This volume focuses on individual and collective practices of creativity, embodiment and movement as acts of self-care and wellbeing. Creative Expression and Wellbeing in Higher Education positions creative expression as an important act for professionals working in higher education, as a way to connect, communicate, practice activism or simply slow down. Through examples as diverse as movement through dance and exercise, expression through drawing, writing or singing and creating objects with one’s hands, the authors share how individual and collective acts of creativity and movement enhance, support and embrace wellbeing, offering guidance to the reader on how such creative expression can be adopted as self-care practice. This book highlights how connection to hand, body, voice and mind has been imperative in this process for expression, fl ow and engagement with self and wellbeing practices. Self-care and wellbeing are complex at the best of times. In higher education, these are actions that are constantly being grappled with personally, collectively and systematically. Designed to support readers working in higher education, this book will also be of great interest to professionals and researchers.

This book is about redefining the value to health of creativity. Creativity derives from biological changes during human evolution as a tool that is needed for survival. The successful use of creativity generates feelings of pleasure and self-esteem that are beneficial to health. In particular, it can help depression. Current values do not give adequate importance to creativity, and the author challenges these values in this book. The book contains contributed chapters on a theory of creativity as an innate capacity, the therapeutic benefits of creativity, factors that encourage or inhibit creativity and current research on these, and accounts of creativity both as individual projects and as groupwork.

Much has been written about the importance of creativity in learning and education over the last few decades. This unique book extends beyond the usual focus on implementing creative methods in learning, teaching and assessing within higher education, to an examination of creativity as central to a learning process which is transformational for the student. More specifically, Learning as a Creative and Developmental Process in Higher Education examines the importance of a facilitative tutor-student relationship and environment which contextualise this creative process of teaching and learning. Bringing together unique teaching and learning approaches developed by experienced academics, this book discusses a number of complex issues, including approaches to an understanding of the student’s self-concept as learner; the nature of the curriculum; the potential of metaphor and creativity; and a multi-modal approach to learning and teaching. Contributions to the book also examine some of the challenges and tensions of such an approach within the context of arts-based subjects in higher education institutions. Using a unique and coherent thematic structure that is based upon the student journey as a transformational process, this book provides a new way of understanding the student journey through higher education. Including an examination of the parallels between educational and arts education and arts therapies disciplines, this book will be of interest to researchers, academics and postgraduate students involved in the arts and the arts therapies, as well as those studying creativity in teaching and learning in higher education. It should be of particular interest to those involved in the teaching and training of teachers and lecturers in higher education.

The workplace has significant influence over our sense of wellbeing. It is a place where many of us spend significant amounts of our time, where we find meaning, and often form a sense of identity. Creating a Place for Self-care and Wellbeing in Higher Education explores the notion of finding meaning across academia as a key part of self-care and wellbeing. In this edited collection, the authors navigate how they find meaning in their work in academia by sharing their own approaches to self-care and wellbeing. In the chapters, visual narratives intersect with lived experience and proactive strategies that reveal the stories, dilemmas, and tensions of those working in higher education. This book illuminates how academics and higher education professionals engage in constant reconstruction of their identity and work practices, placing self-care at the centre of the work they do, as well as revealing new ways of working to disrupt the current climate of dismissing self-care and wellbeing. Designed to inspire, support, and provoke the reader as they navigate a career in higher education, this book will be of great interest to professionals and researchers specifically interested in studies in higher education, wellbeing, and/or identity.

This book examines the increasing popularity of creativity and play in tertiary learning, and how it can be harnessed to enhance the student experience at university. While play is often misunderstood as something ‘trivial’ and associated with early years education, the editors and contributors argue that play contributes to social and human development and relations at a fundamental level. This volume invalidates the commonly held assumption that play is only for children, drawing together numerous case studies from higher education that demonstrate how researchers, students and managers can benefit from play as a means of liberating thought, overturning obstacles and discovering fresh approaches to persistent challenges. This diverse and wide-ranging edited collection unites play theory and practice to address the gulf in research on this fascinating topic. It will be of interest and value to educators, students and scholars of play and creativity, as well as practitioners and academic leaders looking to incorporate play into the curriculum.

Bringing together international perspectives, this book demonstrates the importance of reframing time in higher education and how we can view it as a resource to support wellbeing and self-care. Time is a central part of our lives and structures our days, and yet often we don’t think about the socially constructed nature of time or how we might reframe our relationship with time and our work in ways that support our self-care and wellbeing. Exploring Time as a Resource for Wellness in Higher Education suggests an alternative way to look at how we structure our time to better support our wellbeing. Drawing on a range of theoretical and personal perspectives, the authors advocate for a reconsideration and reconceptualization of our relationship with time. By sharing their experiences, the authors encourage readers to notice how they spend their time and offer strategies for an intentional focus on the relationship between time, self-care, and wellbeing. Whether it's making time, having time, or investing in time, this book explores strategies and reflections necessary to grow, maintain, and protect wellbeing. This book is a valuable resource for those working in higher education, offering individual, collective, and systemic suggestions and strategies for navigating the ways we see time and wellbeing.

Academic staff and students within higher education settings are confronted by a learning environment that is academically stimulating, informative, career-focused and socially rich, which can be intensely competitive and highly charged. Within this learning environment, academic staff and students are often at risk of compromising their wellbeing in their pursuit of academic excellence. This book provides an examination of the key areas that are important to the sustenance of wellbeing within higher education settings, with a view to promoting healthy learning environments. The chapter authors are predominantly working in the Asia-Pacific rim, but the book also includes more universal perspectives. The synthesis of the issues covered in the book is crucial to the understanding of higher education as not only an environment for gaining knowledge and skills relevant for success in academic and career domains, but also as an environment for developing socially adept and authentic communication skills. The ideas presented in this book will further assist academic staff and students to consider ways to more fully participate in their learning environment so that they can optimize their valuable contributions to the professional communities they serve.

Higher education institutions grapple with a pressing challenge: the well-being of their students. Amidst the transition to university life, students face a myriad of stressors, from academic pressures to managing finances and social connections. Yet, there needs to be more robust evidence and focused literature addressing this critical issue. Delving deep into the complexities of student well-being, Student Well-Being in Higher Education Institutions presents a comprehensive analysis of the factors influencing mental, emotional, and social health in higher education settings. This book explores the intrinsic and extrinsic elements shaping student well-being through meticulously curated chapters, from risk factors to protective mechanisms. By offering evidence-based strategies and practical recommendations, the book empowers readers to proactively address students' challenges, fostering a supportive environment conducive to flourishing.

Art and Design Pedagogy in Higher Education provides a contemporary volume that offers a scholarly perspective on tertiary level art and design education. Providing a theoretical lens to examine studio education, the authors suggest a student-centred model of curriculum that supports the development of creativity. The text offers readers analytical frameworks with which to challenge assumptions about the art and design curriculum in higher education. In this volume, Orr and Shreeve critically interrogate the landscape of art and design higher education, offering illuminating viewpoints on pedagogy and assessment. New scholarship is introduced in three key areas: curriculum: the nature and purpose of the creative curriculum and the concept of a ‘sticky curriculum’ that is actively shaped by lecturers, technicians and students; ambiguity, which the authors claim is at the heart of a creative education; value, asking what and whose ideas, practices and approaches are given value and create value within the curriculum. These insights from the perspective of a creative university subject area also offer new ways of viewing other disciplines, and provide a response to a growing educational interest in cross-curricular creativity. This book offers a coherent theory of art and design teaching and learning that will be of great interest to those working in and studying higher education practice and policy, as well as academics and researchers interested in creative education.

This is a rich source of innovative approaches to learning and teaching in HE. It addresses some common issues faced by lecturers, and includes case studies and practical suggestions for teaching. The text takes a critical approach to exploring themes from different perspectives and highlights important and recent theory in the field. Chapters cover themes such as creating enabling learning environments, supporting students to learn constructively in large groups, working with international learners, embedding employability skills and developing self-directed (or ‘flipped’) learning resources. Each section has practical examples from a range of subject disciplines along with links to further reading. This is an essential guide to teaching and learning for new and experienced practitioners in higher education, those seeking professional accreditation and those wanting to improve the experience of students.