Arts in the curriculum – Drive for creativity

There is an old British disease that sees creativity and high standards as opposites. I don’t understand this as creativity drives standards up. That is why the arts have a key role in our education strategy.

Art and Design is a compulsory National Curriculum subject for all five to fourteen-year-olds in maintained schools, and programmes of study balance theory and practice, requiring pupils to experience a variety of art in different genres and styles and from different cultures. During Key Stage 1, pupils develop their creativity and imagination by exploring the visual, tactile and sensory qualities of materials and processes. They learn about the role of art, craft and design in their environment; they begin to understand colour, shape and space, pattern and texture, and use them to represent their own ideas and feelings. At Key Stage 2, children build on their skills and improve their control of materials, tools and techniques. They increase their critical awareness of the roles and purposes of art, craft and design in different times and cultures. They become more confident in using visual and tactile elements and materials and processes to communicate what they see, feel and think. The Key Stage 3 curriculum helps pupils develop their creativity and imagination through more sustained activities. It builds on their practical and critical skills and extends their knowledge and experience of materials, processes and practices. They increasingly use visual language to communicate their own ideas, feelings and meanings.

Creative approaches

Just as important as the formal framework for arts education is the way it informs the rest of a school’s activity. The arts (including dance, drama, media arts and music, as well as art and design) are vital for inspiring creativity across the curriculum. They encourage independent thinking skills and a creative, flexible approach to learning.

Ofsted’s report ‘Improving City Schools – how the arts can help’, published in August 2003, found that arts subjects were particularly good for reaching hard-to-motivate pupils. These children often viewed arts subjects in a more favourable light than other subjects because:

• there are usually a large number of practical activities
• there is only a limited amount of writing – an issue that was most specifically mentioned by boys
• much of the activity is immediate and physical in nature – marks are made, sounds produced, movements organised – and it is clear to the pupils that progress is being made
• individual creativity is recognised
• there is less of a perception that there are right and wrong responses.

The benefits of engagement with the arts for pupils and schools were also highlighted in a three-year study by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority sponsored by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). Schools involved in the research reported that the arts had helped increase pupils’ self-esteem, concentration and motivation. Communication skills and creativity improved, learning was increased and disaffection reduced. Arts subjects challenged pupils to consider complex issues and to think in different ways. All the schools with an arts-rich curriculum thought that the arts had been instrumental in boosting school improvement.

Arts and schools

The new specialist arts colleges build on the theory – and the practice – that excellence in one area informs every school activity and every part of the school. Specialist schools, in partnership with private sector sponsors and supported by additional government funding, build on their strengths and establish distinctive identities through their chosen specialism – at the same time as continuing to teach a broad and balanced curriculum. There are currently 227 specialist arts colleges in operation in England and Wales.

Other measures to increase knowledge and understanding of the arts include Creative Partnerships, a cross-departmental initiative aimed at building long-term sustainable relationships between schools and cultural organisations. The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) is investing £110m over four years, and DfES is contributing up to £2m in 2003/2004 and up to £2.5m in 2004/2005. In the long-term we hope the lessons learnt from the Creative Partnerships regions (16 in 2003/2004, nine more in 2004/2005 and a further 11 in 2005/2006) will be extended to all schools across the country.

The DfES and DCMS jointly fund the Museums and Galleries Programme, increasing schools’ access to some of the greatest treasure houses of art from the distant past and the cutting-edge present – from the Victoria & Albert Museum to Tate Modern.

One of my own particular concerns is music education. Music has a vital role to play in schools, as the Wider Opportunities pilot programmes have proved. Music gives children the joy of discovery and the chance to be creative, and it also contributes to higher standards, self-confidence and motivation. Making these opportunities available to more young people, over time, is a key part of the music manifesto I will be launching with Arts Minister Estelle Morris later this year. In March I announced an extra £1.5m funding for Local Education Authority (LEA) Music Services (£10,000 for each LEA) to help them build on the pioneering pilots and extend their success to other schools around the country.

Making a commitment

The government is committed to arts education in schools, and to promoting creativity throughout the curriculum. The benefits for children are enormous. I don’t need to tell readers that the skills and understanding gained through arts activities are applicable in just about every area of life. If we’re serious about widening children’s horizons, giving them new ways of seeing the world, and new insights into their own and others’ culture, we must be serious about arts education. We are committed to ensuring that the drive for creativity and the drive for high standards go hand in hand.

The Rt Hon David Miliband MP is Schools Minister.

The Arts Alive website, detailing the QCA study described above, can be found at www.qca.org.uk/artsalive