“When a school delivers the complete education, to which every child is entitled - an education that very much includes the arts - the whole child blossoms” (Landesman, 2012, p. 5)

We are two early years educators and researchers with a shared passion for the power of the arts to support every child’s sense of identity and belonging, and their learning. We also share a deeply-held commitment to inclusion and social justice. Our extensive experience as inclusive practitioners and researchers has led us to advocate for all educators, curriculum designers and policy-makers to place the arts at the heart of an “individualized, student-centered learning approach” (Chambers & Forlin, 2021). Our research and our work with preservice teachers are aimed at building the knowledge and skills of teachers to work inclusively with children of diverse backgrounds, abilities and ways of being, using the creativity and the arts as the heart of their curriculum.

In this webinar we will present stories from our related, but separate research that highlight the benefits of the creative arts as inclusive pedagogy. We will share some key aspects of inclusive education through the arts – its possibilities for fostering communication, relationships, creativity, agency and voice for every child. The stories will provide teachers of children and young people with creative arts strategies that they can implement with their students to support their learning. We invite participants to bring questions or provocations - examples of situations in which they would like to integrate the arts into their classrooms.

Presenters:

Dr Amanda Niland has a long career in the field of Early Childhood Education. She has taught in a range of early childhood, primary school and early intervention settings. Amanda taught in undergraduate and postgraduate programs at Macquarie University for more than 10 years, before joining the Early Childhood team at the University of Sydney in 2016. Amanda’s particular areas of interest are in music and creative arts education, children’s literature, inclusive education and disability studies. She is also a children’s author.

Dr Olivia Karaolis completed her doctorate at University of Sydney after working in the U.S. in the fields of early childhood education and special education. Much of her focus has been on creating inclusive communities through the framework of the creative arts. While she was living in Los Angeles, her work was recognized by the Kennedy Center, and she was awarded a contract to implement programming with the Los Angeles Unified School District. She also prepared teachers at Santa Monica College and provided professional development. She now teaches across the School of Education and Social Work at Sydney University.