ARTS --- For Learning

The arts and art education are important because they:

• have a creative interpretative, expressive function;

• help us to find out who we are and express who we are. Somehow they cut across all social barriers;

• are a very powerful way to express ourselves and to be understood;

• are important as a means of cultural understanding;

• educate the heart;

• are one of the most potent ways to create empathy;

• develop creativity; however there are dangers of talking about the arts in this way because they do not have a monopoly on developing creativity;

• are important because they have been part of civilisation for a long time; they provide a cultural background to understand the past;

• can help young people and adults learn about our collective histories;

• are a tool for social change because they educate people about important issues;

• teach individuals to become artists, helping them to “create” their lives by acquiring and using observational, analytical and technical skills.

• are integral to life.

Learning in, through and about the arts

• We must make an argument for using all three approaches: learning in, through and about the arts. We increase the level of the dialogue when we are inclusive rather then exclusive.

Let arts education incorporate all three forms.

• The three approaches need to be balanced. One approach should not be privileged over another: they must work together.

• The arts are used to teach other subjects or are integrated into other subjects. Arts education is about the ability to learn physically. A class of students learn more if they are engaged visually, auditorially and physically. Integrated learning, using the arts to teach, brings learning to a higher level. Arts education engages the mind, body, spirit and emotions.

• The arts can be infused into the curriculum in the same way a specific language can be, similar to immersion programs.

• For some the arts have more importance when they are integrated into other subjects because it makes them part of the whole curriculum

• The arts support learning, inquiry and critical study.

• It is important to define and teach the arts for their own sake.

• Arts are about the human condition and what we are. For example, a music piece can teach history, as can a painting.

• The arts are always about something. There is always a context. It is a bit superfluous to talk about integrating the arts because they do not occur in a vacuum.

• It is important to teach the arts for arts’ sake but they should be more socially and culturally based.

• The arts should be taught along with cultural studies. They should not be separated, nor should arts be subsumed under culture.