Introducing Nick Tranter

Nick moved from Canberra, where he grew up, to Melbourne to undertake the Master of Teaching (Secondary). “Getting into the classroom was the only way I’d know whether or not I’d like teaching,” he explained. With an interest in the arts, Melbourne’s creativity and culture played another key role in his decision to move.

Nick was the recipient of the Hugh Childers Memorial Prize, awarded to the student who receives the second highest mark in the Master of Teaching (Secondary) course, and the Master of Teaching Research Prize at the recent MGSE Annual Awards Evening.

Nick’s research looks into how performing arts teachers might think about classrooms differently depending on their subject area and preferred pedagogy and investigates how music, dance and drama teachers perceive their use of space. He hopes it will highlight the particular skill of performing arts teachers in using classroom spaces innovatively to enhance student outcomes, so that creative pedagogies might be adopted more broadly.

As Education Coordinator at the Melbourne Theatre Company, Nick is finding the potential of education programs in major performing arts companies especially exciting. He is interested in how the creative industries can support the education sector, and how the arts can be integrated into other learning areas to enhance learning and engagement.

Nick loves the idea that education research is always evolving. “I spoke to an actor recently who said he loved Shakespeare because there’s no endgame,” says Nick, “there’s always more to explore. I feel the same way about educational research.” Nick is excited about how arts pedagogy might enhance learning more broadly, and how every classroom might be considered creative.