A survey conducted amongst teachers and headteachers in 1,000 primary schools across the UK has revealed a determination amongst staff to secure the place of the arts in the curriculum, in the face of what are perceived to be considerable threats from national and local government.
Taylor Wilcox on Unsplash / NFER
The research, conducted last year by the National Foundation for Educational Research, found that many schools feel that a national emphasis on other aspects of learning, in particular, the core curriculum and an emphasis on literacy and numeracy, has been a major contributor to the squeeze on the arts. High levels of arts provision are usually related to the enthusiasm and skill of particular staff and the most highly recognised benefits of arts teaching in primary schools are thought to be the development of creative thinking, communication and expressive skills, ahead of artistic skills and social development.
Support from parents and governors for the arts in the curriculum is generally found to be lacking, though this is seen to increase when they are able to see the arts in action in their schools. Training and facilities for the arts are usually limited. Teachers are normally expected to teach the arts to their own classes, though one fifth of all teachers in the study, particularly those who qualified some years ago, received no arts training at all in their Initial Teacher Training. Music, dance and visual arts are still taught in the majority of primary schools as discrete subjects, but not drama; and even though more expertise is available in music teaching than in other arts subjects, there is widespread concern about the shortage of music skills among non-specialist teachers.
The provision of music in secondary schools is currently being examined in a comprehensive consultation exercise, part of a £1.2m three-year project being led and funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation .The aim of the project, known as Musical Futures, is to reshape music education to devise a more coherent and flexible framework of musical opportunities for 11-19 year old, both within and outside formal education. Youth Music will be leading the project, in consultation with classroom teachers, instrumental tutors, community musicians and organisers, and will be testing two 2-year pilot schemes to test out new models of co-operation between those involved in the delivery of delivering music activities to young people.
For a copy of ‘Saving a Place for the Arts? A survey of the arts in primary schools in England’ (priced £10) t: 01753 747281; e: book.sales@nfer.ac.uk
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