Brooke Charlebois and I had the pleasure of attending the annual National Roundtable for Teachers Education in the Arts in June, 2013. We were excited to lias and attend panel discussions with arts education faculty members, artist educators, classroom teachers, advocates and other stakeholders for arts in education such as the Ontario College of Teachers.
From the website: The NRTEA is a Canadian think tank or laboratory of idea makers, made up of experienced, passionate, innovative, creative and ever-learning individuals who wish to meet, discuss, share and identify possible avenues, challenges, solutions and new frontiers for teacher education, as inspiration and support to all those engaged in arts education.
Our vision is to engage, empower and inspire arts educators in both public and private sectors through new insights into pre-service and in-service training and learning in the Arts to enhance delivery of arts education across Canada.
The theme of this year's roundtable was: "Celebrating our Common Past; Highlighting our Present Currents; Forecasting our Possible Futures. Examining the historical context of teacher education in the arts; beliefts and practices; finding pathways in the present, with visions for the future." The meetings consisted of three sets of panel discussion with a town hall format. There were dynamic speakers from arts education across Canada. We had the opportunity to discuss the place of all of the arts, including drama and dance in teacher education. To find out more information about the National Roundtable and its grassroots, think tank approach, please visit the website at www.nrtea.ca