Exploring First-Year Pre-Service Teachers' Experiences and Expectations of Media Arts

Media arts develop students? digital literacies so they can critically engage in the media-rich Australian lifeworld. However, pre-service teacher education courses often marginalise The Arts subjects, including media arts. In 2014, a pilot study was undertaken to determine first-year Bachelor of Education (Primary) pre-service teachers' experiences with media arts at a Western Australian university. In addition, the pre-service teachers indicated the types of media art learning experiences they expected from their teacher education course, as they were yet to participate in any media arts learning at the university. The pilot data demonstrated that the first-year pre-service teachers were high consumers of media technologies; however, were limited producers of media texts. Furthermore, media arts were more often used for recreational purposes, with very low levels of media arts being used within educational institutions. This research emphasised the need for specific media arts content and pedagogy within teacher education courses, to ensure that future generations of primary school students receive the necessary instruction in media arts education to become critical and creative thinkers.