Arts Education Internship (9859.1)

Required texts

Recommended text:

Wright, S. (2025). The Arts and Meaning Making with Children. Cambridge.

Dinham, J. (2022). Delivering Authentic Arts Education, 5th Edition. Cengage Publishing.

Extra readings wil be provided on Canvas

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

Approval of extenuating circumstances will be dependent upon the production of supporting documentation and at the discretion of the unit convener.

All assessment items required to be submitted online must be submitted via the appropriate Canvas drop box. It is the student's responsibility to upload the correct and corresponding draft or assessment item to the right submission section. Assignments must be submitted in a format accessible to the assessor(s), as stated on the relevant canvas site. If the unit convener and/or tutor are unable to access a submission, or if no submission has been made by the due date and time, a standard late penalty of 10% of the total marks possible for the task may be applied per day, for three days, after which the submission will receive a score of ‘0' in keeping with UC's Assessment Policy.

Artificial Intelligence

Students are not allowed to use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in assessments for this unit

Special assessment requirements

Normally an aggregate mark of 50% is required to pass the unit including (approximately) 20 hours of internship experience with an Arts specialist educator. 

Provision of valid documentation

Please note that the University takes student conduct very seriously. All documentation provided to University staff must be valid and the provision of fraudulent documentation carries with it potentially serious consequences, including suspension and/or exclusion from the University. Note that all allegations of student misconduct will be referred to the Associate Dean for Education (ADE) as a prescribed authority for investigation.

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the Academic Integrity Module annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Learner engagement

Indicative workload for this unit:

weekly workshops:  (9 hours)

engagement in schools:  (20) hours) 

Weekly blog posts, independent research and assignment preparation: 121 hours

Participation requirements

Successful completion of the professional experience component is critical to success in the whole unit.  Refer to assessments on the Canvas site for further details. Students must make themselves familiar with the processes and policies of professional experience.

There is a strong correlation between participation and success in higher education. Your participation in online tutorials and engagement with the online activities will enhance your understanding of this unit's content and therefore the quality of your assessment responses. Lack of participation may result in your inability to satisfactorily pass assessment items.

Required IT skills

Satisfactory skills in Microsoft Word, the ability to contribute to discussions on UCLearn (Canvas) and a reliable internet connection are required to complete this unit.

In-unit costs

Costs may be associated with travel to and from school placements.

Work placement, internships or practicums

Successful completion of the professional experience component is critical to success in the whole unit.  Refer to assessment (5a) on the Canvas site for further details. Students must make themselves familiar with the processes and policies of professional experience.

This unit involves learning in a school environment and therefore, additional student responsibilities are required in addition to those described in this section. Work-place learning requires strict adherence to professional practice principles and ethics. Student confidentiality must always be maintained, including for assessment items such as reports or essays. A Working With Vulnerable People card is also required due to the nature of this unit. The professional nature of this unit also requires 100% participation at all learning activities for the successful completion of this unit (also see section 6c). If attendance requirements cannot be satisfied (e.g. timetable clash), it is recommended that you meet with your Course Convener to schedule this unit for a future semester.

Additional information

Notifications through the Canvas Announcements Forum or the Canvas Discussion Forums are deemed to be made to the whole class. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they check for announcements on the Unit's Canvas website (Canvas forum messages are also emailed to student email addresses only). Students should ensure they check their student email regularly. The Canvas discussion forums will be checked by staff regularly.

Use of student email account

The University Email policy states that "students wishing to contact the University via email regarding administrative or academic matters need to send the email from the University account for identity verification purposes". Therefore all unit enquiries should be emailed using a student university email account. Students should contact servicedesk@canberra.edu.au if they have any issues accessing their university email account.

In all cases of absence, sickness or personal problems it is the student's responsibility to ensure that the unit Convener is informed. The minimum participation requirement must be met in order to pass the unit (regardless of supporting documentation).

Theoretical Foundation of Unit
Arts education is founded on the theoretical basis of experiential learning, otherwise known as "learning through doing and reflecting", in the form of art as a vehicle for the development of critical thinking, aesthetic understanding and creation, cultural sensitivity and emotional development. This theoretical framework is based on the work of Elliot Eisner, John Dewey and Donald Schon.

Research led Units
This unit involves research-led education. There are active researchers delivering this unit who are able to engage students in deep
and active learning and transmit to students their passion for the research they are carrying out. All of the Bedrock texts have been
based on the latest national and international research into arts education and pre-service teachers.

• Semester 1, 2026, Placement, UC - Canberra, Bruce (231504)
• Semester 1, 2025, Placement, UC - Canberra, Bruce (228443)
• Semester 1, 2024, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (218824)
• Semester 1, 2023, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (212947)
• Semester 1, 2022, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (205905)
• Semester 1, 2021, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (200862)
• Semester 1, 2020, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (193331)
• Semester 1, 2019, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (186792)
• Semester 1, 2018, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (176964)