Dr Susan Chapman
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Early Childhood & Inclusive Education
Biography
Susan Chapman is an interdisciplinary researcher exploring connections between the Arts and other disciplines. Her work focuses on the capacity of the Arts to develop critical and creative thinking and to foster wellbeing and inclusive education. Chapman’s research has been featured on EDTV produced by the Queensland Department of Education. She has taught as a primary school performing arts teacher, secondary school music teacher, conductor of children's choirs and sessional lecturer in arts education before joining QUT in June 2019 as a lecturer in the School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education. She has worked professionally as an actor and musician in Australia, the United Kingdom and Austria and presented at conferences in Australia, New Zealand and Korea. After beginning her undergraduate study at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, she has broadened her research to include other arts disciplines (Dance, Drama, Media Arts and Visual Art), including undertaking a Research Fellowship in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) at Griffith University. Recent publications include: Recent publications include: Chapman, S. N. (2024). The body as an instrument of knowing: Kinaesthetic learning with and through the arts. In G. Barton and S. Garvis (Eds.), Kinaesthetic learning in early childhood: Exploring theory and practice for educators (pp. 83-101). Routledge. https://qut.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61QUT_INST/tmi82h/cdi_globaltitleindex_catalog_386312235 ; Chapman, S. N., & Yates, C. (2023). “I can see the potential for this in every classroom”: Building capacity in arts education through arts mentor practitioners using an arts immersion approach. International Journal for Education and the Arts, 24(19), 1-21. http://www.ijea.org/v24n19/index.htmlChapman's doctorate (2019) developed a unique approach to learning and teaching based on her particular concept of Arts Immersion. Chapman deploys the Arts as a set of languages encompassing distinctive semiotic systems to enrich understanding and wellbeing across the primary school curriculum and beyond. The thesis is an action research case study exploring the collaborative work of a generalist and arts specialist teacher using the Arts as the home languages of a culturally diverse Year 6 classroom in a low socioeconomic status area. Continuing her work in this field, Chapman has developed the Arts Boot Camp to support teachers in planning the delivery and assessment of arts learning in primary schools, and the AMP It Up! modules which build teacher capacity in becoming Arts Mentor Practitioners (AMPs). Chapman’s research has led to the creation of an innovative professional learning model, the Professional Learning Mentoring Chain, which focuses on school-university partnerships and on-the-job co-mentoring between AMPs and their school colleagues. Her current areas of interest are Arts Immersion, STEAM, embodied learning, student engagement, critical and creative thinking, the Arts and neuroscience, and presenting workshops on developing engaging academic communication through innovative strategies. Chapman also uses comedy and satire to translate research and provide provocations for arts advocacy. A recipient of the QUT Early Career Research Grant (2021), she is a member of the national executive committee for the Australian Teacher Education Association and a member of the Academic Misconduct Committee for the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice. She is also a member of Drama Queensland, Kodaly Music Education Institute of Australia, and Australian Society for Music Education.
Personal details
Positions
- Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Early Childhood & Inclusive Education
Keywords
arts immersion, arts education, embodied learning, integrated learning, interdisciplinary learning, critical thinking, creative thinking
Research field
Specialist studies in education, Education systems
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (MEd Arts Education) (Griffith University)
Professional memberships and associations
ASME - Australian Society for Music Education
DQ - Drama QLD
ATEA - Australian Teacher Education Association
KMEIA - Kodaly Music Education Institute Australia
Teaching
2010-2019: Sessional lecturing in dramatic performance (CHC - BEd program)
2019-2020: Sessional lecturing in Arts and Technology (CHC - MTeach program - external)
2019: Sessional lecturing in music (Griffith University - MEd program)
2019: Full-time lecturer in Performing Arts - Music, Dance and Drama (QUT - BEd program)
2020: Full-time lecturer in Performing Arts - Music, Dance and Drama (QUT - BEd program) Full-time lecturer in Professional experience: Introduction to professional practice (QUT - BEd program)
2021-2023: Full-time lecturer in Performing Arts - Music, Dance and Drama (QUT - BEd program) Full-time lecturer in Professional experience: Introduction to professional practice (QUT - BEd program; MEd program)
Experience
Academic presentations:
2022 – Disruptive advocacy: Creative strategies to tell your story (interviewed by Sandra Oberoi with Professor Pam Burnard), International Society for Music Education (Online)
2022 - Sing me your story, play me your song: Using an Arts Immersion approach to foster empathy through a visible music voice in primary schools, International Society for Music Education (Online)
2022 – Building knowledge and self-efficacy in primary arts specialists through an AMP It Up! Course: A school and tertiary partnership to provide equitable educational outcomes, Australian Teacher Education Association Conference (Online)
2021 – An Arts Immersion approach to Drama, Drama Queensland, QUT, Brisbane.
2021 - Practitioner voices shaping ongoing professional learning: Co-designing an Arts Mentor Practitioner Professional Learning Program (AMPPLP), Australian Teacher Education Association 50th Jubilee Conference (Online)
2020 – ‘Speaking’ music across the curriculum: Enhancing equity, diversity, and teacher capacity through Arts Immersion,’ International Society for Music Education (Online).
2019 - Creating a fair and fascinating world through arts immersion: Improving engagement, cognition and equity in the primary school classroom using the arts, AARE Conference, QUT, Brisbane
2018 - Arts Immersion: Using the Arts as interdisciplinary languages across the primary school curriculum, World Curriculum Studies conference, Melbourne.
2018 - Co-presenter: Productive collaborative design of a STEAM unit of work in a multi-age class. Integrated education for the real world. 5th International STEM in Education Conference, Brisbane.
2018 - ‘Walking a musical tightrope or choosing an integrated journey’(reworked), Australia and New Zealand Association for Research in Music Education, Gold Coast.
2018 - ‘Walking a musical tightrope or choosing an integrated journey’, International Society for Music Education, Baku, Azerbaijan.
2017 - ‘Maristely’s story’ (reworked), World Alliance for Arts Educators - Global Summit, Engaging with communities: Creative pedagogies, Auckland, New Zealand.
2017 - ‘Maristely’s story: A collaboration between visual art and media arts through arts immersion’, World International Society for Education Through Art Congress. Daegu, Korea.
2016 - ‘Media arts through arts immersion in the classroom’, Australian Teachers Of Media Screen Futures Summit, Melbourne.
2014 - ‘The Perfect Storm: Challenges for the arts in the curriculum’, World Alliance For Arts Educators – Global Summit, Transform: From inception to innovation in arts education, Brisbane.
Academic Workshops:
2022 – Positioning ATEA to speak up and speak out: Imagining new possibilities, symposium with co-presenters Deborah Heck, Simone White, Josephine Lang, and Michelle Ocriciano, Australian Teacher Education Association Pre-Conference (Online)
2022 – ‘Elevate your research pitch’ (Reworked for one hour), Australian Teacher Education Association Pre-Conference (Online)
2022 – ‘Elevate your research pitch’ (half day workshop), Research Retreat for ARC Centre for Cell & Tissue Engineering Technologies (QUT/Monash University)
2022 – Teaching Song writing for Years 7-9 (Canon Hill Anglican College, held at QUT)
2021 - ‘Elevate your research pitch: Developing an enthralling presentation', half day workshop, Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research (ACE) QUT | QUT Business School | Faculty of Business and Law QUT
2020, 2021, 2022 - ‘Elevate Your research Pitch’, Higher Degree Research Winter School (Research And Practice Week), QUT
2019 - ‘The Arts; Birth-2'; Early Childhood Masters Seminar, QUT (one hour)
2019 - ‘Elevate Your research Pitch: developing an enthralling presentation', full day workshop, QUT (Health/Science HDR students)
2018 - ‘An Integrated Approach to Song-writing’, International Society for Music Education, Baku, Azerbaijan.
2018 - ‘Creating a 19th Century Radio Program on the Romantic Period in Western Art Music’, International Society for Music Education, Baku, Azerbaijan.
2018 - ‘Elevate Your research Pitch’, AARE Pre-conference.
Other Publications:
Chapman, S. N. (2015). Arts Immersion: Using the arts as a language across the school curriculum. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40(9), 86-101.
Chapman, S. N. (2015). Arts Immersion for music teachers: How to widen the path without losing the plot. Australian Journal of Music Education, 3, 26-36.
Chapman, S. N. (2019). When caring counts: Fostering empathy and compassion through the arts using animation. In G. Barton, & S. Garvis (Eds.), Compassion and empathy in educational contexts. (pp. 121-141). Pellgrave Macmillan.
Costin, D., Thompson, K., Chapman, S. (2018). Productive collaborative design of a STEAM unit of work in a multi-age class. Integrated education for the real world. 5th International STEM in Education Conference, 21st-23rd November 2018, Brisbane.
Thompson, K., Chapman, S.N., Kanasa, H. (2019). Tools to mediate learning and self-assessment in a STEAM unit of work.
Awards/Scholarships:
Student awards: Robert S. Alva Prize for top third year student (QLD Conservatorium of Music Conservatorium Friends and Alumni Award to top graduating student in the Music Education degree
Recent awards:
- 2010 - awarded scholarship from BCE to study Masters in Education (Arts specialty) at ACU
- 2016 - awarded scholarship from Griffith University for PhD studies
- 2016 – Winner of Griffith University Three Minute Thesis Competition and Finalist at Asia-Pacific Finals at University of Queensland
- 2017 – Awarded STEAM Research Fellowship at Griffith University, Brisbane
Publications
- Chapman, S. & O'Gorman, L. (2022). Transforming Learning Environments in Early Childhood Contexts Through the Arts: Responding to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. International Journal of Early Childhood, 54(1), 33–50. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/228687
- Chapman, S., Barton, G. & Barton, S. (2021). To STEAM or not to STEAM: Investigating arts immersion to support children's learning. In C. Cohrssen & S. Garvis (Eds.), Embedding STEAM in early childhood education and care (pp. 155–172). Palgrave Macmillan. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/228762
- Chapman, S., (2021). Drama giving voice to sustainability through an Arts Immersion approach. Australian Drama Education Magazine, 17, 21–26. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/232978
- Thompson, K., Chapman, S. & Kanasa, H. (2020). Tools to mediate learning and self-assessment in a STEAM unit of work. In K. Thomas & D. Huffman (Eds.), Challenges and Opportunities for Transforming from STEM to STEAM Education (pp. 24–50). IGI Global. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/203357
- Chapman, S., (2020). STEAMing ahead: Using the arts languages to engage students and enhance learning. Practical Literacy, 25(2), 17–19. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/234619
- Chapman, S., (2019). When Caring Counts: Fostering Empathy and Compassion Through the Arts Using Animation. In G. Barton & S. Garvis (Eds.), Compassion and Empathy in Educational Contexts (pp. 121–141). Palgrave Macmillan. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/234622
- Thompson, K., Kanasa, H. & Chapman, S. (2019). Tools to facilitate teacher and student collaboration in assessment. A Wide Lens: Combining Embodied, Enactive, Extended, and Embedded Learning in Collaborative Settings, 13th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) 2019, 2, 967–968. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/203411
- Costin, D. & Chapman, S. (2018). Productive collaborative design of a STEAM unit of work in a multi-age class. Integrated Education for the Real World: 5th International STEM in Education Conference: Post-Conference Proceedings, 75–82. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/234624
- Chapman, S., (2015). Arts immersion for music teachers: How to widen the path without losing the plot. Australian Journal of Music Education (3), 26–36. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/135949
- Chapman, S., (2015). Arts immersion: Using the arts as a language across the primary school curriculum. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40(9), 86–101. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/135981
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Susan, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Relationships between primary teachers and theatre companies: three/four action research case studies exploring the influence of these relationships on Drama pedagogy
Professional Doctorate, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Denise Beutel
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
Supervision topics
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.