Executive Summary
This study aimed to develop baseline information on the views and attitudes of schools and teachers concerning the delivery of arts subjects within the 5-14 curriculum. The views of teachers were explored on a range of issues relating to the teaching of the arts in primary schools and the first two years of secondary schools. These issues included the balance of the curriculum, the specialist knowledge they perceive as necessary or not in order to teach each subject with confidence, and the benefits which, in the view of teachers, accrue to pupils and the school through participation in the arts. The impact of the arts upon the general life of the school and the ways in which the arts permeate the curriculum are also examined.
Results from six focus groups are presented. Thirty-one teachers (seven male, 24 female) were recruited in four LEAs (Glasgow City, East Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire) for focus groups. Two of these groups comprised 12 primary teachers and one primary head teacher; another two comprised seven secondary teachers and a secondary deputy head. The two remaining groups comprised five head or deputy head teachers of primary schools and five teachers from SEN schools respectively. In addition, 690 questionnaires ( Appendix A) were sent to 41 secondary schools and 79 primary schools in nine Scottish LEAs. Two hundred and thirty two questionnaires were returned.
Seven broad themes emerged from collating both the focus group and questionnaires data and these are as follows:
1 Teaching the arts;
2 Curriculum and guidelines;
3 Resources and management;
4 Assessment and accountability;
5 Involving professionals;
6 How the arts are valued;
7 Benefits of the arts.
Teaching the Arts
The role of specialist teachers in primary and SEN schools emerged as a central debate. There was ample testimony to the positive input that subject specialist teachers could have. This was frequently weighed against the lack of confidence in teaching one or more areas of the Expressive Arts curriculum that many teachers in the primary focus groups described. Some therefore saw specialist input as strongest where it fed into general teachers' own provision.
Curriculum and Guidelines
Primary teachers in general were approving of the content of the 5-14 curriculum, but expressed reservations about the guidelines; they found these lacked clarity, and felt there was considerable need for clearer examples. Secondary teachers, in contrast, raised concerns with curriculum content, either on the grounds of 'dumbing down' or not addressing the needs of the workplace or further education.
Resources and Management
Making the arts available within school timetables emerged as a key issue; primary school teachers described very constrained opportunities to deliver the Expressive Arts curriculum; in the survey, many respondents saw little or no opportunity to deliver teaching in dance. At a secondary level, teachers in the focus groups frequently discussed the problems of being 'in competition' with other subjects; this was also one of the most frequently cited reasons in the survey for pupils not taking arts subjects in third year, and teachers on the whole agreed that timetabling in their school did not support those wishing to combine arts with non-arts subjects.
Assessment and Accountability
All teachers expressed concerns regarding assessment in the arts. At the focus groups, these ranged from a perceived lack of clarity over what was expected by the SQA or HMI, to worries that working towards evaluated outcomes limits the expressive potential of the arts. SEN teachers were concerned that assessment was geared towards end products rather than processes. In the survey, teachers did not agree that assessment supported arts provision, though expressing confidence in their ability to carry this out. These results suggest that clarifying assessment criteria and procedures would be beneficial, and that assessment in the arts would meet with greater approval from teachers if it placed more emphasis on individual expression and processes.
Involving the Professionals
Collaboration with, or exposure to, professional artists and groups was seen as a valuable contribution to the curriculum at all levels, with a very broad range of examples given in the survey. Such involvement was seen as beneficial on a number of accounts. Public art projects in a community setting were seen as giving school art a higher profile among parents, and making it part of their life. Visiting artists raised awareness of current practice, showed the arts in a working situation, and introduced pupils to specialised skills, enriching the curriculum. Above all, this familiarised pupils with the arts practised as a profession, and demonstrated to them how a living might be made in their subject area
How the Arts are Valued
In the survey, schools emerged as something of a stronghold for the arts - teachers saw schools as valuing the arts more than parents or the nation as a whole. In the focus groups too, teachers stressed the important resource that arts teachers can represent to a community, and felt passionately themselves about the importance of the arts to all individuals. However, they felt to some extent that while parents valued the output from their child's arts education, they did not take this area of the curriculum as seriously as it merited. Yet teachers in the focus groups also frequently cast arts subjects as redressing the balance between 'academic' pupils and 'less academic' ones.
Benefits of the Arts
Many different ways in which studying the arts can benefit children and young people were highlighted in the focus groups. Personal benefits included growth in self confidence, self-esteem, social and communication skills, emotional intelligence, discernment and being able to articulate individual opinions. As a distinct and less formal learning environment involving complex tasks and personal input, art, music, drama and dance were all seen as having the potential to help students with behavioural difficulties, or those struggling in other subjects. This could also provide them with transferable skills - assisting literacy and numeracy at primary level or in SEN schools, for example, or developing writing skills and teamwork at secondary level.
Further Research
Suggestions for further research include a comprehensive evaluation utilising qualitative methodology in more detail, a longitudinal study following pupils through the 5 - 14 process, an evaluation of specific arts projects for indicators of best practice, the setting up and evaluation of a Management / Teachers Arts Liaison Group, and researching models of training for primary teachers with reference to arts teaching and the use of teachers' packs.