Book launch: The Arts and Creativity in Education, Health and Wellbeing: Reimagining Potential

Lineup

• More details about Susan Orlovich

  Susan Orlovich

  Susan Orlovich has spent more than thirty years working in NSW public schools – as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, and as a primary school principal. Her career has been driven by a sustained interest in how schools can nurture creativity, build professional learning cultures, and create the conditions where both teachers and students thrive. Her doctoral research, completed at the University of Sydney in 2024, explored teacher professional learning through the 4Cs pedagogical approach – creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical reflection. The study followed twelve teachers across three primary schools as they worked to integrate these capabilities into their practice, revealing how the conditions and practices within a school shape the way professional learning takes hold, transforms practice and endures. Susan currently works as a sessional academic at the University of Sydney, teaching in the Bachelor of Education, and Master of Education programs. She is also coordinator of the CREATE Centre HDR Seminar Series, a monthly online gathering for PhD students and early career researchers with an interest in Arts-informed research methodologies. The series has built a supportive network for emerging scholars working at the intersection of Arts and creativity in education, health and wellbeing. Alongside her university work, Susan provides professional supervision to education leaders and teachers – a reflective practice that supports people in navigating the complexities of their roles, understanding themselves more clearly, and sustaining their commitment to their communities. Her work has been recognised through a range of awards, including the Australian Education Awards Best Professional Learning Program and the NSW Department of Education Secretary's School Achievement Award. Susan holds a Diploma of Teaching, a Bachelor of Education, Masters degrees in Curriculum Studies and Literacy Education, a Doctor of Philosophy, and a Graduate Certificate in Professional Supervision.

• More details about Michael Anderson

  Michael Anderson

  Michael Anderson is Professor of Creativity and Arts Education in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney and Co-Director of the CREATE Centre. He is an internationally recognised educational leader in school transformation processes. He has taught, researched, and published in education and transformation for over 20 years. His international research and practice focus on how the 4Cs can be integrated using coherent frameworks to support leaders as they work towards transformation in their contexts. Michael's most recent work emerging from his research and partnerships with schools include: Leadership for School Transformation (2026); [http://How Schools Transform]How Schools Transform (2024 ed), Transforming Education (Bloomsbury, 2021) and Transforming Schools (2017)Transforming Organizations, Bloomsbury, 2019) with Miranda Jefferson.The research reported in these publications uncovers innovative linkages between drama, the arts play, creativity, and learning that have the potential to significantly improve learning for young people. Michael was a drama a teacher and Creative Arts Consultant with the NSW Department of Education and has worked for NESA in senior assessment and curriculum roles.

• More details about Robyn Ewing

  Robyn Ewing

  Robyn Ewing AM is Professor Emerita and Co-Director of the Creativity in Research, Engaging the Arts, Transforming Education, Health, and Wellbeing (CREATE) Centre, University of Sydney. A former primary teacher, Robyn is passionate about the transformative role quality arts experiences and processes can and should play in our lives and learning. She enjoys working collaboratively with teachers and arts organisations and worked in partnership with Sydney Theatre Company on the teacher professional learning program 'School Drama' from 2009-2024. Robyn’s research and scholarly writing has included a focus on arts-rich pedagogy and nurturing learners’ imaginations and becoming deeply literate. Other research interests include teacher education, especially the experiences of early-career teachers, mentoring and professional learning, imaginative literature and early literacy development; and curriculum innovation. Robyn is a co-director of Big Sky Stories, and co-convenor, Foundation for Learning and Literacy,