Teacher Professional Learning: Creative Strategies for Emotional Literacy and Wellbeing in the Classroom

This hands-on workshop with artist Sam Gold invites educators to explore creative art-making as a tool for communication, connection and wellbeing.

Participants will engage in simple, reflective processes that support co-regulation, empathy and emotional safety in the classroom, discovering how creative practice can nurture trust and self-expression in students.

Through guided experiential activities, educators will explore ways of witnessing student creativity with curiosity and openness - learning to hold space rather than interpret meaning. The session introduces language and approaches that encourage noticing, acceptance and shared reflection, fostering calm, confidence and care in learning environments.

Grounded in trauma-informed and inclusive wellbeing practices, this approach offers practical tools for integrating arts-based wellbeing strategies across the curriculum, supporting both educators and students to thrive.

Artist Bio

Sam Gold (they/them) is a non-binary ceramic artist based in Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide Plains), South Australia. Represented by Hugo Michellle Gallery and a JamFactory alumni, Gold’s sculptural practice explores the interrelation of body, material, and memory through a framework of queer ecologies and the politics of touch.

Gold is a multi-award winning artist, with accolades including several Arts South Australia and Creative Australia grants (2019-2024), the Helpmann Academy Grant and Undergraduate Award for Excellence (2019), the Helpmann Creative Investment Fellowship (2021), and the University of South Australia’s Australian Ceramics Council Award (2018) and Merit Award for Academic Excellence (2019). They have exhibited extensively throughout South Australia and beyond, notably in Primavera: Young Australian Artists 2021 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Currently, Gold is a tenant at Mixed Goods Studios. Gold’s ceramics are held in the collections of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Powerhouse Museum, Artbank, and numerous private collections.

Important Booking Information  

The Carclew in Schools program is supported by the South Australian Government through the Department for Education. This event is generously subsidised for Department for Education teachers.  

Bookings are prioritised for teachers employed by the Department for Education and must be made with your Department for Education email address. 

This event has limited capacity, so please only book a spot if you’re committed to attending. If your plans change, let us know so we can offer your place to someone on the waitlist.

Places may also be offered to Independent and Catholic Education teachers. To join the waitlist, please register using your school email address and select the ticket option ‘Wait List: Independent/CESA Teachers’. We’ll be in touch if a spot becomes available.

Banner Image: Carclew In Schools Workshop, Kilkenny Primary School 2024, Photo by Charlotte Smith.