what is the value of creative arts in primary education

New evidence of the benefits of arts education

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, brian kisida and bk brian kisida assistant professor, truman school of public affairs - university of missouri @briankisida daniel h. bowen dhb daniel h. bowen assistant professor, college of education and human development - texas a&m university @_dhbowen.

February 12, 2019

Engaging with art is essential to the human experience. Almost as soon as motor skills are developed, children communicate through artistic expression. The arts challenge us with different points of view, compel us to empathize with “others,” and give us the opportunity to reflect on the human condition. Empirical evidence supports these claims: Among adults, arts participation is related to behaviors that contribute to the health of civil society , such as increased civic engagement, greater social tolerance, and reductions in other-regarding behavior. Yet, while we recognize art’s transformative impacts, its place in K-12 education has become increasingly tenuous.

A critical challenge for arts education has been a lack of empirical evidence that demonstrates its educational value. Though few would deny that the arts confer intrinsic benefits, advocating “art for art’s sake” has been insufficient for preserving the arts in schools—despite national surveys showing an overwhelming majority of the public agrees that the arts are a necessary part of a well-rounded education.

Over the last few decades, the proportion of students receiving arts education has shrunk drastically . This trend is primarily attributable to the expansion of standardized-test-based accountability, which has pressured schools to focus resources on tested subjects. As the saying goes, what gets measured gets done. These pressures have disproportionately affected access to the arts in a negative way for students from historically underserved communities. For example, a federal government report found that schools designated under No Child Left Behind as needing improvement and schools with higher percentages of minority students were more likely to experience decreases in time spent on arts education.

We recently conducted the first ever large-scale, randomized controlled trial study of a city’s collective efforts to restore arts education through community partnerships and investments. Building on our previous investigations of the impacts of enriching arts field trip experiences, this study examines the effects of a sustained reinvigoration of schoolwide arts education. Specifically, our study focuses on the initial two years of Houston’s Arts Access Initiative and includes 42 elementary and middle schools with over 10,000 third- through eighth-grade students. Our study was made possible by generous support of the Houston Endowment , the National Endowment for the Arts , and the Spencer Foundation .

Due to the program’s gradual rollout and oversubscription, we implemented a lottery to randomly assign which schools initially participated. Half of these schools received substantial influxes of funding earmarked to provide students with a vast array of arts educational experiences throughout the school year. Participating schools were required to commit a monetary match to provide arts experiences. Including matched funds from the Houston Endowment, schools in the treatment group had an average of $14.67 annually per student to facilitate and enhance partnerships with arts organizations and institutions. In addition to arts education professional development for school leaders and teachers, students at the 21 treatment schools received, on average, 10 enriching arts educational experiences across dance, music, theater, and visual arts disciplines. Schools partnered with cultural organizations and institutions that provided these arts learning opportunities through before- and after-school programs, field trips, in-school performances from professional artists, and teaching-artist residencies. Principals worked with the Arts Access Initiative director and staff to help guide arts program selections that aligned with their schools’ goals.

Our research efforts were part of a multisector collaboration that united district administrators, cultural organizations and institutions, philanthropists, government officials, and researchers. Collective efforts similar to Houston’s Arts Access Initiative have become increasingly common means for supplementing arts education opportunities through school-community partnerships. Other examples include Boston’s Arts Expansion Initiative , Chicago’s Creative Schools Initiative , and Seattle’s Creative Advantage .

Through our partnership with the Houston Education Research Consortium, we obtained access to student-level demographics, attendance and disciplinary records, and test score achievement, as well as the ability to collect original survey data from all 42 schools on students’ school engagement and social and emotional-related outcomes.

We find that a substantial increase in arts educational experiences has remarkable impacts on students’ academic, social, and emotional outcomes. Relative to students assigned to the control group, treatment school students experienced a 3.6 percentage point reduction in disciplinary infractions, an improvement of 13 percent of a standard deviation in standardized writing scores, and an increase of 8 percent of a standard deviation in their compassion for others. In terms of our measure of compassion for others, students who received more arts education experiences are more interested in how other people feel and more likely to want to help people who are treated badly.

When we restrict our analysis to elementary schools, which comprised 86 percent of the sample and were the primary target of the program, we also find that increases in arts learning positively and significantly affect students’ school engagement, college aspirations, and their inclinations to draw upon works of art as a means for empathizing with others. In terms of school engagement, students in the treatment group were more likely to agree that school work is enjoyable, makes them think about things in new ways, and that their school offers programs, classes, and activities that keep them interested in school. We generally did not find evidence to suggest significant impacts on students’ math, reading, or science achievement, attendance, or our other survey outcomes, which we discuss in our full report .

As education policymakers increasingly rely on empirical evidence to guide and justify decisions, advocates struggle to make the case for the preservation and restoration of K-12 arts education. To date, there is a remarkable lack of large-scale experimental studies that investigate the educational impacts of the arts. One problem is that U.S. school systems rarely collect and report basic data that researchers could use to assess students’ access and participation in arts educational programs. Moreover, the most promising outcomes associated with arts education learning objectives extend beyond commonly reported outcomes such as math and reading test scores. There are strong reasons to suspect that engagement in arts education can improve school climate, empower students with a sense of purpose and ownership, and enhance mutual respect for their teachers and peers. Yet, as educators and policymakers have come to recognize the importance of expanding the measures we use to assess educational effectiveness, data measuring social and emotional benefits are not widely collected. Future efforts should continue to expand on the types of measures used to assess educational program and policy effectiveness.

These findings provide strong evidence that arts educational experiences can produce significant positive impacts on academic and social development. Because schools play a pivotal role in cultivating the next generation of citizens and leaders, it is imperative that we reflect on the fundamental purpose of a well-rounded education. This mission is critical in a time of heightened intolerance and pressing threats to our core democratic values. As policymakers begin to collect and value outcome measures beyond test scores, we are likely to further recognize the value of the arts in the fundamental mission of education.

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The Importance of Art in the Primary School Curriculum

Written by Dan

Last updated December 15, 2023

In a constantly changing world, it is more important than ever for children to learn about art. Art teaches children about different cultures and allows them to express themselves in ways that math and science cannot.

Art helps children develop creativity and problem-solving skills and can even improve their academic performance! In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of art in the primary school curriculum and provide examples of how art can help students learn and grow.

Related : For more, check out our article on  The Importance Of DT In The Primary Curriculum  here.

Table of Contents

Why is Art taught in primary schools?

Art class is like a unique playground for the young imagination! It’s a beautiful way for primary school kids to express their creativity and explore the world around them. By introducing art, teachers can bring out their students’ potential and boost their learning skills.

Art also promotes critical thinking and understanding other cultures since it takes learning beyond books and text. Paintbrushes and pencils can open up whole new pathways of learning, allowing students to be imaginative with their interpretations and ideas that a textbook could not provide. Plus, it just makes learning so much more fun!

How can we break down the art curriculum?

Developing ideas.

Teaching young children how to ‘develop ideas’ through art is a skill that can set them up for success throughout their entire lives.

Giving kids the ability to think creatively and to bring their ideas to life in a tangible way helps to nurture confidence, problem-solving skills, and intrinsic motivation.

Working with primary school students to develop ideas teaches them to look at problems from many perspectives. It encourages them to come up with outrageous solutions that foster imagination and open-mindedness.

It’s lots of fun watching their eyes light up as their thoughts are brought into the physical realm!

Drawing is an essential art skill that primary school kids should be learning and honing in the classroom. Drawing allows creative minds to start expressing themselves in an accessible way; even the shortest and simplest drawing can still have a story behind it.

With the correct teaching, primary schoolers can explore their drawing capabilities, from shapes and lines up to full-blown masterpieces.

Being able to draw is also reasonably practical – illustrating a message visually is always a great help when you don’t have too much time on your hands or words won’t do justice. The possibilities are endless if you know how to draw correctly.

Teaching art in primary school is a creative and important way for young learners to explore the world! Getting familiar with painting can be a great outlet for expressing ideas and emotions.

Exposure to art at an early age has been found to help children develop skills like creativity, problem-solving, collaboration and critical thinking.

Additionally, it can give children more confidence when it comes to self-expression. Studies have shown that kids who are exposed to paint tend to do better in activities related to the fine motor control as well as hand-eye coordination.

Learning how to paint is fun for kids of all ages, allowing them to explore their artistic style while also developing their technical abilities.

Dare I say it? With enough practice and dedication, everyone can become a top artist!

Introducing art fundamentals to young minds greatly benefits their creative expression and imagination. One of the most basic yet essential art skills is the ability to ‘colour’; this seemingly simple activity teaches children a great deal about composition, shape, texture, mixing colours and more.

When you allow a child to express themselves artistically by colouring, they start to realise there is no right or wrong answer, it reinforces positive sentiments like autonomy and self-expression.

Besides, who doesn’t love having fun with felt tip pens? Colouring helps build confidence and encourages kids to think out of the box creatively – something that will benefit them for years to come!

Printing, Textiles and Collage

Teaching children the art of printing, textiles and collage in primary school can be incredibly fun! With printing and collage, students start to learn the basics of colour and texture and develop critical thinking skills related to problem-solving.

Additionally, by having the kids learn about textiles, they can discover incredible patterns they can apply to their own designs while also learning about fabric structures such as weaving.

Not only will this broaden their creative mind, but it will also help them form relationships with various media and materials. It’s an excellent way for kids to not only explore arts and crafts uniquely but, more importantly, gain essential skills that’ll benefit them immensely in both academic and creative pursuits.

It’s time to get creative and crafty with art! When teaching the basics of art in primary school, it is essential to introduce the concept of ‘sculpture’ because it allows kids to express themselves in 3D.

Through sculpting, children can explore different materials as they give shape and form to their imaginations – producing some pretty cool pieces of artwork!

Plus, it’s just a lot of fun. With the right supplies and imagination, students can make something special that will last in their memory (and maybe even win an award!).

Inspiration

Teaching primary school children about ‘inspiration’ in art is essential because exploring how creativity is triggered can open up a whole new world for them.

By understanding the different sources of inspiration, such as nature, literature, technology and music, kids can start to recognize how all these areas influence the creative process.

Encouraging students to find their inspiration can also help them begin to take ownership of their art and develop their style. Plus, it’s a lot of fun discovering new muses and how they spark even more fabulous ideas!

The importance of art in the primary school curriculum cannot be overstated. With its various elements such as colouring, printing, textiles and collage, sculpture and inspiration – art offers a unique opportunity for children to explore their creative side and gain essential skills.

Not only is it fun, but by nurturing a child’s artistic talent, they can develop confidence and imagination while also expressing themselves in unique ways.

Ultimately, introducing art fundamentals to young minds can have a lasting effect on their creative pursuits both now and in the future.

Q: What are the benefits of teaching art in primary school?

A: Teaching art in primary school can help children develop important skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, self-expression and creativity. It can also help them gain confidence and learn about composition, texture, colours, and more

Q: What types of art can be taught in primary school?

A: Types of art that can be taught in primary school include colouring, printing, textiles and collage, sculpture and inspiration

Q: What is the importance of teaching children about inspiration in art?

A: By teaching children about inspiration in art, they can start to recognize how different sources of inspiration, such as nature, literature, technology and music, can influence the creative process. It also encourages students to find their own inspirations, which help them develop their style

Q: How does art help children in everyday life?

A: Art helps children in everyday life by teaching them essential skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, self-expression and creativity. These skills can help them succeed in school, work and other areas of life. Art also helps children gain confidence and express themselves in unique ways.

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About The Author

I'm Dan Higgins, one of the faces behind The Teaching Couple. With 15 years in the education sector and a decade as a teacher, I've witnessed the highs and lows of school life. Over the years, my passion for supporting fellow teachers and making school more bearable has grown. The Teaching Couple is my platform to share strategies, tips, and insights from my journey. Together, we can shape a better school experience for all.

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Creativity and Academics: The Power of an Arts Education

The arts are as important as academics, and they should be treated that way in school curriculum. This is what we believe and practice at New Mexico School for the Arts (NMSA). While the positive impact of the arts on academic achievement is worthwhile in itself, it's also the tip of the iceberg when looking at the whole child. Learning art goes beyond creating more successful students. We believe that it creates more successful human beings.

NMSA is built upon a dual arts and academic curriculum. Our teachers, students, and families all hold the belief that both arts and academics are equally important. Our goal is to prepare students for professional careers in the arts, while also equipping them with the skills and content knowledge necessary to succeed in college. From our personal experience ( and research ), here are five benefits of an arts education:

1. Growth Mindset

Through the arts, students develop skills like resilience, grit, and a growth mindset to help them master their craft, do well academically, and succeed in life after high school. (See Embracing Failure: Building a Growth Mindset Through the Arts and Mastering Self-Assessment: Deepening Independent Learning Through the Arts .) Ideally, this progression will happen naturally, but often it can be aided by the teacher. By setting clear expectations and goals for students and then drawing the correlation between the work done and the results, students can begin to shift their motivation, resulting in a much healthier and more sustainable learning environment.

For students to truly grow and progress, there has to be a point when intrinsic motivation comes into balance with extrinsic motivation. In the early stages of learning an art form, students engage with the activity because it's fun (intrinsic motivation). However, this motivation will allow them to progress only so far, and then their development begins to slow -- or even stop. At this point, lean on extrinsic motivation to continue your students' growth. This can take the form of auditions, tests, or other assessments. Like the impact of early intrinsic motivation, this kind of engagement will help your students grow and progress. While both types of motivation are helpful and productive, a hybrid of the two is most successful. Your students will study or practice not only for the external rewards, but also because of the self-enjoyment or satisfaction this gives them.

2. Self-Confidence

A number of years ago, I had a student enter my band program who would not speak. When asked a question, she would simply look at me. She loved being in band, but she would not play. I wondered why she would choose to join an activity while refusing to actually do the activity. Slowly, through encouragement from her peers and myself, a wonderful young person came out from under her insecurities and began to play. And as she learned her instrument, I watched her transform into not only a self-confident young lady and an accomplished musician, but also a student leader. Through the act of making music, she overcame her insecurities and found her voice and place in life.

3. Improved Cognition

Research connects learning music to improved "verbal memory, second language pronunciation accuracy, reading ability, and executive functions" in youth ( Frontiers in Neuroscience ). By immersing students in arts education, you draw them into an incredibly complex and multifaceted endeavor that combines many subject matters (like mathematics, history, language, and science) while being uniquely tied to culture.

For example, in order for a student to play in tune, he must have a scientific understanding of sound waves and other musical acoustics principles. Likewise, for a student to give an inspired performance of Shakespeare, she must understand social, cultural, and historical events of the time. The arts are valuable not only as stand-alone subject matter, but also as the perfect link between all subject matters -- and a great delivery system for these concepts, as well. You can see this in the correlation between drawing and geometry, or between meter and time signatures and math concepts such as fractions .

4. Communication

One can make an argument that communication may be the single most important aspect of existence. Our world is built through communication. Students learn a multitude of communication skills by studying the arts. Through the very process of being in a music ensemble, they must learn to verbally, physically, and emotionally communicate with their peers, conductor, and audience. Likewise, a cast member must not only communicate the spoken word to an audience, but also the more intangible underlying emotions of the script. The arts are a mode of expression that transforms thoughts and emotions into a unique form of communication -- art itself.

5. Deepening Cultural and Self-Understanding

While many find the value of arts education to be the ways in which it impacts student learning, I feel the learning of art is itself a worthwhile endeavor. A culture without art isn’t possible. Art is at the very core of our identity as humans. I feel that the greatest gift we can give students -- and humanity -- is an understanding, appreciation, and ability to create art.

What are some of the benefits of an arts education that you have noticed with your students?

New Mexico School for the Arts

Per pupil expenditures, free / reduced lunch, demographics:.

136 Irving Street Cambridge, MA 02138

The Values of Arts Education

Arts education builds well-rounded individuals, arts education broadens our understanding of and appreciation for other cultures and histories, arts education supports social and emotional development, arts education builds empathy, reduces intolerance, and generates acceptance of others, arts education improves school engagement and culture, arts education develops valuable life and career skills, arts education strengthens community and civic engagement.

Arts education plays a vital role in the personal and professional development of citizens and, more broadly, the economic growth and social sustainability of communities. Its loss or diminution from the system would be incalculable. And yet, despite widespread support from parents and the general public, arts education still struggles to be prioritized by decision-makers. We believe one reason the arts are not prioritized stems from a disconnect between the perceived value of the arts and the real benefits experienced by students. We often heard in our outreach that the arts are misunderstood; one listening-session participant, a leader in arts education advocacy, noted that “decision-makers may have a flawed vision of what arts learning is in their heads, and they make decisions based on that vision.”

To remedy this, in this section we document the important attributes, values, and skills that come from arts education. We argue that arts education:

• Builds well-rounded individuals;
• Broadens our understanding and appreciation of other cultures and histories;
• Supports social and emotional development;
• Builds empathy, reduces intolerance, and generates acceptance of others;
• Improves school engagement and culture;
• Develops valuable life and career skills; and
• Strengthens community and civic engagement.

Many of these social and emotional benefits are intertwined with the priorities facing our school systems as we recover from the pandemic. These themes are enriched by a broad collection of voices—students, parents, arts educators, artists, and others—who told us about their experiences with arts education and how they have benefited.

“Though I personally have enjoyed and benefited tremendously from arts education, it is in my role as parent that I see most poignantly the power of arts education. I have seen my children think, feel, and connect through the arts in ways exponentially more powerful than they could without. When we moved to a community which did not support art education . . . I not only saw my own children struggle socially, emotionally, and academically; but also saw the devastating effects on the youth community. I am delighted now, in a new community, to see my children perform in musical and theatrical productions as well as to develop habits of inquiry, resourcefulness, and persistence through visual art. These experiences overshadow the toll that lack of arts opportunities took. Yet I grieve for those who do not have such access.”

—erin, parent, camdenton, missouri.

Similar to math, science, or history, the arts are a way of knowing and understanding the world and the complexity of human experience. Arts education builds an appreciation for the arts, and provides students with an introduction to artistic disciplines, techniques, and major movements that serves as a foundation for lifelong engagement. As such, the arts should not be viewed as a frill or subservient to other disciplines. Knowledge of the Renaissance, the Harlem Renaissance, pottery crafting techniques, or the fundamentals of perspective and design holds no less value than knowing the chemical formula for photosynthesis or how to calculate the circumference of a circle. And for many, it will mean much more. Indeed, research from the National Endowment for the Arts ( NEA ) found that childhood arts exposure is the number one predictor of arts participation as an adult. 37 Without that exposure, this window to the world remains hidden.

“I married a humanities professor, poet, and semiprofessional musician who had been saved by music as a child and had the opportunity to grow up playing in the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. This of course meant that our house has been filled with music and musicians forever. . . . When it came time for our children to play instruments, my husband steered them toward instruments that would complete his future jazz trio. He was still on the trumpet, my son emerged as the piano player, and my daughter was on the upright bass. When they were small, they would pretend or struggle through, but last year before my husband Greg died unexpectedly, there they were playing “All Blues” by Miles Davis in the trio he envisioned. When they are feeling down or need to remember him, they go back to their instruments without prompting and just play. . . . [Art] becomes a means to connect and remember.”

— dr. maria trent, physician-scientist, maryland.

• 37 Rabkin and Hedberg, Arts Education in America .

Alongside the deeper insights into the world that can come from the arts, they also provide a vital link to the past. Art spans time and space and opens a window into experiences distant from us. From the cave paintings of Lascaux to Hokusai’s The Great Wave to Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton , the arts document the richness of human history, preserved for future generations to contemplate and build upon. Arts education uniquely gives students the opportunity to engage with the past in a way that brings history to life and goes beyond textbooks. Expanding the curriculum beyond the Western-centric canon furthers these opportunities for deeper understanding and appreciation across cultures. Research shows that arts education not only increases historical knowledge but also historical empathy, opening up a deep understanding of what it was like to live in different times and places. 38

Art can also offer a way to preserve the cultural heritage of marginalized communities by engaging communities whose histories and culture have been suppressed or forgotten. Jamaica Osorio, an artist and scholar, told us that in her Hawaiian immersion school, arts were deeply integrated:

“So, when we studied literature, we studied these ancient mo‘olelo —these stories, histories, and literatures, and these songs of our kūpuna —of our ancestors—and that was the primary document. . . . I’ve devoted my life to the study of Hawaiian literature and, in particular, literature in Hawaiian, and have devoted my work to trying to represent these texts through poetry in a way that will be relevant and resonant with the people of my generation, who may feel—for whatever reason—distanced or disconnected from that archive.”

At every stage and in every school, the connections the arts open to the past can help deepen a child’s understanding of the world.

“The art classroom is a perfect place to introduce students to a world beyond their own. Through art-historical experiences, students can connect past and present events, realize that history is explored and experienced through art, and appreciate the struggles and triumphs of times they have not lived through.”

—jessica, visual arts educator, altoona, pa.

• 38 Brian Kisida, Laura Goodwin, and Daniel H. Bowen, “ Teaching History through Theater: The Effects of Arts Integration on Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes ,” AERA Open , January 2020; and Greene, Kisida, and Bowen, “Educational Value of Field Trips.”

Arts education is also a key ingredient in social and emotional learning, a growing priority for education policy-makers over the past decade. 39 The arts facilitate personal and emotional growth by providing opportunities for students to reflect on who they are and who they want to be. Artistic works expose students to deep personal perspectives and intimate experiences, and through these experiences students find new ways to see themselves and their role in the world. It is not surprising that many adults can reference key pieces of literature, poetry, and other artworks that have helped define who they are.

Similarly, the process of making art necessitates the formation of one’s own perspective. The need to then share that perspective gives students space to form and refine their own voice. Different arts disciplines provide distinct opportunities for students to learn to express themselves. For instance, Irishia Hubbard, a dance teacher with the Turnaround Arts Network in Santa Ana, California, works with middle school students (grades 6–8) on the dance team. After journaling and talking about experiences of immigration and borders, her students produce, rehearse, and perform a dance exploring those feelings. Ashley, an eighth-grade student, described the experience, observing that “this dance means a lot to me, because at one point in my life I was separated from my brother and my dad.” Stephanie Phillips, the Santa Ana superintendent, added, “they have absolutely blossomed, as performers, but also as expressive advocates of themselves; they are now talking about things that are of concern to them and learning to express them, not only artistically, but in simple terms of how to have collaborative and very constructive conversation.” Chiamaka, an eleventh-grader from North Carolina who shared her perspective with us, stated simply that art “has given me a voice.”

Carly, a twelfth-grader with cerebral palsy from New Mexico, told us that arts education helped her “step outside of my comfort zone.” Finding a place in theater gave her a place to be seen:

“I’ve had a lot of people tell me . . . that they wouldn’t cast me, that they wouldn’t do it, it would be too hard on me, and they basically didn’t want to risk it. And then I finally found a director who gave me my first lead role, and just being up there and realizing that everybody’s looking at me and they’re not just seeing a disability, they’re seeing me expressing myself in the way I loved. I just never wanted them to stop seeing me that way.”

“It is not an overstatement to say the arts saved my life. My arts education, particularly in high school, centered on vocal music, forensic theater, and traditional performance theater. Each of these inherently came with a community of people who—while all similar—taught one another to see the world through myriad eyes. I gained a siblinghood who provided creative and constructive outlets for the breadth of human emotion; I learned what it meant to be an ally; I gained the confidence to be myself and the assurance that ‘myself’ is exactly who the world needs me to be.”

—lynnea, arts administrator, suburban tennessee.

• 39 The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning is one key instance of this. They define social and emotional learning as “the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions” ( https://casel.org/what-is-sel/ ).

The arts have long had a role in bending the arc of history toward justice. Just as the arts help us better understand ourselves, they also improve our ability to empathize with others. As Mary Anne Carter, the twelfth chair of the NEA recently noted, “The arts are a powerful antidote against bigotry and hate. The arts can build bridges, promote tolerance, and heal social divisions.” 40 We have all witnessed the power of the arts to promote understanding, from the ability of plays like Angels in America to challenge how audiences saw AIDS , to the unifying role that music played in the Civil Rights Movement.

Arts education exposes students to a greater diversity of opinions and ideas. This in turn can challenge preconceived notions of others and build greater empathy and acceptance. A growing body of research confirms the power of arts education to contribute to these prosocial behaviors. 41 For instance, research in California public schools revealed that drama activities prompted students to take on different perspectives through interpreting a character’s motivation. 42 Loie, an eighth-grade student from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, told us that through her experiences with arts courses, “I’m able to express my opinions and be open to other people’s opinions. . . . I can look at their experience and learn from it. . . . There’s different ways of looking at things.”

“Effectively communicating that we understand what another person is feeling is one of the greatest gifts we can give to another human being . . . from listening to even just a single movement of music by a classical composer . . . abstract, wordless music can transcend time and ethnicity in its ability to communicate the full depth of human emotion.”

— george, teaching artist (music), bedminster, nj.

• 40 “#WednesdayMotivation,” June 24, 2020, #WednesdayMotivation: Mary Anne Carter on the Power of the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts.
• 41 Sara Konrath and Brian Kisida, “Does Arts Engagement Increase Empathy and Prosocial Behavior? A Review of the Literature,” in Engagement in the City: How Arts and Culture Impact Development in Urban Areas , ed. Leigh N. Hersey and Bryna Bobick (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2021).
• 42 Liane Brouillette, “ How the Arts Help Children to Create Healthy Social Scripts: Exploring the Perceptions of Elementary Teachers ,” Arts Education Policy Review 111 (1) (2009): 20–21.

In a perfect world, students would enthusiastically look forward to coming to school. Educators are continually searching for ways to excite students about learning, combat chronic absenteeism, and curb the dropout rate. Engaging students in their own learning process is not only important for the time they spend in school but is essential to inculcating a lifelong love of learning and discovery.

Arts education is particularly well-suited to combat complacent attitudes toward learning. Indeed, research finds that students enrolled in arts courses have improved attendance, and the effects are larger for students with a history of chronic absenteeism. 43 Related research finds that arts learning generates spaces “full of student passion and apprenticeship style learning.” 44 The arts provide students a sense of ownership and agency over their own education. Students who enroll in a theater class, for example, gain a sense of purpose as they work toward opening night, and they build a community with their peers and teachers as they work together toward a common goal. Alex, an arts educator from Chicago, illustrated it this way:

“I believe that it is imperative for students to have voice and choice in their learning . . . students are more invested and take more risks when they create from the point of what is personal or important to them. . . . When students discover an idea or medium that speaks to them, they become more invested in learning and creating.”

Arts education also improves school engagement by providing different ways of accessing educational content. In a nation with over 50 million K –12 students, schools need a broad set of entry points for students to discover what kinds of learning environments work best for them. Jessica, a visual arts educator from Altoona, Pennsylvania, told us, “Students who may be low achievers in the academic classroom are some of my highest functioning students in the art room. . . . Everyone has strengths and everyone has weaknesses.” Not all students learn the same way, and art offers students with different learning styles another mechanism by which to absorb content and ideas. Jensen, an eleventh-grader from Washington state, told us, “from taking art classes I learned that having a different pace or approach to things is okay, and everyone learns and makes things in their own way. And that really helped with my self-esteem in school and outside of school.”

“I really disliked school and thought it was an incredible waste of time and looked forward to turning sixteen so that I could drop out like my Dad had done. The one thing that kept me in school was that I really loved band. I couldn’t see myself leaving the band behind, and so I stayed in school and even went to college. Not as a music major, but I continued to play in the College Marching and Concert bands. Now I work in Arts Education and hope that the artists we send to perform in schools and teach workshops are finding the students who are bored and dislike school and are giving them a reason to stay.”

—donnajean, arts educator, kendall park, nj.

Finally, the collaborative nature of the arts can build strong bonds among students, teachers, and parents, thus contributing to a more positive school culture. Teachers in schools with higher levels of arts education report greater parental involvement. 45 Erin, the parent from Missouri, relayed this compelling story about her children:

“This year [2020] was, as was the case for most of us around the world, a particularly tough year. My children were uncharacteristically seized with anxiety and dread about returning to school. One child in particular, typically a bright and eager student, despaired the return. It was not her friends but her art teachers—and the experiences they collaboratively created—that completely turned her attitude around. For that, I am forever grateful; for in the midst of dread and despair, art helps us to meet and support one another.”

“I grew up in a dysfunctional family . . . and I wrote about all the loss and damage of growing up in a dysfunctional family—the abuse and the neglect. And when I was a senior in high school, the very last thing that happened before I graduated was someone turned in one of my poems, and it won the poetry contest for the [school’s literary magazine]. It was profound. I wasn’t this zero nothing, and my work had merit. And it planted a seed that really navigated the rest of my life. . . . That little measure of recognition really formed everything, and I’m so grateful for everybody that made that literary magazine exist in this enormous high school. There were lots of sports and lots of clubs and that tiny literary magazine was, I assume for other writers like me, a life raft—a lifesaving raft.”

—mary agnes antonopoulos, copywriter, monroe, ny.

• 43 Bowen and Kisida, The Arts Advantage .
• 44 Jal Mehta, “ Schools Already Have Good Learning, Just Not Where You Think ,” Education Week , February 8, 2017.
• 45 Bowen and Kisida, The Arts Advantage .

Arts education also imparts valuable skills that will serve students in their lives and careers: observation, problem-solving, innovation, and critical thinking. 46 Participating in the arts can also improve communication skills, generate self-esteem, teach collaboration, and increase confidence. Such skills are valuable to artists and non-artists alike. For those interested in careers in the arts, from musicians to music producers, fine artists to graphic designers, arts courses provide an opportunity for career exploration and a foundation for career choices.

“Arts education played an important role in developing my skills and preparing me for that dreadful thing we call ‘adulthood.’ This may be cliche, but it’s true when I say it’s taught me important life skills such as thinking outside the box, being able to adapt quickly to situations, developing that camaraderie with people, and being comfortable in my own skin. Improv is definitely something I benefited from in my arts education. The number one rule of improv is to never say no but always say, ‘Yes, and. . . .’ That’s proven to be key to my success in life—personally and professionally. My arts education taught me how to be confident . . . flexible, creative, how to be a team player, and when to listen and talk. I can’t say for certain if I’d be as successful in my personal or professional development without my arts education, and I certainly appreciate what it’s done for me and don’t take it for granted.”

—aaron kubey, director of artistic sign language, washington, d.c..

Moreover, specific skills covered through arts education directly affect a broad swath of careers outside the core arts careers. Stephanie, an arts educator in suburban California, told us that her main goal in teaching art is “developing creativity and innovation.” From the interior designer relying on color theory to the architect who uses 3 D software to the engineer who incorporates elements of design, the skills embodied in arts education have wide applications. Jensen, an eleventh-grader who had studied at a specialized arts school and wants to pursue a career in medicine, told us, “a lot of the things I learned are skills I would use interacting with people and the world around me, and not just a sheet of paper or something that’s on my computer.” The far-reaching benefits of arts education include work ethic and resilience. As Jade Elyssa A. Rivera, who works in arts education policy and advocacy in California, shared, “The arts were an essential part of my upbringing. It is where I learned the meaning of hard work. It is where I learned that, even in the face of systemic injustices, my dreams are achievable. It is where I learned that, if I just roll up my sleeves and do the work, anything is possible.”

“While I continued to love art and teaching, in 2015 I made a drastic career shift and left the field of education. I found myself working in the private sector for a large retailer doing ISD [instructional systems design] work . . . thinking this would be a new path. While it did end up being a new path, it wasn’t as far from my background as I thought it would be. It was only a few months into this work that I found myself applying for and being accepted for a role based on the fine arts and education background I had been pursuing previously. While it was applied in a corporate sense, I was given the opportunity to photograph, film, and design training for retail employees directly applying principles I had learned throughout my arts education and career for an entirely new and unique audience. Beyond aesthetics and design, I’ve been able to apply the critical thinking skills, view problems from multiple sides, draft ideas, and quickly revise or shift. Many of these were formed through learning about art. . . . Without art and its impact on my life, I would not have the perspective, experiences, or career I do today.”

—ian, former arts educator, arkansas.

• 46 NGA Center for Best Practices, The Impact of Arts Education on Workforce Preparation (Washington, D.C.: National Governors Association, May 2002).

Finally, arts education can lead to socially empowered and civically engaged youths and adults. Equipped with the knowledge, habits, values, and skills provided through arts education, students are well-prepared to promote democratic values and contribute to the health of our economy and culture. 47 Arts education experiences offer community and civic contributions with the potential for positive transformations. For example, Grace, an arts educator in Lake Arrowhead, California, described how, “Over the course of my 27 years of teaching art I have promoted community and civic engagement with schoolwide murals on and off campus.”

Strengthening and valuing communities through the arts also occurs through collaborations between schools and communities. Leslie Imse, a music educator and chair of the Farmington Public Schools K -12 music department, living in Simsbury, Connecticut, shared an example of her school’s engagement with seniors in their community: 48

“In addition to performing at our school concerts, student musicians perform regularly in their school and town community. After the 2008 recession, the music department realized that the population that was hurting the most were the senior citizens in our community. We created a new event for the senior citizens, bringing them to our school cafeteria for a free meal and ‘a show.’ It was so popular in town that we annually have one ‘Senior Citizen Cafe’ in the fall and one in the spring. The relationships that students have made with the senior citizens are meaningful, as our musicians not only prepare music for the older generation but also wait tables and converse with the seniors. . . . This is one of the many service activities that the music department connects with the community.”

Arts education also provides opportunities for students to engage with current events both close to the lives of students and far away. For instance, at Clarence Edwards Middle School in Boston, the eighth-grade visual arts class run by Shari Malgieri follows the news—international, national, and popular—over the entire year and then collaborates on a comprehensive mural about the year as seen by the students. 49

“As a person who facilitates arts-in-education residencies, I’ve watched people of all ages benefit from the arts. . . . I’ve seen teenagers weld beautiful fish from trash they cleaned from a stream to educate the public about the ways pollution threatens wildlife, and heard them say how meaningful it is to know that their work will make a difference. I’ve watched the joy on the faces of folks with intellectual disabilities as they crafted panels for a group quilt that would go on a city-wide tour. . . . Nearly every day of my working life is an encounter with the ways arts in education pulls people together, ignites change (both personal and social), and gives life to deep and lasting happiness.”

—marci, arts facilitator, lancaster, pa.

These aspects of community and civic engagement, in concert with the other benefits of arts education, prepare students to become effective citizens who are socially empowered and civilly engaged adults, equipped with the tools to contribute their own voices to the ever-evolving story of America. As Amanda Gorman, the nation’s first youth poet laureate, expressed, “All art is political. The decision to create, the artistic choice to have a voice, the choice to be heard, is the most political act of all.” 50 How we respond to the deficit in arts education in America—how we prepare our future leaders to refine and use their own voices—will help define our course for generations to come.  

• 47 Arts education can also serve as a prevention, intervention, transition, and healing experience for students in the juvenile justice system, where barriers to arts engagement often exist. The Education Commission of the States suggests expanding the arts for incarcerated youth, who disproportionately lack access when removed from their communities and schools. Education Commission of the States, Engaging the Arts across the Juvenile Justice System (Denver: Education Commission of the States, April 2020).
• 48 Many other types of intergenerational arts programs exist that provide opportunities for participants from different generations to develop positive reciprocal relationships. These interactions begin to break down existing stereotypes of ageism and offer a pathway to healthy aging and meaningful community relationships. Intergenerational public schools in Cleveland, Ohio, have been in operation since 2000 and emphasize the importance of experience and relationship-based learning. Adults and elders volunteer at schools, where they engage with young people through the arts and other learning opportunities. Examples of such intergenerational arts projects span multiple disciplines, including theatre (see, for example, Richard Chin, “ This ‘Peter Pan’ Production Truly Is Ageless ,” NextAvenue , April 8, 2016), visual art, and ecology (for example, “ Students’ Concerns for Nature Featured in Art Show ,” Sauk Trail Wolves , n.d.). Many other resources are located on the Generations United website , a national organization that fosters intergenerational learning relationships, linking schools with elders in a variety of sites across the country.
• 49 David Farbman, Dennie Palmer Wolf, and Diane Sherlock, Advancing Arts Education through an Expanded School Day: Lessons from Five Schools (Boston: National Center on Time and Learning, June 2013), 19–31.
• 50 Carren Jao, “ Poetry Is Political: Amanda Gorman’s America ,” KCET , January 20, 2021.

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Creativity in schools essential to preparing young people for future uncertainty and change

New research released today by the Australia Council for the Arts provides powerful evidence for the wide-reaching benefits of creativity in education.

Cultivating Creativity:  A study of the Sydney Opera House’s Creative Leadership in Learning Program  shows creative learning approaches help build confidence, improve academic engagement and prepare young people for future disruption and change. It also transforms teaching staff and the school community.

The report reveals that applying creativity has the potential to holistically impact children – academically, socially and emotionally – and enhance learning across a range of academic subjects.

Conducted over two years, the joint research partnership between the Australia Council and the Opera House examined the impact of the  Creative Leadership in Learning  (CLIL) program, an innovative Opera House program that works with schools to embed creativity in approaches to teaching and learning.

The research shows how creative approaches positively impact school culture, enhance the sense of community and help students to thrive in uncertain times.

It demonstrates that applying creativity in education can dramatically increase student engagement, equipping both students and the teaching community with the skills and capabilities to meet difference, difficulty and the previously unimaginable with confidence.

Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher said: “I commend the Australia Council and the Sydney Opera House on partnering to deliver this report, which offers valuable insights into the crucial role of arts and creativity in equipping our young people with the resilience and confidence they will need for the future”.

Australia Council CEO Adrian Collette AM said:  “ This important research further reinforces what we know – that arts and creativity have the power to transform us, and certainly in education.  Cultivating Creativity  is an optimistic, exciting and useful document that will help educators and cultural organisations adapt for the 21 st  century.”

NSW Minister for the Arts, The Hon. Don Harwin  said: “ Cultivating Creativity  demonstrates that the Opera House’s innovative program Creative Leadership in Learning is immensely valuable to the NSW community. Supporting schools and students to teach and learn through creativity helps build vital relationships and fosters resilience and imaginative thinking, which is so important in this unprecedented year. I applaud the Sydney Opera House and the Australia Council for the Arts on their collaboration that has reminded us all of the power of creativity in shaping our young people’s futures.”

The report identifies new areas of professional and creative engagement for artists and their work, and points to new and vital areas of outreach and learning activity for cultural organisations.

Sydney Opera House Director of Programming Fiona Winning said: “Over the past 4 years, the Opera House’s Creative Leadership in Learning program has opened the Opera House to a new generation of audiences and artists. As demonstrated through the  Cultivating Creativity  report, the program has far-reaching positive impacts within the school ecosystem, embedding a culture of collaboration, creativity, communication and critical thinking – the very skills that are essential for the next generation to navigate and thrive in an uncertain future.”

Key findings:

• The  Creative Leadership in Learning program  is having  extremely positive impacts  – on teachers, students, families and on the culture of participating schools.
• Students are experiencing increased engagement  with the curriculum, and elevated excitement for learning. Engaging with creativity at school has encouraged students to take risks, share their thoughts, and try new ideas.
• For  teachers, the program has increased engagement with their teaching practice , enlivening the curriculum and leading to new flexible experiences with students. Through participation in CLIL’s ‘teacher professional learning’, teachers have enjoyed increased support, collaboration and trust between colleagues, resulting in improved health and wellbeing.
• Principals and teachers spoke about how applying  creativity has the potential to impact the whole child  – academically, socially and emotionally.
• CLIL has led to  increased parent engagement  with both their children’s schoolwork and with the school more broadly, enhancing a shared sense of community.
• Within schools, CLIL has  changed the meaning of creativity and its significant potential  for learning across a range of academic subjects, not only those typically associated with the arts. The program is enabling schools to spark a conversation with families, students and other educators about the value of creativity in building new skills such as resilience and adaptability, which will be valued in a new, complex world of work.
• For participating artists, CLIL has expanded the horizon  and stimuli for creative practice. Artists have experienced new contexts for collaboration, and even new concepts of what artistic collaboration might mean.  For many artists, CLIL has also provided a new professional context for their practice, and an important new source of income.
• CLIL has also promoted  a new relationship between schools and the Opera House  – one that is based on collaboration and a connection that lasts over time. For many who might not have previously attended a performance at the Opera House, CLIL has cultivated  a feeling of belonging and connection with this icon of Sydney cultural life .

Hi res images and footage are available for media use. Download  here .

Media contact

Brianna Roberts, Media Manager

Australia Council for the Arts

Phone: (02) 9215 9030 Mobile: 0498 123 541

Email:  [email protected]

Cultivating Creativity  contributes to a growing body of evidence of the value of creativity to 21st century skills and the future of educational and cultural institutions.

There is growing evidence of the power of the arts to teach core subjects, to improve both short-term and long-term academic outcomes, and of the effectiveness of creative interdisciplinary learning for rehearsing and preparing for ‘real world’ encounters and problems.

Research also suggests the need for schools to transform themselves, developing deeper, more critical and creative learning environments that are relevant to contemporary social demands.

Sydney Opera House

The Opera House is a masterpiece that belongs to all Australians. It is the nation’s premier tourism destination, a world-class performing arts centre and celebrated community meeting place, welcoming 10.9 million visitors to the site in 2019, including more than 2.1 million performance and tours patrons. A global beacon for creativity, it is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and Deloitte has estimated its total social asset value to Australia at $6.2 billion. After embarking on a decade of renewal at its 40th anniversary, the Opera House is now more than halfway through a program of major upgrades to ensure this 20th-century icon continues to inspire 21st-century artists, audiences and visitors.

Children, Families and Creative Learning

The  Sydney Opera House Presents ’  Children, Families & Creative Learning program  engages more than 190,000 people annually with a suite of programs that playfully encourage creativity and nurture life-long learning.  At the Opera House, diverse performances from the best Australian and international theatre-markers are programmed for children, families and caregivers.  Schools  programming continues throughout the year and is aligned to contemporary learning outcomes including communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. The main initiatives are:  Digital Creative Learning  – including live streamed performances, interactive workshops and digital tours that are delivered online into classroom and home-school settings;  Creative Learning  – rich on-site learning and performance experiences and;  Creative Leadership in Learning  – a tailored, immersive, three-year program for schools leaders to embed creativity in the heart of their school.

Learn more about  Creative Leadership in Learning.

MEDIA MANAGER

Brianna Roberts

(02) 9215 9030, download document, download accessible version announce, you might also like, latest news.

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We respect their deep enduring connection to their lands, waterways and surrounding clan groups since time immemorial. We cherish the richness of First Nations Peoples’ artistic and cultural expressions.

We are privileged to gather on this Country and through this website to share knowledge, culture and art now, and with future generations.

First Nations Peoples should be aware that this website may contain images or names of people who have died.

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Embracing art education in primary schools

An early introduction to Art & Design helps learners develop positive attitudes to creative thinking and creative subjects, which benefits future learning. The subject encourages them to celebrate their own and others’ artistic experiences. This builds a sense of community in the classroom from an early age and fosters an openness to diversity as they experience art and design from different times and cultures.

This blog, written by our Curriculum Development Manager, Lloyd Jeeves, details what the research says about studying art & design as a subject and the benefits of our Cambridge Primary Art & Design curriculum in nurturing young minds, supporting inclusion, and building life-long skills.

What does the research say?

Research has shown that art education in primary schools plays a valuable role in a child’s development.

Studies also show that the cultivation of arts subjects creates the necessary balance to enhance performance in other learning areas that require more intense cerebral activity and are seen as more important. According to art historian, Amy Herman, art improves problem-solving skills, helping us discover why and how things go wrong and how to fix them.

Limitless opportunities through Cambridge Primary Art & Design

The Cambridge Primary Art & Design curriculum was created to give learners the space to explore and express themselves freely, supporting the development of social and reflective skills, and encouraging teachers to nurture an environment where learners can take risks and build resilience.

Art and design nurtures creativity in young minds, which supports them in solving problems in other Cambridge Primary subjects, including English, Mathematics, Science, Global Perspectives, and Computing. Art develops concentration skills and perseverance – as children explore different tools and materials, mastering their use to create beautiful objects and designs. These are important skills, necessary to excel in all other subjects.

Since its inception, Cambridge Primary Art & Design was envisaged to create ‘limitless opportunities’, which describes the range of individual and collaborative opportunities we want every learner to be able to identify and explore.

Developing creativity and supporting inclusion through art

Expression through art aids emotional development as learners develop skills such as perseverance and collaboration. They are better equipped to deal with criticism positively as they give, receive, and respond to feedback.

Art & Design also provides a platform for all learners to communicate and express themselves, which especially aids learners who find communication and interaction challenging, including learners with autism.

The focus on experimental learning allows learners to develop and challenge their motor skills in ways that are appropriate to their physical abilities.  The subject also supports those with visual impairments to touch and manipulate materials with different textures and properties, thereby providing a wide range of sensory opportunities. This has created a safe, supportive, and inclusive space for learners to experiment and develop.

Art in building life-long skills

Cambridge Primary Art & Design provides opportunities for learners to experience and respond to art and design produced for commercial purposes. Art has a place in day-to-day life which learners get to experience as they see its use in architecture and decoration. This leads them to appreciate the commercial benefit of art, further amplifying its practicality and financial benefit to artists and the broader economy. If they choose to pursue art later in life, they are better equipped to create value from it.

To best support this invaluable development, it’s important to engage children in art – both at home and at school – and to continue with their creative experience throughout their schooling.

Find out more about our Cambridge Primary Art & Design curriculum

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What you need to know about culture and arts education

Despite the obvious essential linkages between culture and education, they are still not sufficiently integrated into education policies and school curricula in many countries globally. These two fields are often considered as separate policy entities and trajectories. Culture and arts education, the result of the two complementary ecosystems, has the potential to bridge this gap.

UNESCO convened the World Conference on Culture and Arts Education in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 13 to 15 February 2024 where the first-ever global framework in this area was adopted. Here is what you need to know about this essential issue. 

Why is culture and arts education essential?

Learners engaged in culture and arts education have better academic and non-academic learning outcomes.  Engagement in various art forms , such as music, dance, and visual arts, can enhance academic achievements, reading skills, creative and critical thinking, agility and collaboration skills. Engagement in such education also correlates with improved attendance, stress reduction, resilience, perseverance, and classroom behaviours.

Culture and arts education expands the essence of learning and makes it fun by going beyond classrooms and traditional educational approaches from lifelong learning, to technical and vocational education and training (TVET).  The theatre stage can be a learning space, NFT art can be a promising career, and indigenous ways of knowing and being can, and should, find their way in the curriculum.

Culture and arts education makes learning meaningful by connecting rural with urban, local with global. It plays a crucial role in valorizing and preserving one’s own culture, heritage and traditions while at the same time reflecting on them in the modern world, in the digital era, understanding everyone’s contribution and uniqueness. 

What are the forms culture and arts education can take?

Culture and arts education encompasses learning about, in and through culture and the arts. Therefore, it can occur across subjects, at all levels of education and in various settings. For example, this process is no longer confined to classrooms: museums, art galleries, libraries and cultural heritage sites are considered equal places of learning, whereas artists, cultural professionals and practitioners play an essential role in transmitting knowledge. Culture and arts education engages learners with built and natural heritage, living expressions, and the cultural and creative industries, promoting intercultural dialogue and linguistic diversity, both online and offline.

By incorporating indigenous knowledge and practices, arts education validates and enlivens diverse cultural perspectives. In Indonesia, school students on Java Island can learn more about their heritage from arts education programmes that familiarize them with the traditional art of shadow puppet storytelling called  wayang kulit , from UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list. 

How can culture and arts education build skills for the future?

Culture and arts education opens up new employment opportunities.  50 million jobs are created by cultural and creative industries worldwide, and more young people are now employed in the sector than in any other economic activity. While not its primary focus,  culture and arts education cultivates skills such as observation, collaboration, and reflection that are conducive to creativity and adaptability, which are increasingly valued in the modern job market. 

It also builds vital socio-emotional skills to thrive in the world of tomorrow. Research shows that such education fosters compassion for others and empathy. It allows learners to introspect, take different perspectives and develop different ways of understanding the world. Participation in arts activities has also been linked to higher civic engagement, social tolerance, and respectful behaviours towards diversity. 

How can culture and arts education contribute to peace and sustainability?

By connecting local with global and fostering dialogue among generations and cultures, culture and arts education can contribute to peaceful, just, inclusive and sustainable societies. It also offers transformative avenues for reimagining ways of living harmoniously with the earth and preserving social cohesion, which is paramount during times of interrelated global challenges, such as social isolation or environmental crises. For example, freely accessible digitized archives of the leading museums helped learners in different parts of the world connect with other cultures and enrich their learning experiences.

How does arts education address socioeconomic disparities in education?

Integrating culture and arts education into education systems  can help bridge the achievement gap between higher and lower-income students. Research indicates that students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who engage in arts education demonstrate higher academic performance, graduation rates, and motivation to pursue further education.

Culture and arts education can unveil new opportunities and career paths for learners of all ages. For example, technical and vocational education and training in arts and crafts could be a critical social lift, opening new employment opportunities in the context of persisting social inequalities and crises. For example,  UNESCO’s Transcultura program me awards scholarships to young cultural professionals in 17 countries so that they can gain new skills and pursue careers in cultural and creative industries. 

What is the role of UNESCO?

Since its creation, UNESCO has been championing major forward-looking policy transformation processes in culture and education, reaffirming them as global public goods at the forefront of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Some of the key highlights include the UNESCO  MONDIACULT Conference, initiatives within the  Transforming Education Summit and the revision of  the Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development.

As a logical next step after the adoption of the 2006 Lisbon Road Map on Arts Education and the 2010 Seoul Agenda, UNESCO convened the  World Conference on Culture and Arts Education to mobilize political commitment around culture and arts education as a powerful lever to transform learning and shape critical skills for future generations. 

As a result of the Conference, UNESCO Member States adopted the new UNESCO Framework on Culture and Arts Education . This guidance document provides a set of principles all stakeholders can follow for shaping and further institutionalizing culture and arts education. It outlines specific goals such education should pursue and concrete dimensions where synergetic links between culture and education should be fostered for the benefit of all learners.

• World Conference on Culture and Arts Education  
• UNESCO’s work on  Culture and Education  

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The Arts in Schools: Primary School Provision

Sally bacon reflects on the primary school provision & the arts sector over the last 40 years.

6 October 2022

We published The Arts in Schools: a new conversation on the value of the arts in and beyond schools in May 2022, reflecting on the 1982 Gulbenkian report on this topic, and developments in arts education since. In June and July 2022 we convened a series of roundtables on Zoom with school leaders, teachers, arts education practitioners, academics and policy makers on eight themes in the original report.

What follows are personal reflections following what was discussed in a meeting chaired by Professor Teresa Cremin on arts provision in primary education. A fuller response to what we heard across all the roundtables and responses to our Think Piece will be published in a new report in early 2023.

In the 1982 report the arts were seen as ‘ natural forms of expression and communication ’, and the job of primary education was described as being to develop these ‘ natural capacities into practical capabilities .’ In considering some of the problems, the report described cuts in public spending and a potential ‘ cycle of constraint ’: ‘ Where the arts are poorly provided for in schools, children will not benefit from them in the ways we have described. Consequently other members of staff, parents and governors will not see their real value. As a result they will continue to be poorly provided for .’ [1] Teacher confidence was seen as the most common obstacle to effective arts teaching. As well as calling for a compulsory arts element in teacher training, and the appointment of teachers with specialist arts training, the report called for something more fundamental in terms of training: ‘ General theoretical studies [in PGCE and BEd courses] which encourage an appreciation of the importance of the arts in the balanced development of the child. ’

Forty years later we are seeing much good work happening, but more broadly a very real ‘ cycle of constraint ’ is playing out as a direct consequence of the need to service performance measures which do not value the arts. [2] The 1982 report made clear that leadership for the arts in primary schools was vital: ‘There are many schools where the arts flourish. In every case the headteacher and other staff appreciate and support them.’ [3] In order to create strategic arts plans, school leaders need permission to trust their professional judgement about the importance of the arts for their pupils in the face of accountability pressures which deprioritise the arts and undermine a clear sense of a broad and balanced purpose that is child centred and age appropriate.

One route to school leaders taking responsibility for developing the arts is building a more widespread understanding of their benefits in primary education, and the ways in which they develop capacities and capabilities such as confidence, oracy, empathy, compassion, self-expression and independence, as well as wellbeing . [4] In the face of increasing mental health challenges within a complex and fast-changing world, giving children the space and skills to express themselves in and through all art forms, as a way to understand themselves, others, and the world around them, is a key aspect of a child’s right to a rich education. An understanding of the value of the arts in relation to the whole child, and to wellbeing , is central to primary provision. Given the commonplace arts prerogative within the independent sector, the arts offer within state schools is a social justice entitlement issue.

If we were to produce a word cloud of our primary consultation meeting, ‘time’ would be writ large, and time pressure would now seem to be more acute than in 1982, pre National Curriculum. Consultees were clear that we need to make and protect time for the arts – importantly within the curriculum and within timetabling for the school day, as well as after school. We were told that teachers need time to reflect, evaluate and share good practice.

Teachers need support. We heard loud and clear that primary teacher confidence and commitment in the arts – differentiating between generalists and specialists – should be developed through coherent, collaborative ITE and CPDL, so that teachers feel able to build the arts into their daily practice, and to design a curriculum to maximise arts opportunities. [5] The Paul Hamlyn Foundation is seen as leading the way through its Teacher Development Fund . An investment in arts CPDL was presented as an investment in school improvement.

Whilst support for teachers is undeniably important, there is something at play which is about underlying changes in recent years. Primary provision differs from secondary in being largely delivered by non-specialists. There is an expectation and assumption that non-specialists can teach maths and English all the time in primary, but there is a prevailing view that arts specialisms are different. Phonics and maths are required nationally for the very youngest of children, which signals their primacy and effectively demotes other curriculum areas, meaning that resources, including CPDL, are not directed towards them. Primary school days are not parcelled up into subjects as they are in secondary, so to integrate the arts requires more enlightened curriculum planning which historically primary teachers and heads were adept at. But we have a generation of teachers and school leaders schooled primarily in compliance with success criteria focused on literacy and numeracy. Maybe as well as losing a sense of broad and balanced provision in secondary in recent years, we have lost some of the best of cross-curricular arts-rich work in primary?

One participant told us that it’s unlikely that any head would not want to deliver the arts, but they are hampered by a lack of knowledge, a lack of confidence, and the struggle to fit in ‘ yet another thing ’. Delivering purely on the legal requirements is the default. If the value and purpose of teaching the arts can be fully understood, the next step is supporting schools in delivery. Examples of how to combine arts work with the statutory requirements, in rural as well as urban schools, are vital. Supplying inspiring practical resources will help: free, easy-to-access case studies to show what others are successfully doing and achieving, and how arts-rich timetabling can be created. We need a system-wide sharing of practice, and leadership permission to pick it up and run with it.

Sharing and celebrating case studies demonstrating the impact of what works well is important. Children need a curriculum that values and protects all art forms and that serves to amplify their voices, including those of the most vulnerable. They – and their artistic achievements – are an important part of the narrative case-making for how and why we must value the arts in primary schools. School leaders supporting the arts enables visibility, with the arts being ‘on show’ to parents and governors, and celebrated within the school and wider community. The arts animate a school, but it’s important to acknowledge that arts provision in primary should go far beyond performance and display to the heart of the curriculum and pedagogy.

[1] The Arts in Schools, p. 48/49

[2] https://www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk/briefings/what-is-the-ebacc/

[3] The Arts in Schools, p. 48

[4] https://www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Arts-in-Schools-Briefing-A4.pdf

[5] ITE – initial Teacher Education | CPDL – Continuing Professional Development

We will be sharing a new The arts in schools: foundations for the future report in Spring 2023. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date, and get involved in the conversation on social media using the #ArtsInSchools hashtag.

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• The Arts in Schools

The Arts in Schools: The Arts, Creativity & the Whole Curriculum

Pauline Tambling discusses the role of creativity in education over the past 40 years

The Arts in Schools: The Role of Arts Organisations & Artists

Sally Bacon reflects on the relationship between schools & the arts sector over the last 40 years

The Arts in Schools: The Arts in Secondary Schools

Pauline Tambling reflects on the Secondary Schools provision & the arts sector over the last 40 years

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Creativity in Primary Education

• Anthony Wilson - University of Exeter, UK
• Description

“An alien spaceship crash landed in my playground today”

For one primary school in England, this was not an ordinary day.  It was a fabulous day of inspiration, writing, drawing, discovering and learning for the pupils, the staff and the parents.  But the best thing of all?  The only truly out of the ordinary thing was the alien spaceship.

So how do you make creativity a more everyday part of primary teaching?  Teachers and trainees agree that creativity is a fabulous thing.  But to get creative approaches into everyday teaching,  you need to tackle the question - what is creativity?

This book explores this question in an accessible and practical way.  It helps trainees to do more than ‘know it when they see it’, by helping them to understand the separate and very diverse elements of creativity. The third edition of this popular text retains key material, but it has been updated and revised to include two new chapters on the creative curriculum, along with links throughout to the Standards and the new National Curriculum.

This book will help you enhance your teaching so you and the children in your class can be:

fellow explorers, adventurous discoverers and spontaneous investigators!

Creativity is often thought of as being related to the arts however this book explores creativity in all areas of the curriculum. The case studies are particularly useful as the outline highly imaginative lessons that have been used in other schools. The reflective tasks featured in each chapter are a great way of getting you thinking how you could implement different strategies in the classroom.

With my degree being in musical theatre, it is easy for me to incorporate arts into the school timetable, but have been wary about introducing such creativity in other subject areas. This book provides great insight into how to include creativity throughout the whole curriculum. A great read!

The success of the book is proven by the fact this is the third edition; it retains key material and has been updated and revised to include two new chapters - the theme of the creative curriculum and supporting trainees to see how effective curriculum design can enhance creative teaching. An excellent way to refresh established teaching and bring in new ideas which will delight children. With plenty of good examples, this gives lots of food for thought and motivation to extend creativity.

This is a really helpful book which encompasses a lot of the key topics covered in the module.

Very useful for our foundation degree creativity module. A range of ideas which students found accessible.

We have an essay based on this topic and this book has proven a popular source for students to support their writing and practice.

We suggest a wide variety of books to our primary UG BAITT students and our PGCE students. this is one of them. It is clearly set out, easy to access and relevant to a number of subject areas.

A supportive text book that enhances the students perspective of creativity. From the start the book explains the concept behind creativity and ways to support this in the setting. my students find it initally difficult to be creative and to let go with their creative side. This text book allows the student to think about how to do this and gives some ideas for them to start with. A lovely book.

A sound text to explore ideas of creativity across the curriculum. Useful to engage students in thinking 'outside the box' when developing teaching and learning activities to stimulate children's minds

At last - a book about 'creativity' which addresses this seriously. Creativity in the context of Mathematics and science is treated properly. It is just a shame that each chapter is not longer, as these two subjects alone are both overdue a deeper exploration.

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Chapter 1: Changes in the landscape for creativity in education

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Why arts education matters in primary schools

In the early years of primary school, barely a day goes past without your child bringing home a brightly coloured painting or elaborate junk model, or singing a new song.   But as they progress through primary school, many children find more of their time taken up by core academic subjects, at the expense of the arts.

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In 2019, a survey of primary school teachers found that two thirds believed arts education – incorporating art and design, music , drama and dance – was in ‘dramatic decline’, and half felt the remaining provision was poorer than in 2010.   Many arts education organisations, including multi-arts charity Creative Futures , believe that this is to children’s detriment.  

‘The arts are increasingly being squeezed out of our children’s education to make way for a greater focus on core subjects such as literacy and numeracy,’ explains Julian Knight, Creative Director of Creative Futures. ‘But this narrowing of the curriculum fails to meet the needs of many pupils.’

Why primary school arts matter

Despite the fact that arts education is becoming less and less valued in primary schools, it has a huge range of benefits for children of all ages.  

Arts education: literacy and numeracy

Spending time embracing the arts has proven benefits for children’s academic performance.   ‘We know that participation in structured arts can increase cognitive ability and help many children do better at school,’ says Lizzie Crump, Co-Director of the Cultural Learning Alliance .   According to Cultural Alliance research, children who engage in the arts thrive at school. Indeed, arts education contributes to raising attainment in maths and literacy.   For example, studying a work of art involves children describing what they see, expressing how it makes them feel, and discussing what the artist’s motivation might have been. In producing their own art, they consider numeracy concepts like angles , scale and perspective.   Music, meanwhile, involves literacy skills like listening, describing and questioning, and concepts related to maths such as identifying patterns, structures and timing.  

Arts education: learning styles

Many children work best if their learning is varied and multisensory – something that arts education delivers hugely successfully.   ‘The arts can provide a way into learning, particularly for children who struggle with core subjects or with set approaches to learning, especially in the first years of school,’ says Julian.  

Arts education: understanding the world

Education is so much more than just learning to read, write and recite times tables; it also helps children understand the bigger picture.   ‘Arts education gives children the opportunity to explore the world around them, to learn about and appreciate their cultural heritage, to collaborate, be creative and express themselves in ways that many other subjects don’t,’ explains Julian.   This might be in the classroom – for example, listening to world music and thinking about the culture of other countries – or out and about, such as on a visit to a museum or gallery.  

Arts, mental health and emotional skills

It’s a sad fact that by the time they leave primary school, one in five children have experienced some form of mental health issue.   Arts education is an important tool in improving mental wellbeing. According to Dame Benita Refson, President and Founder of Place2Be , the children’s mental health charity, the creative processes involved in music, drama dance and the other arts help children work through their problems and find ways of coping.   ‘It can also be a welcome chance to switch off from the many pressures young people find themselves under in today’s society,’ she says.   Julian agrees that children gain important skills for emotional wellbeing through the arts. ‘It can bring shy children out of their shell, give non-verbal children the confidence to speak out, develop social skills and interact in a collaborative way, and help them to express themselves,’ he says.  

Arts education: physical health and development 

Over one in five children is overweight or obese in the first year of primary school, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and spending time on arts subjects give children the chance to move, be active and develop physical skills.   The arts offer opportunities to be physically active, developing gross motor skills, stamina and agility through dance and drama, and fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination through drawing, painting, modelling or learning an instrument.  

Arts education and life chances

Teachers and parents alike often focus on the core academic subjects as predictors of children’s future success, but actually, children who have a rich grounding in the arts are more likely to vote, go to university, and get a job and keep it in their later life.  

Why arts education is being squeezed out of primary schools

Sadly, despite the numerous benefits, many primary schools are finding it hard to deliver good arts education, for a number of reasons.   SATs and performance measures: primary schools are increasingly compelled to focus on attainment, as measured by SATs, concentrating on the core subjects.   ‘The vast number of accountability measures means schools are having to focus narrowly on English, maths and science, at the expense of a broad and balanced curriculum that includes quality arts provision,’ says Lizzie.   Funding: ‘Schools have lost a huge amount of funding,’ Lizzie explains. ‘They’re being asked to deliver a rounded curriculum, without the necessary resources . A loss of focus on the arts is an unintended consequence of overburdening schools.’   Inadequate teacher training: in secondary schools, teachers are specialists, meaning that those teaching art, music, drama and dance have been trained specifically in their subject.   In primary schools, however, teachers tend not to be specialists.   ‘A primary school teacher might have half a day of music training as part of their studies, and then be expected to deliver music lessons to a class of 30,’ says Lizzie.   Focus on STEM: STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) are often seen as stepping stones to a glittering career in an increasingly tech-based world.   This means that primary schools often focus on STEM to the detriment of the arts, and this continues into secondary school, where, at GCSE level, students are under no obligation to take an arts subject.   But while the STEM careers market is thriving, this doesn’t mean arts aren’t important.   ‘The creative economy is the fastest growing sector in the UK economy, made up of professions like architecture, advertising and design, film-making, IT and games development, as well as the more obvious performing arts vocations,’ Julian explains.   ‘Parents shouldn’t be afraid that a focus on arts subjects dooms their child to a penniless adult existence!’

How schools can promote arts education

There’s a wide range of opportunities for primary schools to deliver quality arts education alongside the core subjects. These include:   Including arts under the STEM umbrella – STEAM – and appreciating the many ways STEM subjects and the arts interact and support each other. For example, designing and making a model with moving parts requires children to think artistically as well as scientifically.

A cross-curriculum approach: arts can easily be explored in the context of core subjects – for example, listening to world music as part of geography lessons, or using drama to bring stories to life in English lessons.

Music initiatives such as the First Access/Wider Opportunities scheme, which gives every pupil in a given class the chance to learn an instrument for one academic year.

National campaigns like Take One Picture . Run by the National Gallery, each year, a picture is chosen from the Gallery and schools engage in activities around that picture, with the opportunity for pupils’ work to be displayed in an exhibition.

Applying for an Artsmark Award : the creative quality standard for schools, with a framework for embedding creativity across the curriculum and a clear set of criteria to fulfil.

Encouraging teacher training in arts subjects as part of their continuing professional development.

Inviting visiting artists, actors and musicians to lead assemblies or workshops with children.

Arranging arts-based field trips that tie in with class topic work, like visiting a gallery or museum, or going to see a play or concert. 

‘A lot depends on the school,’ says Lizzie. ‘Many primary schools deliver an amazing arts-rich education, but others need more help and support.’

Supporting arts education at home

‘The more arts activity that happens at home, the better,’ says Julian. ‘It’s great for children, and is a good way for parents to interact with children that isn’t homework or using a screen.’   Here are 10 ideas to support arts learning at home – and they don’t need to cost a fortune (or anything at all!).   1. Seek opportunities to engage in arts activities and events in your area: ‘There are lots of free things happening in museums, libraries and local venues,’ Julian suggests.   2. Make something: junk models made with the contents of the recycling box, clay creations, Hama beads, decorated biscuits (plain digestives work well), or jewellery.   3. Look online for how-to videos: many renowned children’s illustrators have YouTube tutorials teaching kids to draw or paint.   4. Consider instrument lessons: within schools, these are usually paid for by parents, but lower income families who receive free school meals may be able to access lessons with their Pupil Premium funding – this is something to discuss with their school. Otherwise, find out what’s on offer at your local music centre as they may offer free or subsidised lessons.   5. Experiment with creating using different mediums and tools: painting with coffee, printing with potatoes or halved fruit, making papier mache, finger painting.   6. Change your radio station: listen to Classic FM , Last FM or Scala Radio , 1xtra or Premier Gospel to expose your child to a wide range of genres.   7. Take advantage of after-school and extracurricular clubs: there may be an art club that your child could join, a school choir or band, or a ballet or street dance class.   8. Try a new creative hobby like photography (even if it’s just in your garden), stop-motion animation , designing clothes, or tie dye, or learning the ukulele.   9. Play creative family games such as Pictionary or Charades.   10. Get outdoors: the natural world is full of inspiration. You could listen to the sounds of nature and use them to inspire music compositions using actual instruments or improvised ones like pans and wooden spoons, or collect leaves, pinecones and seeds to create collages or try leaf-rubbing.

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The Mind-Expanding Value of Arts Education

As funding for arts education declines worldwide, experts ponder what students — and the world at large — are losing in the process.

By Ginanne Brownell

This article is part of our special report on the Art for Tomorrow conference that was held in Florence, Italy.

Awuor Onguru says that if it were not for her continued exposure to arts education as a child, she never would have gotten into Yale University.

Growing up in a lower-middle-class family in Nairobi, Kenya, Ms. Onguru, now a 20-year-old junior majoring in English and French, started taking music lessons at the age of four. By 12, she was playing violin in the string quartet at her primary school, where every student was required to play an instrument. As a high school student on scholarship at the International School of Kenya, she was not only being taught Bach concertos, she also became part of Nairobi’s music scene, playing first violin in a number of local orchestras.

During her high school summer breaks, Ms. Onguru — who also has a strong interest in creative writing and poetry — went to the United States, attending the Interlochen Center for the Arts ’ creative writing camp, in Michigan, and the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio . Ms. Onguru, who recently returned to campus after helping organize Yale Glee Club’s spring tour in Kenya, hopes to become a journalist after graduation. She has already made progress toward that goal, serving as the opinion editor for the Yale Daily News, and getting her work published in Teen Vogue and the literary journal Menacing Hedge.

“Whether you’re in sports, whether you end up in STEM, whether you end up in government, seeing my peers — who had different interests in arts — not everyone wanted to be an artist,” she said in a video interview. “But they found places to express themselves, found places to be creative, found places to say things that they didn’t know how else to say them.”

Ms. Onguru’s path shows what a pivotal role arts education can play in a young person’s development. Yet, while the arts and culture space accounts for a significant amount of gross domestic product across the globe — in the United Kingdom in 2021, the arts contributed £109 billion to the economy , while in the U.S., it brought in over $1 trillion that year — arts education budgets in schools continue to get slashed. (In 2021, for instance, the spending on arts education in the U.K. came to an average of just £9.40 per pupil for the year .)

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The Importance of Creative Arts in the 21st Education

May 28, 2021 By ERC Community Manager

Preparing students for work, citizenship and life in the 21st century is both exciting and challenging. According to recent studies, ‘Globalization, new technologies, international competition, changing markets, and transnational environmental and political challenges all drive the acquisition of skills and knowledge needed by students to survive and succeed.’

Wagner (2010) and the Change Leadership Group at Harvard University identified a crucial set of competencies and skills which students need to develop to be prepared for the workforce. Informed by several hundred interviews with business, non- profit and education leaders, Wagner stressed that students need seven survival skills to be prepared for twenty-first century life, work and citizenship:

• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Collaboration and leadership
• Agility and adaptability
• Initiative and entrepreneurialism • Effective oral and written communication
• Accessing and analysing information
• Curiosity and imagination

Collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking, imagination, communication, agility and empathy- these are the profound experiences and learning that a properly implemented Creative Arts curriculum offer. The Creative Arts provide the logical conduit through which these capacities and related skills, in both the social and emotional domains, can be developed.

Why is it beneficial to study an elective Creative Arts subject? Creative Arts subjects are integral for the development of the identified skills needed for the 21st Century. Students learn about culture and community through a study of the Creative Arts. Each art form has its own unique skills, concepts and a capacity to inspire and enrich lives.

Visual Arts

Students who study Visual Arts as an elective investigate the world through visual imagery. Visual Arts provides students with the opportunity to develop their own artworks, culminating in a ‘Body of Work’ in the HSC course. Students engage in critical and historical study of the artworld to investigate artists, artworks, worlds and audiences from a range of cultural, political, historical and social perspectives and use these to inform their own artmaking practices.

Through the making of their own artworks and the critical and historical studies of artists, art historians and art critics, students are exposed to a variety of issues which instigate critical dialogue and discussion. Students learn to discern signs, symbols and visual codes layered in artworks and make critical judgements.

HSC Visual Arts

Visual Arts students at Edmund Rice College perform very well in the HSC with the majority of students counting Visual Arts as the subject which contributed the most towards their ATAR. Students create a Body of Work worth 50% of their mark and sit an examination based on Critical and Historical studies also worth 50% of their mark. In 2020 33% of the Class were awarded a Band 6. In 2019, 87% of the class were awarded a Band 6 or Band 5. Visual Arts has performed well above State average in the HSC for the past 5 years and continues to afford the students significant learning gain which is positive for their ATAR. ArtExpress Edmund Rice College is well represented each year in

ArtExpress.

ArtExpress is an annual series of exhibitions of exemplary artworks created by Visual Arts students for HSC examination. The following boys have been nominated over the past few years indicating that their artwork is in the top 1% of the state:

• Fletcher Middlebrook-Mitchell – 2021 ArtExpress Nomination- Photomedia
• Riley Huisman – ArtExpress 2020 Hazelhurst Regional Gallery – Drawing
• Isaac Plumridge – ArtExpress 2020 Art Gallery of NSW- Photomedia
• Harrison Trad – ArtExpress 2020 Nomination – Photomedia
• James Lindley – ArtExpress 2019 – The Armory, Newington – Photomedia
• Dylan Potter – ArtExpress 2018 Gosford Regional Gallery- Photomedia

Visual Arts students have gone on to study a number of courses including Architecture, Medicine, Law, Teaching, Graphic Design, Software Engineering, Multimedia Studies, Mobile App Development, Marketing, Video Games Development and Web Development, just to name a few.

According to Forbes Business Magazine, ‘High School students do better in Science, Mathematics and English if they also take Music lessons’. Eva Amsen – Science Writer Forbes Business Magazine. Comparing the test scores of students who took music classes with those of their peers, the musicians got higher grades in a range of different school subjects.

“Learning to play a musical instrument and playing in an ensemble is very demanding,” says Martin Guhn, one of the researchers involved with the study, “A student has to learn to read music notation, develop eye-hand-mind coordination, develop keen listening skills, develop team skills for playing in an ensemble and develop discipline to practice.”

The HSC Music course provide students with the opportunity to study the concepts of music through the learning experiences of performance, composition, musicology and aural within the context of a range of styles, periods and genres. Students nominate three electives made up of any combination of performance, composition and/or musicology which reflect the three topics studied in the HSC course. Stage 6 Music 1 Syllabus.

Music students at Edmund Rice College perform very well in the HSC and many continue on to tertiary studies in Music, with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music being a popular destination! In 2019, 87% of the class received Band 6 and Band 5 and in 2020, 88% of the class received a Band 5. HSC music students regularly perform above the State Average.

ENCORE is a program of outstanding performances and compositions by students from the Higher School Certificate Music examinations. In 2019 Michael Dominos was nominated to perform at the Sydney Opera House.

Drama continues to be popular at Edmund Rice College, especially Drama Club in the junior years which is where the students build their skills for study in Stage 6. The HSC Drama course provides students with the opportunity to engage in collaborative and individual experiences to develop skills in interpretation, communication, performance and critical analysis. Students engage with the cultural traditions and social contexts of drama and theatre through critical study and experiences in practical workshop activities and performances.

In our 21st century environment, effective communication is crucial. The study of drama develops verbal and nonverbal, individual and group communication skills. Drama enhances students’ artistic and creative abilities and affords them a better understanding of themselves and their world. Through an exploration of drama contexts relating to identity, societies, cultures, ideologies, gender, time and change, students are able to become more critically reflective members of society. In Drama students are able to explore intellectual, social, physical, emotional and moral domains through learning which involves thought, feeling and action. Drama fosters self discipline, confidence and team work and develops skills in interpreting, researching, negotiating, problem solving and decision making.

In conclusion

Students who are involved in the Creative Arts ‘have higher engagement in class, self-esteem, and life satisfaction’. The study of Creative Arts develops emotional intelligence, confidence and resilience, discipline and commitment, communications skills, identity and belonging, creativity and problem-solving skills and coordination. The Creative Arts staff are educators who are also current practitioners in our fields, ensuring that the boys we teach are conscious of new trends and technologies in the Creative Arts both Nationally and Internationally. Through our rigorous curriculum, we encourage the boys to take risks with their learning, learn from mistakes, experiment, develop the ability to work independently and follow their passions.

Ms Costello

Head of Creative Arts

Uncategorised 1 Nov 2023

Strategies to achieve a growth mindset, learning & teaching 26 oct 2023, preliminary hsc awards, sport 20 oct 2023, nsw all schools athletics.

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Teaching the Arts in the Primary Curriculum

• Susan Ogier - University of Roehampton, UK
• Suzy Tutchell - University of Reading, Reading, UK
• Description

Learning in the arts does not fit in with simple, conventional methodologies for teaching and assessing in the traditional sense, but it has an immense power to transform children’s understanding of the world around them, and their lives. Many jobs, currently and of the future, will demand the skills that learning in the arts will develop.   This book brings Arts Education sharply into focus as a meaningful, learning experience for children of pre-school and primary age (3-11 years).  It reinforces the potential for the wide range of physical, mental and emotional development, through learning opportunities that engagement in arts practice facilitates.   

• Provides insight into how teachers can support children to consider contemporary challenges that face their generation.
• Includes expert voices from the world of education to demonstrate an expansive, and perhaps surprising, view of where and how the Arts can be found. 
• Shows how we can bring the arts so easily into our curriculum, and into our classrooms.  

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

For assistance with your order: Please email us at [email protected] or connect with your SAGE representative.

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This text has been adopted for the year 2 Foundation Degree students, encouraging students to utilise arts education across the curriculum. The reflection boxes enable students to consider their working practice, as well as the sections on ‘theory focus’ and case studies. Clear links to teaching standards to enable students who are progressing onto teacher training programmes to explore key content.

This little book provides some wonderful insights into Arts in Education. For students working in Early Education, with younger children, the book highlights the value and importance of Arts Education in supporting emerging concepts. Exploring Art as a way of learning in all areas of the curriculum, the book engages with Storytelling to support Language and communication, music, dance and highlighting links between science and arts exploring emergent concepts that are closer than we would imagine in our daily lives.

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Keep up to date – creative arts K–6

The latest creative arts K–6 professional learning, resources and support for teachers and leaders.

Keep up to date – creative arts 7–12

The latest creative arts 7 to 12 professional learning, resources and support for teachers and leaders.

Primary creative arts

For further information and advice:

• contact the K–6 creative arts team
• join our primary statewide staffroom

Secondary creative arts

• contact the 7–12 creative arts team
• join the creative arts curriculum support team in our statewide staffroom .

The Value of Creative Arts in Primary Education: Benefits,

• Arts & Humanities