course planning and policy.Design and deliver a suite of creative resources, policy recommendations and knowledge sharing events to support informed and inclusive decision making. Universities Funded by: Australian Research Council - Discovery Project - EOI; Queensland University of Technology; University of Southern Queensland; Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University; University of South Australia; Adelaide University; University of Tasmania.
  • GRANT
    Digital Solutions: Taking HealthLit4Kids from Tasmania to the World
    University of Tasmania10 Mar 2022 - 10 Mar 2023
    People funded by this grant:
    • Nash R,
    • Cruickshank V,
    • Patterson K,
    • Kemp N,
    • Reid D
    Project Total: $74,500; HealthLit4Kids is the first known program designed to develop health literacy with a whole of school and individual classroom (curriculum design). It is unique and addresses a gap that exists locally, nationally and globally. The international literature has highlighted that health literacy development programs for primary schools/primary school aged children are scarce. Professional development and online resources need to be offered to multiple stakeholders who work with children and families including: paediatric registrars, public health interns, UTAS allied health masters students (dietitians, physio, social workers, occupational therapists, dieticians, clinical pharmacy, nursing) as an elective, school nurses, school psychologists, school social workers, child health and parenting services (CHAPs) nurses, oral health services (dentists and dental nurses), community based allied health professionals, early childhood teachers, teacher assistants, parents, community service providers (Mission, Redcross, Baptcare), primary and HPE teachers, play specialists, paediatric nurses, hospital school teachers. There is increasing demand for the HealthLit4Kids program nationally (64 schools on the wait list), including interest from Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia and internationally Nigeria, Cameroon, Ireland, India, United Arab Emirates, Canada. This has increased since the publication of the research findings from the successful implementation of HealthLit4Kids in 5 Tasmanian schools. This demand is likely to escalate with the publication of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Report Health literacy development for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases? (due September 2021). This Report has been classified as a Global Public Good and includes a case study of HealthLit4Kids as part of the WHO National Health Literacy Demonstration Programs. The HealthLit4Kids founders are currently exploring alternative ways to meet this demand, including the creation of a social enterprise. The IP under development has been created within HealthLit4Kids which is an education program designed for use in primary schools to facilitate the development of children's health literacy. Further development of this IP will enable the program developers to extend the reach of HealthLit4Kids through mechanisms which embed sustainability and scalability, including digital platforms. Since April 2019, we have had 64 HealthLit4Kids registrations (29 Tasmania, 23 Nationally [QLD, NT, NSW, WA, VIC], 13 Internationally). The interest we have had from other states in Australia are predominantly from remote areas including Tennant Creek (NT), Bundaberg (QLD), Alice Springs (NT) and Pilbara (WA). This highlights a clear need and an opportunity to address inequity. Staff from 3 Hospitals (QLD, NSW, TAS) have also enquired and expressed an interest in its transferability to a children's ward/hospital setting. More recently due to an international book project being led by Dr Rosie Nash, we have received requests for our program from health literacy peers internationally, the most recent being from Nigeria, Africa. A preliminary review of the market suggest HealthLit4Kids is still leading internationally and that no competing program exists currently. Funded by: University of Tasmania - Grant-Innovation Impact Fund; University of Tasmania ($74,500).
  • CONSULTANCY/CONTRACT RESEARCH
    Evaluation of the Expansion of the Clarendon Vale Kitchen Garden Development program 2021 - 2023
    1 Jan 2021 - 28 Feb 2025
    People funded by this grant:
    • MacDonald A,
    • Auckland S,
    • Duhn I,
    • Kilpatrick S
    Project Total: $86,654; Clarendon Vale, located in Southern Tasmania, is among the most disadvantaged communities in Australia (ABS, 2016). It has a low weekly median household income, high unemployment and 16% of children under the age of 15 are living in poverty. Clarendon Vale Primary School (CVPS) has a low level of educational advantage, with well below average scores in NAPLAN tests and poor attendance. Since 2016 the Radiata Foundation and MONA 24 Carrot Project have conducted the Kitchen Garden Program (KGP) at the school which follows the national Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden model. The multi-dimensional program offers opportunities for students, and parents and carers to work with kitchen garden program staff in learning about growing, harvesting, preparing and cooking skills. The program also provides alternate learning opportunities for students identified as requiring specialised learning opportunities. In 2020 plans were put in place to expand the program through providing additional resources and new infrastructure to support the introduction of new initiatives with the aim of achieving improved health and learning outcomes from the program for both the school and broader community. Funding has been allocated to evaluate the expanded program as it is implemented during the school terms in years 2022-2024. Funded by: Material Institute Limited ($86,654); University of Tasmania.
  • CONSULTANCY/CONTRACT RESEARCH
    BighART. Life long learning; Cape to Cape
    BighART1 Jan 2019 - 31 Dec 2019
    People funded by this grant:
    • MacDonald A
    Project Total: $997; Despite being Australia's smallest state, Tasmania is experiencing rapid growth in its population and has the fourth best performing economy in the country (CommSec 2018). It continues to experience significant socio-economic challenges, with the lowest level of educational attainment in Australia (Allen et al 2017). 'Life-long Learning - Cape to Cape' builds the engagement in tertiary education of communities marred by deep poverty and illiteracies, where many families fear that education 'will steal their children away.' Running parallel to this, Tasmania is reported to experience persistent underperformance in the transition to Year 10 and subsequent retention rates to Year 12? (Stratford et al. 2016, p.4). It is estimated that Tasmania is 10,000 tertiary enrolments behind the next lowest performing state (Department of Premier and Cabinet, 2018), with significant challenges in encouraging students to complete Years 11 and 12. At the same time, Tasmania is host to arguably one of the most vibrant interdisciplinary creative community in Australia (Grimmer, 2017; Lehman & Reiser 2014). Life-long learning that engages the community sincerely, genuinely and creatively will play a significant role if we are to effect genuine shifts in these cultures of educational stasis. This call for the creation and entanglement of new desires, off campus opportunities and focused pathways, which embrace families, communities and young people. This project supports young people to cultivate the necessary intrinsic desire for life‐long learning, and threads this desire through family and community networks across the landscape - from Table Cape (in the East), to Cape Grim (in the West), in North West Tasmania. This contract research will involve the development of a literature review to help position the need for BighART's Cape to Cape project in relation to the existing body of literature pertaining to enablers and inhibitors of social/community/cultural transformation implicating upon education outcomes in Tasmania. The review will also situate itself in reference to The Education Workforce Roundtable Declaration (2018) priorities; which call for the University of Tasmania to embrace partnerships with wider community stakeholders to bring about educational transformation. This agenda is strengthened through the creation of links between the University, schools, colleges and TasTAFE; to build educational aspiration and participation and improved educational outcomes in all regions of Tasmania? (p. 2). This pilot investigation will generate invaluable data that will enable stakeholders to understand the challenges and benefits inherent to cultivating professional learning partnerships, and inform the development and delivery of ongoing professional learning experiences for art teachers in Tasmania. The research work within this project includes: * Examining existing opportunities for Tasmanian teachers to network and to use their subject specific knowledge to plan and assess using the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. * Ascertainment of the degree to which a professional learning experience has impacted upon teachers' confidence and preparedness to enact the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. * Reporting upon teachers' (generalist and Arts specialist) perceived outcomes of their engagement in an Arts specific professional learning experience in Tasmania. * Identify the challenges and benefits inherent to cultivating a professional learning stake Funded by: BighART ($997); University of Tasmania.
  • CONSULTANCY/CONTRACT RESEARCH
    Situating The Smith Family STEAM cart project in state and national interdisciplinary education priorities. A scoping exercise
    The Smith Family1 Jan 2019 - 31 Dec 2019
    People funded by this grant:
    • MacDonald A
    Project Total: $2,485; This contract research will comprise a scoping exercise to generate a baseline overview of The Smith Family's STEAM cart project, from its 2018 inception through to where the project will now position itself to implicate positively upon STEM/STEAM education aspirations/outcomes more broadly for schools in Tasmania. The Smith Family have expressed interest in being an industry partner within a UTAS/RMIT ARC Linkage project that is being developed, and this scoping exercise provides an opportunity to establish rapport between academic and potential partner investigators. The STEAM cart projects has eventuated from The Smith Family's collaboration with Bitlink, the Tasmanian State Government, PTECH and the University of Tasmania to provide portable STEAM Education Kits to Tasmanian schools. The project will entail the purchase of STEM and STEAM education tools (such as Bee Bots, Arduino Kits, mBots and Microbits) and the provision of these tools via a loaning system throughout Tasmania. Alongside the equipment loan program, the Bitlink team will develop teaching resources (curriculum-linked lesson plans, videos, etc.) that will accompany each product and will enable teachers to quickly deploy the equipment to great effect in the classroom. The scoping document will illustrate the stages and directions the STEAM cart project has taken from its inception to today. From there, it situates where the project's aspirations might be best positioned in relation to state/national STEM education agendas and priorities being enacted in Tasmania. The document will conclude with an articulation of proposed steps for implementation to advance from three school implementation to expansion across northern schools and beyond. The scoping document will provide a rationale for the STEAM cart project in relation to the existing body of research and scholarly literature pertaining to STEM/STEAM and other interdisciplinary education priorities emerging/being enacted across Tasmania and beyond, and how the STEAM cart project can support Tasmanian education outcomes in this regard. The scoping document will situate itself in reference to The Education Workforce Roundtable Declaration (2018) priorities; which call for the University of Tasmania to embrace partnerships with wider community stakeholders to bring about educational transformation. This agenda is strengthened through the creation of links between the University, schools, colleges and TasTAFE; to build educational aspiration and participation and improved educational outcomes in all regions of Tasmania? (p. 2). Synergies between the STEAM cart project and the UTAS/DoE STEAM Horizons pilot research (2018, 2019) will also be articulated. Funded by: The Smith Family ($2,485); University of Tasmania.
  • GRANT
    Engaging Communities in Nature Conservation through Aesthetics and Art
    University of Tasmania15 Jan 2018 - 30 Nov 2018
    People funded by this grant:
    • Richardson B,
    • MacDonald A,
    • Hogan J,
    • Walch M,
    • Rees A
    Project Total: $13,742; The project aims to improve academic knowledge and practical knowhow in developing a richer and more socially inclusive framework for engaging communities in nature conservation through aesthetics, including the arts, and thereby to generate recommendations for nongovernmental organisations and government policymakers working on environmental issues. This will be achieved through a community workshop, field CAL Hothouse Research Enhancement Program EOI 2017 Page 5 of 12 trip to a nature reserve, engagement with stakeholders especially school teachers, and scholarly publications. Aesthetics is vital for engaging communities in their natural environments because it can generate an emotional and cultural commitment in a way that science and economics cannot easily solicit. However, the appeal to environmental aesthetics has tended to exalt landscapes that are pristine?, without people, and to use imagery or messages that appeal primarily to specific socio-economic groups (eg, the well educated, affluent, and urban) while of less relevance to others, such as poorer, rural populations, disaffected youth, and sometimes Aboriginal communities. Because Australian society is deeply divided in how it values landscapes, we urgently need a more inclusive and varied approach to reading? aesthetic values in the environment (eg spiritual and historic values, and recreational benefits, in addition to ecological values). If environmental law and policy, and the practices of environmental organisations, are to achieve broader community support, a more sophisticated framework for assessing aesthetic values is needed to underpin environmental decisions. The project (in the UTAS-funded phase) collaborates closely with the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC), the leading private land conserver in the state, to investigate how these challenges can be met through a case study of its Five Rivers Reserve in the central highlands. A community workshop and site-visit over two-days will involve academics, artists and local stakeholders to identify and evaluate a process for understanding environmental aesthetics, and to extrapolate how this can inform the work of organisations such as the TLC and government regulators such as the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE). Thereafter, the project with external funding would be scaled up to include additional community-focused case studies in Tasmania and one mainland state, and partnering with a community nature conservation organisation in that mainland state in order to develop a more comprehensive framework of relevance to other stakeholders across Australia. Funded by: University of Tasmania - Grant - CALE Hothouse Alignment Scheme; University of Tasmania ($13,742).
  • GRANT
    Mentoring for Professional Practice: A Creativity Based Approach
    University of Tasmania15 Jan 2018 - 30 Nov 2018
    People funded by this grant:
    • Hunter MA,
    • MacDonald A,
    • Baltra-Ulloa J,
    • McLeod K,
    • Thakchoe S
    Project Total: $13,777; Graduate teachers and social workers face many challenges in their first year of practice: managing new professional environments, assuming new responsibilities, and meeting accountability standards and performance expectations (Zukas 2011) often with little systemic workplace support (Ingvarson 2014). These issues have been shown to contribute to high levels of stress and burnout (Nobel & Mcfarlane 2007; Smullens 2015), and early career attrition (House of Representatives Standing Committee in Education and Vocational Training 2007), with up to one third of teachers in OECD countries leaving within the first five years of professional practice (Ewing & Manuel 2005). In the face of such demands, opportunities to sustain creativity, curiosity, resilience and a sense of presence in the day-to-day relational practices required of teachers and social workers are limited, with a reported mismatch between early career professionals' idealistic motivations? and everyday experience (Abbott-Chapman 2005; Day & Gu 2010). This project will form a new interdisciplinary team to improve new teachers' and social workers' experiences of crossing, transitioning, [and] translating? (Johnson et al 2014) their first year of professional practice. We aim to pilot a creative strengths-based mentoring approach that enables new teachers and social workers to develop their personal and social resiliency, agency, and professional identity while enacting the values and understandings that underlie mandated professional standards. Funded by: University of Tasmania - Grant - CALE Hothouse Alignment Scheme; University of Tasmania ($13,777).
  • GRANT
    STEAM HORIZONS: Engagement and Alignment through Interdisciplinary Education
    University of Tasmania15 Jan 2018 - 30 Nov 2018
    People funded by this grant:
    • Wise K,
    • Brown N,
    • MacDonald A,
    • Hart W,
    • Kratz S
    Project Total: $11,148; Tasmania has significant socio-economic challenges, with the lowest level of educational attainment in Australia. 'Tasmania has experienced persistent underperformance in the transition to Year 10 and subsequent retention rates to Year 12' (Stratford, Field, Oliver and Ambrose, 2016, p. 4). It is estimated that Tasmania is 10,000 tertiary enrolments behind the next lowest performing state, with significant challenges in encouraging students to complete Years 11 and 12 (in 2011 the retention rate for Year 12 was 78.2%, compared with 84.1% nationally [http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/csr/]). At the same time, Tasmania is host to arguably the most vibrant interdisciplinary creative community in the country, as exemplified by exhibition, festival and community projects supported through MONA (including 24 Carrot Gardens) and other island-based creative and education industries (such as Bitlink); and, outstanding examples of secondary school STEAM education across the state (Newstead College, Launceston; Rosny College, Hobart). These resonate with UTAS initiatives such as the Collab Lab (Makers Workshop, Burnie); A Lab (Melville Street, Hobart); the major new infrastructure development represented by the Hedberg (Hobart); the Creative Exchange Institute (CXI); and, the overarching goals of the Peter Underwood Centre. STEAM can be broadly defined as including the 'arts', here creative arts, in the delivery of traditional STEM disciplines. STEAM Horizons: Engagement and attainment through interdisciplinary education will explore models for STEAM education in secondary education in Tasmania, and resulting pathways into tertiary education. It will address the questions: what forms of educational design supportsuccessful (interdisciplinary) STEAM education; and, how can educational attainment be enabled through STEAM pathways? The project will directly build upon the successful Office of Learning & Teaching Innovation & Development grant Benchmarking quality assessment tasks to facilitate interdisciplinary learning in the creative arts and humanities (2014-6; AUS$199,000) on which Wise was a CI (previously Lead Researcher), supported by Dr Wendy Fountain, to extend the application of those findings into secondary education, wider disciplinary networks, as well as the specific interdisciplinary field of STEAM education. Funded by: University of Tasmania - Grant - CALE Hothouse Alignment Scheme; University of Tasmania ($11,148).
  • GRANT
    Travel to attend World Alliance for Arts Education Conference - Auckland 21 to 24 November 2017
    Ian Potter Foundation21 Nov 2017 - 5 Jan 2018
    People funded by this grant:
    • MacDonald A
    Project Total: $1,200; This project collates a patchwork of practices to show how a/r/tography is being enacted around the world by early through to established career academics and arts educators. The individual contexts explored in this collaborative venture represent the perspectives and practices of a/r/tographers working across six continents and seven countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Iran, Taiwan, USA and Spain), ascertaining insights into their experiences of conducting a/r/tographic studies, or teaching courses with an a/r/tographic influence. Coupled with appreciating educational practices as research and inquiry, this project examines the journeys undertaken by these arts educators as they conceptualised and engaged in practice based research that used the arts and education as their basis for inquiry. Funded by: Ian Potter Foundation - Grant-Travel ($1,200); University of Tasmania ($1,528).
  • CONSULTANCY/CONTRACT RESEARCH
    Cultivating quality professional learning partnerships between schools, universities and other stakeholders
    Department of Education Tasmania, con1 Jan 2017 - 1 May 2018
    People funded by this grant:
    • MacDonald A
    Project Total: $2,672; When implementing new curriculum, ongoing support to enable teachers to adapt their existing strengths and skillsets without compromising their values and pedagogical preferences is needed. In order to help them realign their existing pedagogical practices, Tasmanian primary teachers have voiced a need (via the Tasmanian Art Teachers Association) for learning opportunities that will support them to adopt a flexible approach to interpret and enact the new Australian Curriculum: The Arts. In response to this identified need, the Tasmanian Art Teachers Association (TATA) partnered with the Professional Learning Institute (PLI) to develop and deliver a two day tailored professional learning program to support teachers in their enactment of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts This research project will evaluate the impact and outcomes of the above professional learning experience from the perspective of the participants, as well as gain insight into how the partnership between TATA and the PLI evolved as a collaborative professional learning venture. This pilot investigation will generate invaluable data that will enable stakeholders to understand the challenges and benefits inherent to cultivating professional learning partnerships, and inform the development and delivery of ongoing professional learning experiences for art teachers in Tasmania. Funded by: Department of Education Tasmania, con ($2,672); University of Tasmania.