Mr Jeffrey Meiners

I'm a lecturer at the University of South Australia's School of Education. My career began as a generalist primary class teacher in London with responsibility for music, drama and dance and then at the International School, Geneva, Switzerland, before returning to London for further study and teaching. I've taught extensively in schools and preschools, as leader of a dance education team in London and in universities, where I was arts team leader in the BEd primary teaching program at the University of Central England in Birmingham.

After moving to Australia, I became manager of Ausdance New South Wales Outreach Projects, leading programs with artists, teachers and community workers to support development in metropolitan, rural and remote regions. Work has included projects with young children, youth dance and disability, partnerships with government and education departments plus company outreach programs including Australian Dance Theatre, Adelaide, the Dance Xchange, Birmingham, England, and with Forum Dança in Portugal.

I recently worked as dance advisor with Windmill Performing Arts for The Green Sheep and as movement director for Cat (Helpmann award nominee)and Boom Bah! in South Australia. I was Community Representative for the Dance Board at the Australia Council for the Arts (2002-2008). Apart from my uni commitments I was a dance judge for the Adelaide Fringe Festival (2009) and in 2009 I received an Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Services to Dance Education. I am a selection panel member for the Australian Dance Awards (2010)and board member for Tasdance.

• Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts theory and practice
• Practice-based learning
• Play
• Movement and Physical education
• Curriculum leadership

Ausdance SA

World Dance Alliance Asia-Pacific Chapter (WDA-AP)

National Affiliation of Arts Educators (NAAE)

OMEP Australia

daCi (dance and the Child international)

Currently enrolled in Doctor of Education program

Master of Education, University of South Australia, March 2007;

Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Education, University of Exeter, UK, 2003; Sydney, 1999;

Certificate IV, Workplace Trainer & Assessor, VETAB NSW,

Laban Centre Postgraduate Certificate (Special Education), Laban Centre for Movement and Dance, Goldsmith’s College, University of London, 1982;

Certificate of Education, University of Reading, UK, 1974: (Theory of Education, Practical Teaching (Credit), German).

• Dance education
• Young children and the arts
• Arts education

Meiners, J & Schiller, W (2008). ‘Young children, the arts and culture. In The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, Vol 8 (1). Melbourne, Australia: Common Ground.

Diamond, A, Meiners, J, Schiller, W & Kalms, J (2007). ‘Books R 4 Babies 2: The ‘Lapsit’ Project’. The Australasian Journal of University Community Engagement, 2 (1), 187-193.

Meiners, J (2005). In the beginning: young children and arts education. International Journal of Early Childhood, 37 (2), 37-44.

Meiners, J, Schiller, W. & Orchard, J. (2004). Children and the arts: Developing educational partnerships between pre-school, school and tertiary sectors with the performing arts industry. In British Journal of In-Service Education. Special Issue: Professional Development Schools.

Meiners, J 2001). ‘A Dance syllabus writer’s perspective: the New South Wales K-6 dance syllabus’. In Research in Dance Education, vol. 2, no.1, p. 79.

Schiller, W. & Meiners, J (2007).Chapter 11 ‘Learning through physical activity’. In Beginning Teaching: Beginning Learning. Edited by Janet Moyles (Third edition). London: Open University Press/McGraw Hill..

Meiners, J (2004). Chapter 7 ‘Moving into drama. In Drama Journeys. Edited by Mary Mooney and Jennifer Nicholls. Australia: Currency Press.

Schiller, W. and Meiners, J (2003). Chapter 4 ‘Dance – moving beyond steps to ideas’. In Children, meaning-making and the arts. Edited by Susan Wright. Australia: Pearson Education.

Meiners, J. & Fowler, C (2006). Finding the Green Sheep: the quest for the elusive first performance. In Backing Our Creativity: the National Education and the Arts Symposium Proceedings 12-14 September 2005 Australia Council for the Arts, New South Wales.

Mooney, M. Meiners, J. & Mundy, J (2006). “With backs to the wall: working creatively with early years and primary student teachers studying the arts. In Backing Our Creativity: the National Education and the Arts Symposium Proceedings 12-14 September 2005 Australia Council for the Arts, New South Wales.

Buck, R., Chan, Y. A. & Meiners, J (2006). Listening for a future: Shared stories and shared solutions. In Imagining the Future: Dance Education in the 21st Century Conference Proceedings: International Dance Education Conference.

Fowler, C., Meiners, J. & Orchard, J (2006). Literacy is more than just words: exploring performance literacy for very young children. Paper presented at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Conference on Arts Education: Building Creative Capacities for the 21st century, 6-9 March, Lisbon, Portugal.

Meiners, J. & Schiller, W (2006). In the beginning: Interactions between children and a dancer in early childhood settings. In dance and the Child international (daCi) Conference Proceedings, The Hague, Holland.

Meiners, J (2005). ‘Dance education: Policies, politics and pragmatics.’ In Mohd A. Md Nor and R. Murugappan (Eds.), Global and Local Dance in Performance. Kuala Lumpur: The Cultural Centre University of Malay. 2005, pp. 221-231.

Schiller, W., Wood, D. and Meiners J (2004). In the beginning: establishing a model for a transnational, interdisciplinary, arts education project. In Higher Education Research Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) Conference Proceedings: Transforming knowledge into wisdom, vol. 27, p. 300-308, 4-7 July, Sarawak.

Schiller, W., J, Schiller, W. & Meiners, J (1997). Demystifying the teaching of movement/dance composition in early childhood/primary distance education. In dance and the Child international (daCi) Conference Proceedings Kuopio, Finland.

I am able to provide media comment in the following areas of expertise:

Discipline: Dance and Arts education

• Dance
• Arts education