This article uses autoethnographic writing in a research study that encompasses aspects of a personal and professional journey to locate dance within school cultures. Critical Discourse Analysis was utilized to investigate factors impacting on the construction and realization of a dance curriculum for all primary school students in Australia. The investigation is informed by Bourdieuian and Foucaultian approaches to reveal discourses, struggles and the effects of power in the construction of a new school dance curriculum within the context of political and micro-political interests related to dance education. In the neo-liberal context of the globalized idea of a national curriculum, dance as a learning experience in schools is usually located at the bottom of a deeply entrenched curriculum hierarchy. The article provides insight into the dance curriculum deliberation and settlement process, contributing to arts curriculum development research.

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This paper examines the personal and professional experiences of the five arts leaders who co-wrote the foundation document for Australia's first national curriculum in the Arts. Their personal and professional backgrounds, which were explored during in depth interviews, drove the complex collaborative process that informed the first iteration of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. Though each couched their responses in the context of their background and arts discipline, they shared an awareness of the important role of the Arts in providing the analytical tools for children and young people to identify and subsequently challenge social injustice. The findings, which are presented as a group narrative using a Narrative Inquiry approach, reveal how the five arts leaders' individual lived experience, disciplinary experience and expertise, and commitment to collaborative leadership informed their approach. It was one driven by their shared belief that all Australian students, regardless of their background, are entitled to a quality arts education.

Contemporary schooling produces unequal educational outcomes in Australia and across the globe. While mandated high-stakes tests supposedly place all students on a common scale, they can limit pedagogic practices and often fail to recognize the "abilities" or embodied knowledge of many children. In addressing these challenges, particularly as they relate to the teaching of mathematics, this article reports on a qualitative study that investigated an arts integrated professional learning model, Creative Body-based Learning (CBL), at two Australian primary schools. CBL uses active and creative strategies from a range of art forms to increase student engagement and expand pedagogic possibilities across the curriculum. In this pilot study, five teachers formed action research teams with four artists to integrate CBL into mathematics. Findings drawn from interviews with teachers include higher engagement and improvement of student dispositions in mathematics and, more significantly, a broadening of teachers' pedagogical practices to engage students and provide them with multiple opportunities to present their learning.

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