Scottish Government

CHAPTER THREE

Results from Questionnaire Survey

136 Six hundred and ninety questionnaires were sent to 41 secondary schools and 79 primary schools in nine Scottish LEAs. In addition, an email version of the questionnaire was circulated to all schools in Fife.

Participating teachers

137 Of the 231 teachers who indicated their gender, 41 were male and 190 were female; almost all respondents from primary schools were female.

138 The respondents had been teaching for an average of 17.2 years (sd 11.1), and had completed their training over a considerable range of the last half decade. 107 had qualified at postgraduate level, while 101 held an undergraduate qualification.

139 The sample also contained 27 head or deputy head teachers; in all, a broad range of job titles was supplied:

140 Respondents were also asked to list up to four arts activities that they engaged in in their own time. Secondary teachers offered somewhat more activities here, with a median of 3, while the median for activities supplied by primary teachers was 1. A quarter of the sample, however (59 teachers) stated they took part in no activities, or left this question blank. For further demographic details see Appendix D

141 Of the 368 activities listed by the respondents, over a third constituted passive activities - theatre or cinema going, attending ballet, concerts or exhibitions, or reading. The most frequent active involvement was with drama productions, at just over a fifth of the answers supplied. A wide range of specific art, music and dance activities were also supplied, including: drawing, painting, sculpting, printmaking, jewellery making, photography, recording, singing, instrumental performing and accompanying, and Scottish country and salsa dancing.

Arts in school

Activities

142 Teachers were asked to estimate the percentage of pupils at the school who took part in extra-curricular arts activities both in and outwith school. Some teachers felt they could not estimate these figures, or left these questions blank. However, in the 194 responses obtained, the mean rate of pupils though to be involved in extracurricular school activities was 21.1% (s.d. 20.06); in 177 responses, the mean proportion thought to be involved in activities outside the school was 20.01% (s.d.19.17). The respondents may, however, have wished to see higher rates. They were also asked to rate from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) their agreement with the statement 'There is a high level of arts activity in my school'. The mean response for the 226 responses was 2.4 (s.d. 1.04), indicating only somewhat more agreement than neutrality.

143 However, teachers were also asked to name up to four regular extracurricular activities at their school, and four examples of larger projects involving the arts; very few teachers did not supply any information here. Primary teachers named slightly fewer regular activities than secondary teachers, with a median of two activities as opposed to three. (This may reflect that after-school activities are not appropriate for all years at primary.) A median of 3 larger projects involving the arts, however, were supplied by the whole sample.

144 Of the 551 regular activities named, more than half related to music - these included instrumental clubs (guitar, recorder, fiddle etc), ensembles and choirs, and individual tuition. Art, drama and dance groups constituted 12.7, 10.2 and 10 per cent of the list respectively. As well as unspecified 'art clubs', art activities included camera clubs and mural groups; dance groups specified included Scottish country dance, line dancing and cheerleading. Regular groups meeting towards a school show were listed as an activity by some respondents, though this could encompass all genres (music rehearsals, drama rehearsals or screen and set building). Regular programmes of theatre or exhibition visits and study support were also mentioned.

145 The majority of the 655 larger projects mentioned were in-school projects ('school shows' were given as an example in the wording of the question). Responses in this category included shows, exhibitions and concerts, Burns Nights, Scottish events or ceilidhs, and special assemblies. Almost a quarter of responses involved visits to the school. These included residencies, lectures, workshops and masterclasses by individual professionals or specialists (such as Glasgow School of Art students via the GOALS project) and projects with larger visiting organisations such as the SNO, theatre companies or the Travelling Gallery. Participation in public competitions or festivals such as Young Musician of the Year or regional dance festivals formed 10% of answers, and some respondents included larger external projects such as council initiatives ( e.g. South Lanarkshire Council's Fashion Show, Fife Museums Arts Bus), or workshops offered centrally to pupils from several schools ( e.g. Artsnet provision).

Teaching the arts

Primary schools

146 89 of the 134 primary teachers indicated that their school had used cross-curricular projects involving the arts in the past year. Asked to describe these, most cited school shows or other school-wide projects (such as a garden project); class projects and special assemblies were also given as examples. Some larger external projects such as the Enterprise in Schools initiative or a local authority dance programme were also mentioned.

147 Primary teachers were asked to rate between 1 (very unpopular) and 2 (very popular) the popularity of different areas of the expressive arts at their school, both children and with teaching staff. All subjects were rated on average as more popular with pupils (between 'popular' and 'very popular') than teachers (between 'neither' and 'popular'). For both groups, art was seen as the most popular subject, while dance was seen as the least popular. In the ratings for children, drama was slightly more popular on average than music; for teachers, the reverse was seen.

1=very unpopular, 5=very popular

148 Primary teachers were also asked to estimate how many minutes of teaching time per week were devoted to each subject area. The mean times are shown below.

149 The modal answer for art, music and drama was 60 minutes, while for dance it was 0 minutes. While this may explain the lower mean time for this subject, these responses may also reflect some uncertainty about whether time would be allocated to dance only, since it forms part of the broader subject of P. E.; only 89 teachers gave a response for dance.

150 Finally, the primary teachers were asked to indicate whether they thought the amount of arts teaching in their school was increasing, decreasing or staying the same. An overwhelming majority of those who answered thought that it was steady; slightly more thought that it was increasing than thought it was decreasing.

Amount of arts teaching time

Secondary teachers

151 The secondary teachers in the sample were asked to estimate some information about their third year pupils. They reported a mean of 193 S3 pupils in the school (s.d. 70.71), and a mean of 63 S3 pupils taking their subject (s.d. 24.95). Teachers were also asked to estimate how many more S3 pupils this year could have taken their subject; the mean response was 50.73 (s.d. 51.84). 80 teachers offered a reason or reasons why, in their opinion, these pupils might not have chosen their subject. A third of their142 responses attributed this to timetable clashes between subjects; other reasons included the influence of guidance teachers or parents, a lack of staff or facilities to take on more pupils, or pupils' own choice or preference.

152 Nevertheless, when the secondary teachers were asked to indicate their agreement with the statement 'Timetabling in my school does not support those wishing to combine arts subjects with others', there was relatively slight agreement. The mean response was 2.49 (s.d. 1.32), where 1 indicated strong agreement and 5 indicated strong disagreement.

153 The secondary teachers were also asked about pupils from S3 to S6 who did take their subject; the proportion of pupils among this group from an ethnic minority background was usually estimated to be very small, at a mean of 1.84 (s.d.2.91). The mean number of pupils considered to have chosen the subject, rather than being guided into it, was 91 (s.d. 16.46). Numbers of pupils taking the respondent's subject after S2 were widely seen as steady or increasing:

Numbers taking subject after S2

Primary/secondary liaison

154 Finally, all primary teachers were asked whether they liaised at all with secondary teachers in their work, and vice versa. 148 of the 232 respondents said they did not; this was the case for a greater proportion of primary teachers than secondary teachers.

155 Participants were also asked in what ways they liaised if they answered yes ; if they answered no, they were asked to indicate why. The most frequently cited route of liaising were teacher visits or consultation exercises, and transition procedures from P7 to S1, at around a third of responses each. Other means of interacting were competitions and concerts involving both primary and secondary pupils, and secondary music teachers' tuition of primary pupils.

156 Almost half the reasons given for not liaising were lack of time, while a further 27% felt that there were no opportunities to do so. Some primary teachers, however, felt there was no need, or did not see this as relevant if their responsibility was for the infant stages.

Your job

157 The respondents were asked to indicate their agreement with a number of statements to do with their job.

1= strongly agree, 5 = strongly disagree

158 Teachers were somewhat more confident in their ability to deliver the arts curriculum than assess it, and slightly in agreement overall that they were well informed about current developments in arts teaching. They also agreed that their interests and abilities were capitalised on by the school, but disagreed that there was no expectation for them to work in their own time. Asked to estimate how many hours on average they worked in their own time, more than two-fifths (43.1%) of those who responded said they worked more than ten hours a week on average; only three teachers said that they did not work in their own time.

159 A third of the sample indicate d that they were not responsible for any extracurricular activities ( a further 16% did not respond to this question); of the remainder, most took responsibility for only one extracurricular activity.

160 Musical activities accounted for a third (34.8%) of those that teachers described being in charge of; a fifth were art and craft activities, and many also gave regular preparations for a school show as an area of responsibility.

Curriculum & guidelines

161 Teachers' opinions on some areas of teaching practice were also sought. All but one indicated that they felt creativity could be fostered in children; their mean confidence in being able to do so was 2.25 (s.d. 0.91) where 1 represented 'very confident' and 5 represented 'not at all confident'.

162 The balance of the arts in the national curriculum was perceived as appropriate. Curriculum assessment was felt to support arts provision somewhat poorly (mean 3.06, s.d. 0.93); this is consistent with the limited confidence in teaching observed above. Only 114 teachers responded to a question about how the SQA syllabus complements provision in the 5-14 age group. (Many questionnaires from primary teachers indicated that they did not think this question was intended for them, or that they did not feel they had the knowledge to answer). The mean from the responses that were given was 2.48 (s.d. 1.38), indicating that the exams were perceived by those teachers as complementing 5-14 quite well. Opinions on the 5-14 guidelines were relatively positive; with mean responses 2.59 (s.d. 0.98) and 2.52 (s.d. 1.10), they were seen as quite appropriate and relatively achievable.

Importance of the arts

163 A series of 13 statements about the wider benefits of studying or participating in the arts was also supplied for teachers to rate in terms of importance (see Appendix). While their answers on the whole uniformly stressed all these benefits as important, they were also asked to indicate which three they found the most important reasons for teaching the arts, and which one the least important. The modal answer for the most important reason (constituting 24 % of responses) was statement two: ' Involvement in the arts can develop an individual's self-esteem'. Another three statements were the next most popular, each accounting for around 12 % of responses: ' Arts education promotes individual achievement', ' Arts activity in school provides a foundation for lifelong interest and participation' and ' Arts involvement develops imagination, sensitivity and responsiveness in individuals'. The statement most frequently cited as the least important reason was ' Studying or taking part in the arts promotes a distinct way of understanding oneself' (18.6 % of responses). Two other statements frequently cited as least important were ' Taking part in the arts develops an individual's ability to concentrate' (15.5%) and ' Studying the arts adds depth of understanding and relevance to learning in general' (12.9%).

164 Teachers were also invited to supply other wider benefits of arts subjects. 54 respondents did so; their 70 responses were categorised as follows:

165 Learning social skills and teamwork, boosting confidence in less able or academic pupils, and therapeutic benefits were the most common responses. Finally, teachers were asked to rate from1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) whether the arts were highly valued by their school, their pupils' parents, and the nation as a whole.

166 While the mean scores for these scores were all between 'agree' and 'neutral', the arts were seen as somewhat more highly valued by the school than by parents, and least highly valued at a national level.