Learning to teach the creative arts in primary schools through community engagement

Community engagement has been used for many years to enhance and strengthen teacher education courses, preparing student teachers with real life learning experiences as they work with community groups in mutually beneficial projects. This research examines a community engagement project that involved 13 undergraduate creative arts students who were planning to enroll in a post-graduate teacher education degree course when they had completed their initial degree. The students were placed in a primary school to work on a variety of creative arts-based projects with a range of teachers and classes with the aim of learning skills, knowledge, and strategies about teaching in relation to the creative arts. Outcomes from the project included an increasing confidence and competence in relation to teaching skills, knowledge, and strategies by the students as they were involved in the action ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ reflection cycle of community engagement. The school community also benefited from the project as children were developing creative arts skills and knowledge as they worked with the university students, and the teachers gained new ideas in relation to implementing the creative arts in their classrooms.