Artistic practice: A catalyst for professional growth

Actively engaging in their own art making is a crucial aspect of a visual arts teacher’s continuous professional learning throughout their career. Fostering this commitment and expectation to engage in teacher professional learning spans all career stages, from graduate, proficient, highly<br>accomplished through to lead. It therefore plays an integral role in all teachers’ career progression. Recent research undertaken with primary teachers in Tasmania reveals that teachers who are actively involved in their own practical<br>visual art making and learning are indeed more likely to explore and adopt new pedagogical approaches to their teaching. Teachers who deliver visual art education appreciate how the parallel practices of art making and art teaching richly and reciprocally inform each other.