Enhancing Undergraduate Pre-Service Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Arts Education: Integrating Creative Body-Based Learning and an Ethics of Care

Arts education is fundamental in enabling young people to think and express themselves creatively and critically. The Early Years Learning Framework and Australian Curriculum (F – 10) both emphasise that all young people should experience authentic arts education. However, many pre-service teachers (PSTs) encounter barriers to visualising themselves as arts educators, while initial teacher education (ITE) programs struggle to provide the depth of learning needed to overcome these barriers. Fostering confidence in developing self-efficacy in arts education is, thus, crucial. This article explores the challenges faced by PSTs in a foundational arts education course within an undergraduate initial teacher education program and the strategies tertiary arts educators employed to redesign the course. Drawing on tertiary arts educators’ experiences, the redesign highlights a dual pedagogical approach that integrates creative body-based learning (CBL) with a reimagined ethics of care, offering readers a model for reimagining arts teacher education through embodied and relational practices that are simultaneously creative, critical, and caring.