EDAR500: The Arts Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment 

Part 1: Rationale for The Arts in Young Children’s Education

In the current neo-liberal climate, the importance of arts education is often marginalised at the expense of testable skills such as literacy and numeracy, which are considered to better prepare children to enter the global economy (Egan, 1997; Cullingford, 1986; Rizvi et al., 2022). This denigration of the arts is based on the time-honoured dichotomy in which hands-on, practical pursuits are viewed as lesser than pursuits of the mind (Rose, 2005; Jeanneret, 2017). This approach fails to consider the vital benefits of arts education to children, such as art’s contribution to children’s socio-emotional and cognitive development, and its capacity to foster skills required by society in the digital age.

Meaningful arts education allows children to express their socio-emotional identity by engaging in historical, social and cultural narratives. Jeanneret argues that "the arts are one of the main ways that humanity identifies itself, both as individuals and a culture” (2017, p. 34). The arts invite children into the discourses which have shaped human experience for thousands of years and encourages them to situate themselves, and others, within these narratives. In turn, this engagement allows children to develop sensitivity and empathy for alternate cultural viewpoints (Holochwost et al., 2021). The arts provide opportunities for children to engage in cathartic practices and process complex emotional states. Participation in the arts has been shown to produce positive psychological outcomes such as increased resilience, greater well-being and improved self-esteem (Jeanneret, 2017; Holochwost et al., 2021).

A rigorous arts education contributes to cognitive development. The arts encourage children to engage in open-ended, solution-based thinking, by participating in practices without clear or predetermined answers (Jeanneret, 2017). Numerous studies have indicated the far-reaching benefits of arts education on overall academic performance, increased school attendance and improved literacy and numeracy skills (Caldwell & Vaughan, 2012; Jeanneret, 2010). Arts education provides a method to develop psychomotor skills as the arts encourage the intersection of the physical and cognitive realms (Jeanneret, 2017).

The arts develop skills essential to the digital age. The US National Education Association stated that children should be competent in critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity (the four C’s) to actively contribute to society in the 21st century (2013). These four attributes are essential foundation skills in arts education. Both Jeanneret (2017) and Chapman (2001) argue that the arts are exemplars of subjects which encourage creative thinking and the sort of "divergent reasoning that is critical in the real world" (Jeanneret, 2017, p. 33). Without doubt, the arts provide students with the opportunities to practice the NEA’s four C’s in preparation for active engagement in the global economy.

Part 2: Analysis of Curriculum and Theoretical Understanding

The Australian Arts Curriculum F-2 encompasses Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and Visual Arts (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], n.d). The curriculum organises the content of these five arts subjects around four unifying strands: exploring and responding, developing practices and skills, creating and making and presenting and performing. These strands can be broadly classified under the iterative cycle of making and responding. In this cycle, practice leads to reflection, which informs new practices in an ever-widening loop encouraging critical literacy and personal growth.

The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) adopts a holistic view of childhood development, centralised around the values of belonging, being and becoming which influence the framework’s principles, practices and learning outcomes (Australian Government Department of Education [AGDE], 2022). These learning outcomes are: children have a strong sense of identity and wellbeing, children contribute and connect with their world, children build confidence as learners and children communicate effectively.

Both standards view young children as highly competent and capable of creative expression and support a reflexive relationship between the self and the world. ACARA’s focus on making and responding is reflected in the EYLF’s use of play-based learning and the planning cycle pedagogy, which both employ responsive circular frameworks. Both policies emphasise the need for children to interact with broader social and cultural contexts. In the Arts Curriculum, arts instruction must develop general capabilities as well as the three-cross curriculum-priorities, including engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures (ACARA, n.d). Similarly, knowledge of the perspectives of Australia’s first people is a guiding principle of EYLF.

Arts learning often employs a constructivist model, as espoused by the interactionist theories of Jean Piaget and Leo Vygotsky, in which learning is ‘constructed’ through active, meaningful investigations undertaken within the structured framework of the classroom (Drljaca, 2020). All five art subjects involve both radical and social constructivist learning by providing opportunities for both autonomous investigation and social interactions (group work) through which children can ‘construct’ new understandings of the world. The arts necessarily employ behaviourist learning, as children are guided by explicit, teacher-led demonstrations of specific techniques (Stone & Paterson, 2006). This is particularly relevant in music and dance, where skill-building is important for ‘correct’ execution of form. Although developed to explain language acquisition (Chomsky, 1965), nativist theories of learning, describing children’s innate biological competence in the acquisition of skills, may be applied to the arts. Matthews (2004) argues that rudimentary drawings by young children “share a similar structure with that of conversational language” and exists in “cooperative connectedness” (2004, p. 268) with representational language acquisition. Most children demonstrate an instinctive interest in the arts, engaging in dancing, singing and representational practices from a young age. Teachers should be aware of children’s innate need for self-expression and view all children as capable and creative at the outset. 

Part 3: Professional Learning for Teachers in the Arts

To achieve the benefits of arts education, teachers need to understand how students learn in the arts and the pedagogies that support this learning (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL], n.d., Standard 1.2.) Additionally, teachers require knowledge of the content relevant to the each of the five art subjects and continued professional learning to improve quality teaching (AITSL, n.d., Standard 2.1 and 6.2). Dinham (2022) identifies the central pedagogies in arts as a stimulating learning environment, play-based learning, teaching with intention and respectful dialogue. To achieve APST 1.2, teachers could invite, observe and later collaborate with exemplary arts incursions such as Child’s Play Music, The Drama Toolbox, and SketchRoo. Teachers may also benefit from professional development in play-based learning to better employ this pedagogy. To satisfy standards 2.1 and 6.2, teachers could engage in skill-based professional development including learning visual arts techniques at Art Education Victoria, reading music (MSO Schools), engaging diverse learners in drama (Drama Victoria), and incorporating dance in the classroom (Australian Ballet).