How might students and teachers work together as partners in addressing complex educational and societal challenges? This presentation introduces the Student and Teacher Learning Community (STLC) model, a collaborative approach in which students and teachers co-design, co-facilitate, and co-research arts-integrated learning experiences. Drawing on a multi-year project in the United States and Australia, the presentation focuses on recent work exploring climate resilience across the secondary curriculum. Through arts-based inquiry, participants engaged in creative and critical investigations of environmental challenges while developing agency, voice, and collective problem-solving capacities. The session will share key principles of the STLC framework, examples of student-created curriculum innovations, and emerging research findings from two years of implementation. Particular attention will be given to how arts-integrated approaches can support meaningful partnerships between young people and educators, fostering more responsive, democratic, and future-oriented educational practices.
About the speaker:
Kathryn (Katie) Dawson is a Professor of Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities at The University of Texas at Austin, USA, and Director of Drama for Schools. Her research examines arts-based educational research, drama-based pedagogy, community-engaged learning, teaching artist practice, and professional learning for educators. A leading scholar in drama education and arts integration, she has worked extensively with schools, museums, and community organisations to explore the role of the arts in transformative learning. She is co-author of Drama-Based Pedagogy: Activating Learning Across the Curriculum and The Reflexive Teaching Artist, and author of Drama for Schools and Beyond: Transformative Learning Through the Arts.