Abstract

How do educators work within the traditional boundaries of their institutions to prepare students for employment in the rapidly changing creative industries? This paper reports on an action research project that utilized a model designed to support new approaches to teaching and learning in creative disciplines. Using Amado and Ambrose’s model for a transitional approach to change, a group of further education practitioners in the vocational education and training sector of a leading Australian University, worked together over several months to create a space for collaboration. The purpose of the project was to investigate new ways of delivering programs in the creative industries, and ways of supporting both educators, administrators and students in the vocational education sector to use collaborative approaches to teaching and learning practice. The experience of the participants’ journey through the project provides a model of practice that is initially confronting, but also fluid, flexible, immediate and responsive – the kind of approach that contemporary creative work environments demand today. The findings of the project suggest that teaching teams, when provided with a ‘facilitated collaborative space’ are able to meld critical ideas and emotional responses to meet changing educational and industry agendas. New and creative work paradigms are now the norm in industries such as film and television, multimedia, music production, fashion and interior design. They require multi-skilling and the capability to adapt. This collaborative approach to creative learning foreshadows new trends in understanding creative work practice in the contemporary world.