8 November

October 21, 2010

2010 VADEA E-BULLETIN
VADEA National Curriculum Bulletin
Vol. 1 Issue 1
Vol. 3
Welcome
This E-Bulletin is aimed at providing up to date
information and resources on the proposed changes
NSW BOS Online Survey
to Visual Arts in the Australian Curriculum.
Feedback on the draft Shape of the Australian
   
Curriculum: The Arts
In The News This survey gives you an opportunity to have
your say on ACARA’s draft Shape of the
THE AUSTRALIAN, 19 October 2010 Australian Curriculum: The Arts for years K
Lessons in aesthetic appreciation proposed for through to 12.
schools
Closing date: 17 December 2010
“It is this generic approach that has left some
feeling uneasy about O'Toole's vision.”
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/survey
s/arts-draft-shape.html
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/lessons
-in-aesthetic-appreciation-proposed-for- Face to face feedback with the BOS will start in
schools/story-e6frg8n6- Term 4, with Primary School teachers. Term 1
1225940384951?from=public_rss 2011 the BOS will conduct face to face sessions
with Secondary Arts teachers.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, 30 October 2010 However, it is important that you complete the
National syllabus in a shambles online feedback now.
“Major changes are still needed to the national
curriculum just two months before it is due to begin, its
creators admitted yesterday.” Consultation on
The Arts Draft Shape Paper closes in
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/na

40 Days!
tional-syllabus-in-a-shambles/story-e6freuzr-
1225945339257

THE AUSTRALIAN, 29 October 2010

Libs' Christopher Pyne demands curriculum delay
“The Australian Curriculum Coalition says the
courses, are not ready and have too much
material.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/libs-
christopher-pyne-demands-curriculum-
delay/story-e6frg6nf-1225944891753
Would you like to contribute?
If you come across anything of interest in relation to the
Australian Curriculum and The Arts please email me
directly and I will add it to the bulletin.
   
Nicholas.phillipson@spc.nsw.edu.au  individually and collectively. Contribute as a Teacher,
Website; http://vadea.org.au/wordpress/
Blog; http://vadea.blogspot.com/
Visit the ACARA site. Every response counts.
Make sure you add your informed comment to
each question.
http://www.acara.edu.au/arts.html
*Please follow the links
The Arts Shape Paper is designed to inform the
curriculum writers on the structure and content of
The Arts Curriculum.
If it concerns you that artmaking will be reduced
to PLAY please log on and make sure your
feedback registers. Feedback can be done
Art Department, Regional group, Parent, Community
member or Organisation. ACARA count each entry as
ONE regardless of how many respond in a group

Twitter; https://twitter.com/VADEA_NSW
Facebook; http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=121728261192109

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8 November 2010 VADEA E-BULLETIN
Vol. 3
VADEA FORUMS
Western Sydney VA
Teachers Forum
th
Wednesday 27 October, Penrith Regional Gallery
Teachers present expressed their concerns about the
directions for Visual Arts and for the Arts as a whole in
the Draft Shape Paper. There was particular concern
around the “one size fits all” generic framework of the
strands that describe learning for all the Arts as a
framework that reduces and diminishes the integrity of
each Arts subject discipline. Many of the teachers, as
representatives of Arts faculties in their schools,
expressed their collegial support for the other Arts
subjects within the National Curriculum but called for
the writers to reconsider this current organisation of
the curriculum and use language and subject specific
practices to ensure students were able to engage in
authentic ways with each field.
Teachers also raised concerns that this process based
approach would limit rather than enable students and
return Visual Arts teachers to a curriculum model last
taught in NSW in the 1980s. Teachers at the meeting
indicated that this would be a serious diminution of the
current high quality curriculum available for Visual Arts
students in NSW.
A motion was drafted and passed by
54 Visual Arts teachers in attendance:
This meeting rejects the ACARA Arts Draft Shape
Paper on the grounds that in its current form it
presents a limited and inferior platform for Visual
Arts study.
Pre-Service VA
Teachers Forum
Monday 1 November, ACU Strathfield
Pre-service teachers shared their concerns about the
proposed changes to the VA curriculum. In particular,
the potential impact of these changes to the quality of
VA Education and their futures as prospective
specialist VA teachers were discussed. Central to
these discussions was agreement of the Draft Shape
Paper’s undeniable lowering of the quality of VA
curriculum. The generic approach to “The Arts” taken
by the Draft paper was deemed unsuccessful as it
does not provide theoretical constructs to organise
content.
A motion was drafted and unanimously passed by
37 pre-service Visual Arts teachers and
8 teachers and academics in attendance:
This meeting urges ACARA to extend the
consultation period on the Draft Shape Paper for
the Arts in order that the proposals and the
complexity of these are given sufficient
consideration by all stakeholders.
The proposal for the Visual Arts Curriculum in the
Draft Shape Paper for the Arts is rejected as it
represents a significant depletion of the quality of
what is currently in place for Visual Arts education
within NSW. This proposal compromises the
intellectual integrity of our current curriculum. We
reject the Draft Shape Paper's generic organisers
of the strands and ACARA's new definitions of
"Visual Arts" and "The Arts". We reject the
proposal of 150 hours for the Visual Arts
education from K- 8, as it is inadequate and will
diminish the quality learning already in place
within the Visual Arts.
We would urge ACARA and the writers of the Arts
Curriculum to work with NSW educators to
develop an authentic and rigorous Curriculum for
Visual Arts students and teachers, both present
and future.
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