Road Map for Arts Education

The World Conference on Art Education:

Building Creative Capacities for the 21 st Century
Lisbon, Portugal 6-9 March 2006

Prepared by:
Samsinar bt Othman 2009539545
Siti Mazura bt Shaikh Mustafa 2009951387
 1. Uphold the human right to education and cultural participation

 International declarations and conventions aim at securing for every child and
adult the right to education and to opportunities that will ensure full and
harmonious development and participation in cultural and artistic life.
 Culture and the arts are essential components of a comprehensive education
leading to the full development of the individual.
 These assertions are reflected in the following statements about human rights and
the rights of the child.

 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 Article 27> ‘ Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the
community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its
benefits.’

 The Convention on the Rights of the Child

 Article 31> ‘State parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to
participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of
appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure
activity’.
 2. Develop Individual Capabilities

 Humans all have creative potential. The arts provide an environment and practice
where the learner is actively engaged in creative experiences, processes, and
development.

 Education in and through the arts stimulates cognitive development and can make
how and what learners learn more relevant to the needs of the modern societies in
which they live.

 In order for children and adults to participate fully in cultural and artistic life, they
need to progressively learn to understand, appreciate and experience artistic
expressions by which fellow humans-often called artists-explore, and share
insights on, various aspects of existence and coexistence.

 Arts Education equips learners with these skills, enabling them to express
themselves, critically evaluate the world around them, and actively engage in the
various aspects of human existence.

 Arts Education programmes can help people to discover the variety of cultural
expressions offered by the cultural industries and institutions, and to critically
respond to them.
 3. Improve the Quality of Education

 “Quality education” is learner-centered and can be defined by three principles:

1.Education that is relevant to the learner but also promotes universal values.
2. Education which is equitable in terms of access and outcomes and guarantees
social inclusion rather than exclusion.
3. Education which reflects and helps to fulfill individual rights.

 According to the Dakar Framework for Action, many factors are required as
prerequisites for quality education.

 Learning in and through the arts ( Arts Education and Arts in Education) can
enhance at least four of these factors: active learning; a locally-relevant
curriculum that captures the interest and enthusiasm of learners; respect for, and
engagement with, local communities and cultures; and trained and motivated
teachers.
 4. Promote the Expression of Cultural Diversity

 The arts both the manifestation of culture as well as the means of communication
of cultural knowledge.
 The diversity of cultures and their creative, artistic products represent
contemporary and traditional forms of human creativity which uniquely contribute
to the nobility, heritage, beauty and integrity of human civilizations.
 Awareness and knowledge of cultural practices and art forms strengthens
personal and collective identities and values, and contributes to safeguarding and
promoting cultural diversity.
 Arts Education both fosters cultural awareness and promotes cultural practices,
and is the means by which knowledge and appreciation of the arts and culture are
transmitted from one generation to the next.
 In many countries both tangible and intangible aspects of cultures are being lost
because they are not valued in the education system or are not being transmitted
to future generations.
 There is therefore a clear need for education systems to incorporate and transmit
cultural knowledge and expressions.
 This can be achieved through Arts Education, in both formal and non-formal
educational settings.
 1. Arts Fields

 Basic elements of communication are words, movements, touch, sounds, rhythms and
images.

 In many cultures, the expressions which communicate insights and open up room for
reflection in people’s minds are called “art”.

 Thus, any list of arts fields must seen as a pragmatic categorization, ever evolving and never
exclusive.

 A complete list cannot be attempted here, but a tentative list might include performing arts (
dance, drama, music, etc), literature and poetry, craft, design, digital arts, storytelling,
heritage, visual arts and film, media, and photography.

 The arts should be gradually introduced to learners through artistic practices and
experiences and maintain the value of not only the result of the process, but the process
itself.

 Furthermore, since many art forms cannot be limited to one discipline, the interdisciplinary
aspects of arts, and the commonalities among them, must given more emphasis.
 2. Approaches to Arts Education
 Imagination, creativity and innovation are present in every human and can be
nurtured and applied.
 As Sir ken Robinson has noted, imagination is the characteristic feature of human
intelligence, creativity is the application of imagination, and innovation completes
the process by utilizing critical judgment in the application of an idea.
 Any approach to Arts Education must take the culture(s) to which learners belongs
as its point of departure.
 To establish confidence rooted in a profound appreciation of one’s own culture is
the best possible point of departure for exploring and subsequently respecting
and appreciating the cultures of others.
 Educational content and structure should not only reflect the characteristics of
each art form but also provide the artistic means to provide communication and to
interact within various cultural, social and historical contexts.
 There are two main approaches to Arts Education:
 1. The arts can be taught as individual study subjects, through the teaching of the
various arts disciplines, thereby developing students’ artistic skills, sensitivity,
and appreciation of the arts.
 2. The arts as a method of teaching and learning in which artistic and cultural
dimensions are included in all curriculum subjects.
 The arts as a medium for teaching general curriculum subjects and as a way to
deepen understanding of these subjects; for example, using colours, forms , and
objects derived from the visual arts and architecture to teach subjects such as
physics, biology and geometry.

 3. Dimensions of Arts Education

 Arts Education is structured through three complementary pedagogical streams:

1. Study of artistic works.

2. Direct contact with artistic works ( such as concerts, exhibitions, books, and
films).

3. Engaging in arts practices.

 There are three dimensions to Arts Education

1. The students gains knowledge in interaction with the artistic object or

performance, with the artist and with his or her teacher.

2. The student gains knowledge through his or her own artistic practice.

3. The student gains knowledge through research and study ( of an art form,
relationship of art to history).
 High quality Arts Education requires highly skilled professional art teachers, as
well as generalist teachers. It is also enhanced by successful partnership these
and highly skilled artists.
 Within this framework, at least two main objectives need to be addressed:
1. Give teachers, artists and others access to the materials and education they need
to do this. Creative learning needs creative teaching.
2. Encourage creative partnership at all levels between Ministries, schools, and
teachers and arts, science and community organizations.

 1. Education of teachers and artists

 This relates to the often very different experiences and perspectives that teachers
of general subjects, arts teachers, and artists have concerning educational and
cultural processes and practices.

• Education of teachers of general subjects

 Teachers should be sensitive to the values and qualities of artists and have an
appreciation for the arts.
 Teachers must be provided with the skills to enable them to cooperate with artists
in educational settings.
 This will allow them to reach their own personal potential as well as utilize the
arts in teaching.
 The arts can help learning in areas that have been traditionally considered general
curricula, primary teachers, especially, often use the Arts in Education approach.
 For example, songs can be used to memorize key words in language.
 Integrating the arts into the teaching of other subjects, especially at primary level
may be one the way of avoiding curriculum overload that some schools may
experience.
 However this integration may not be effective if there is not specific teaching of
the arts in parallel.

• Education for arts teachers

 Teaching the arts must go further than simply teaching learners specific skills,
practices, and bodies of knowledge.
 Art teachers should be encouraged to draw on the skills of other artists, including
those from other disciplines, while also developing the skills required to
cooperate with artist and with teachers of other subjects in an educational setting.
 The use of new technologies has expanded the role of Arts Education and
provides new roles for art teachers in the 21 st century.
 computer art, for example has become accepted as an art form, as a legitimate
form of art production, and as a method of teaching art.
• Education for artists

 Artists of all disciplines, as well as cultural professionals, should also given the
opportunity to improve their pedagogical capabilities and develop the skills
needed both to cooperate with educators in schools and learning centers and,
more directly, to communicate and interact effectively with learners.

 Joint activities and projects between artists –in-training and teaches-in-training

can also help to ensure future collaboration.

 As with the development of partnerships between cultural and educational

institutions and perspectives, the improvement and enrichment of the education
of all those involved in Arts Education is crippled by a lack of financial resources
and, especially in non-urban settings, cultural resources such as libraries,
theatres, and museums.
 2. Partnerships
 Although creativity is ranked very high in most policy documents, there exists
a lack of fundamental recognition of the importance of quality education as a
principal means to facilitate creativity.
 Implementing Arts Education programmes is neither expensive nor difficult
to put into practice if the philosophy behind it rests on partnerships.
 The creation of synergies between the arts and education in the promotion of
creative learning can best be achieved through the following types of
partnerships.

• Ministerial level or municipality level

 Partnerships may exist between separate entities of the Ministry of Culture,

the Ministry of Education, and Ministries of higher education and research in
forming joint policies and budgets for class projects that take place inside or
outside school hours (curricular and extra-curricular).
 Arts and education may also be united on a policy level among Ministries of
Education and Culture and municipalities (which often are the entities in
charge of both educational and cultural institutions) to link the education
system and the cultural world, through implementing projects of cooperation
between cultural institutions and schools.
• School level

 Throughout the world, most cities, towns and villages have some kind of
cultural facility. In the current environment it is recognized that the learning
process is no longer limited exclusively to schools.
 New possibilities of pedagogy have resulted from the development of
partnerships between schools and cultural institutions.
 In some countries, there is long-standing collaboration between these
institutions; however, the extent and effectiveness of these partnerships vary
widely.
 Close partnerships have brought about innovative programmes, mainly in the
form of visits to cultural institutions.
 Such visits provide students with a wealth of information, artistic encounters
and opportunities to see and get absorbed into artistic processes, and also
provide vast potential for integrated teaching practices.
 In primary education – where young children respond strongly to visual
learning – active collaboration between institutions can provide opportunities
for enriched teaching methods.
• Teacher level

 Effective partnerships are also fruitful for teachers.

 By inviting artists, with their experience and expertise in movement, words,
sound and rhythm, images, to develop a project, on a partnership basis, in
in-school and extra-curricula programmes, teachers can benefit from new
experiences which can enrich their teaching methods.
 In-school projects might involve collaboration between the artist, the teacher,
and the school, and are designed to match the age of the participants, the
teaching methods, and the duration of the classroom activity.
 Such research can take place at the global, national, and institutional level, or be
discipline-based, and should focus on such areas as:

 Descriptions of the nature and extent of current Arts Education programmes.

 The links between Arts Education and creativity.
 The links between Arts Education and social abilities/active
citizenship/empowerment.
 Evaluations of Arts Education programmes and methods, in particular of the value
they add in terms of social and individual outcomes.
 The diversity of methods for delivering Arts Education.
 The effectiveness of Arts Education policies.
 The nature and impact of partnership between education and culture in the
implementation of Arts Education.
 The development and use of teacher education standards.
 Assessment of students’ learning in Arts Education (evaluating best practice in
assessment technique).
 The influence of cultural industries ( such as television and film) on children and
other learners in terms of their education in the arts, and methods to ensure the
cultural industries provide citizens with responsible kinds of Arts Education.
 Building creative capacity and cultural awareness for the 21st Century is both
a difficult and a critical task, but one that cannot be eluded.

 All forces of society must be engaged in the attempt to ensure that the new
generations of this century gain the knowledge and skills and, perhaps even
more importantly, the values and attitudes, the ethical principles and the
moral directions to become responsible citizens of the world and guarantors
of a sustainable future.

 This education, however, can only be good quality if, through Arts Education,
it promotes the insights and perspectives, the creativity and initiative, and
the critical reflection and occupational capacities which are so necessary for
life in the new century.

 It is hoped that this Road Map will be used as a template, a set of overall
guidelines for the introduction or promotion of Arts Education; to be adapted
– changed and expanded as necessary – to meet the specific contexts of
nations and societies around the world.