Why is arts education important to students and schools?

1. The arts help children develop vital higher level skills.

Learners must be equipped with the basics', but basic literacy and math skills are not enough. To function in a world where the amount of information doubles in months and people will change jobs many times during their working years, students need a broader set of skills.

To succeed in the workplace and in our changing society, people must develop higher level skills, including cre-ativity; problem-solving, the ability to communicate in different ways, self-dis-cipline, tolerance and critical thinking. A growing body of research and decades ofpractice demonstrate that arts education can help children devel-op these critical higher level skills.

2. Higher level skills developed in part through the arts are essential to success in the workplace.

Employers are looking for people who are creative and who are able to think critically, solve problems, communicate well, conceptualize, make decisions and learn and reason. The sought after worker is a continuous and highly adaptable learner, and an imaginative thinker who possesses a wide range of higher level thinking skills. Arts education can help students develop and reinforce these essential higher level skills.

3. Arts education helps students to learn other subjects.

People learn in different ways. They respond differently to various types of learning materials and approaches. Because the arts draw on different kinds of intelligences or ways of think-ing, they can help students learn other subjects. The arts can also be used to accommodate students' individual learning styles, including those of spe-cial learners. Research shows that chil-dren who receive high quality arts edu-cation will often see marked improve-ments in their other studies. Students taught through the arts also tend to be more motivated and have a more posi-tive attitude toward learning.

With the impact that arts education can have on other learning, any cuts to arts programs will affect students' abili-ty to achieve in other subjects, as well as in the arts. On the other hand, an investment in arts education is an investment in learning. The arts are a powerful tool that teachers can use to convey and explore other subjects and disciplines.

4. Assessment methods used in the arts can measure achievement in other disciplines.

Over the years, the arts have devel-oped a range of rigorous assessment methods that can be applied effectively to measure achievement in other disci-plines. Arts assessment tools empha-size benchmarks and outcome-based learning and allow schools to assess student achievement and encourage continuous improvement. The goal is not simply to pass the test, but to learn more, achieve certain standards and continually do better

What can be done to ensure strong, effective and innovative arts education programs?

1. Teachers need better training and support in the arts to help them meet curriculum goals.

To deliver effective arts education and meet curriculum requirements, teachers need high quality training in arts educa-tion, as well as. ongoing support. When teachers receive that training and sup-port, schools and students are able to realize the full academic, economic and social benefits of arts education.

Most generalist teachers receive lit-tle training in the arts. Many student teachers receive only a few hours of instruction in the arts during the one -year general teacher training program. When those teachers move to the classroom, they no longer have experts at the board they can turn to for advice on their arts programs. With-the elimi-nation of art specialists, art consultants and cultural animateurs in many parts of the province, a vital resource has been lost.

As the arts are one of the four core components of Ontario's curriculurn to grade 9, elementary teachers will need more training and different kinds of support to develop the skills they need to meet the requirements for class-room delivery of the arts.

2. Professional artists can play a significant role in arts education in the classroom.

Trained, professional artists have a place in the classroom'. Visiting artists, enrich school-based arts programs. Their skills can be used effectively to improve arts education in the schools, and benefit both learners and teach-ers. For students, artists act as a cat-alyst to provide in-depth creative learn-ing experiences. Using artists in the classroom allows students to learn from experts. For teachers, artists in the classroom provide support and training in arts education. Artists can contribute significantly to arts educa-tion by assisting with program delivery, co-enrichment programs, subject expertise and subject integration.Given the financial pressure on school budgets, visiting artists are a cost-effective way to support teachers and ensure students receive high quali-ty arts education.

3. Effective partnerships between schools and the arts community benefit students and strengthen arts education in both settings.

The arts community is a valuable resource for schools, but schools should also work with arts organiza-tions to develop effective community -based arts programs. Not all arts edu-cation is delivered in schools. Arts edu-cation programs offered outside school hours in community centres and other local sites are an effective way to encourage disadvantaged children. They are also an innovative way to reach young school learners and adults, and give them the knowledge, skills and attributes that they, too, need to succeed in education and- in the work-place.

The role of business in arts advocacy

Arts advocates and arts organizations are accustomed to turning to business and industry for philanthropic sup-port, but not for help with advocacy for arts education. That relationship is changing. Anxious for the skills to compete in the workplace, a growing number of businesses are taking a different view of arts education. They see it as an investment with a potential return in the form of creative, innovative, adaptable people who are able to thrive and succeed in the workplace.

For example, Ashland Inc., a Kentucky firm, uses all of its advertising budget to support quality arts education because the company believes that it is a linchpin to business growth. Says vice-president, Dan Lacy, "Superior skills are needed to survive competitively in the global context. Acquiring them has to begin as early as possible in a child's education, and we see that it comes through arts education ... Ashland supports arts education - not only to build better kids but to build a better workforce."'

Arts advocates should look at local business as a potential ally in the effort to strengthen arts education in their community.

A Three-Point Rationale for Why and How Arts Education Strengthens 
 
the Work force

Business Says:

1 The arts enhance qualities that business needs. The indispensable qualities and characteristics for developing the kind of workforce America needs are "exactly the competencies that are animated and enhanced through study and practice of the arts. They are also generic, i.e., transferable to other topics and other areas of life.The arts invigorate the process of learning.

2 Arts education is education that focuses on "doing"; all the arts are related to either product or performance, and often both. The arts are also strongly linked to positive academic performance.

3 The arts embrace and encourage school participation, especially for youngsters who are at risk. Participation in arts programs can be a powerful magnet to keep children in school.

John Brademas, Remarks,
American Council on the Ads Conference on
'Arts Education for the 21 st Century American Economy
September 16, 1994
 
 

Value Added: How Arts Education Builds Skills that Business Values 
 
Business Says,

· An education in the arts encourages high achievement.

· Study of the arts encourages a suppleness of mind, a toleration for ambiguity, a taste for nuance and the ability to make trade-offs among alternative courses of action.

· Study of the arts helps students to think and work across traditional disciplines. They learn both to integrate knowledge and to "think outside the boxes."

· An education in the arts teaches students how to work cooperatively.

· An education in the arts builds an understanding of diversity and the multicultural dimensions of our world.

· An arts education insists on the value of content, which helps students understand "quality" as a key value.

· An arts education contributes to technological competence.