How does a photographer represent ideas, tell stories and challenge our perspectives? And how does the viewer make sense of the photographs presented to them? Join photo-historian Helen Ennis and Gallery educators as we launch our professional learning programs for 2025 with a free online session that explores ways to engage students with photography. This is the perfect opportunity to kick off the new school year.
Discover practical strategies to use when approaching photographic works with students. Explore opportunities to develop students’ visual analysis skills and initiate discussions around the photographer’s decisions and the impact of photographs on the viewer.
You will also have the opportunity to look closely at photography by influential Australian photographer Carol Jerrems, whose work is on show in our major summer exhibition, Carol Jerrems: Portraits, as well as contemporary Australian photographers, Ying Ang, Katrin Koenning and Anu Kumar. Delve into the exhibition content, looking at photographs in societal, cultural and artistic terms and considering historical photographs from contemporary perspectives.
Professional Learning Outcomes:
- Explore teaching strategies to develop students’ ability to view, analyse and interpret photography
- Develop knowledge and understanding of photography from societal, cultural and artistic contexts
- Investigate historical photographic material and consider from contemporary perspectives
AITSL Standards:
- 2.1 Apply knowledge of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area to develop engaging teaching activities
- 3.3 Select and use relevant teaching strategies to develop knowledge, skills, problem solving and critical and creative thinking
- 6.2 Participate in learning to update knowledge and practice, targeted to professional needs and school and/or system priorities
This professional learning session is recommended for secondary visual arts teachers and educators. Can’t make it? Sign up to our education newsletter to receive access to On Demand programs and find out about upcoming professional learning at the National Portrait Gallery.