This practical text helps student teachers develop their confidence, understandings and skills so that they can effectively and authentically teach arts in primary and middle school classrooms. Delivering Authentic Arts Education outlines the true nature of arts education and its importance in the curriculum, emphasising the arts as forms of creative activity, meaning-making and expression in a cultural context.

Chapters discuss how to recognise and build on your existing artistic abilities and pedagogical skills, how to encourage children’s creativity, how to lead arts appreciation experiences, and the general principles of planning and assessment. They then examine the five arts areas: dance, drama, media arts, music and visual arts. The final part of the text contains sample learning activities and resources that demonstrate how to plan an effective lesson within a unit of inquiry.

Practical tips, classroom ‘snapshots’, starter ideas and suggestions for online resources show you the links between theory and practice so you can develop arts education experiences that are purposeful, stimulating and engaging for everyone.

Part 1: The ABC of arts education
1. Putting you in the picture – the rationale and context for arts education
2. The features of authentic arts education
3. Being an effective teacher in the Arts
4. Children at the centre
5. Planning, pedagogy and assessment for authentic arts learning

Part 2: Teaching in the Arts
6. Dance
7. Drama
8. Media arts
9. Music
10. Visual arts

Part 3: Units of inquiry

This practical text helps student teachers develop their confidence, understandings and skills so that they can effectively and authentically teach arts in primary and middle school classrooms. Delivering Authentic Arts Education outlines the true nature of arts education and its importance in the curriculum, emphasising the arts as forms of creative activity, meaning-making and expression in a cultural context. Chapters discuss how to recognise and build on your existing artistic abilities and pedagogical skills, how to encourage children’s creativity, how to lead arts appreciation experiences, and the general principles of planning and assessment. They then examine the five arts areas: dance, drama, media arts, music and visual arts. The final part of the text contains sample learning activities and resources that demonstrate how to plan an effective lesson within a unit of inquiry. Practical tips, classroom ‘snapshots’, starter ideas and suggestions for online resources show you the links between theory and practice so you can develop arts education experiences that are purposeful, stimulating and engaging for everyone. Chapters 6-10 now include overviews on each arts area ‘...in the Australian curriculum’, summarising the expectations for learning in the primary years to help teachers become more familiar with each arts subject. A new unit of inquiry provides fresh examples of sample unit lesson plans and other resources that demonstrate authentic arts education in practice. Additional units of inquiry are available on the text’s CourseMate Express website Chapters 2, 3 and 4 have been revised and restructured so that it is even easier to find relevant information on the contemporary context, the curriculum, the teacher and the student. To further assist teachers to develop their confidence in teaching the arts, Chapters 6-10 include new sections on ‘Developing your competency’ for each arts area. Classroom Snapshot boxes with real-life examples show readers what the principles of quality, authentic arts education look like in practice. 'Key people’ icons flag important educationalists, influential theorists and a selection of well-known artists for students to explore further. The CourseMate Express website contains more information on these key people. ‘Starter ideas’ boxes suggest activities that readers can use to introduce children to the relevant arts principles, elements and skills. ‘At-a-glance’ boxes provide quick overviews of key concepts, practical tips and useful resources that help beginning teachers to hit the ground running. 'Online resources’ boxes list good quality online materials, providing a benchmark so that students can be more discerning about material they may come across on other sites.