Facilitating futures in the creative industries : a study of regional Australian university writing students

At a time when creative writing units and courses in Australian universities are attracting large (and growing) numbers of undergraduate and postgraduate students, those responsible for designing and delivering those units and courses clearly have a responsibility to provide learning and teaching that is tailored to students’ academic, vocational and professional needs. This article reports on recent research carried out at a large Australian regional university, the University of New England, in Armidale, New South Wales, to begin to investigate both what significance students enrolled in writing units gave to their studies in the context of their wider lives, as well as the possible futures they hope for after graduation. While many experienced educators in creative writing, as all fields of the creative industries, have expert knowledge about what possible futures may greet their students, this article suggests that educational providers also need to acknowledge (and, in many cases, build upon and extend) students’ conceptions of their own future goals in terms of professional work in the creative industries. This research is part of a larger project to develop writing units that are relevant to various student cohorts who bring to their study a broad range of both ability and vocational aspirations, by academics committed to improving learning outcomes through looking holistically at our practice, our students and the significance of study in their lives.