THE ARTSIN THE

PRIMARYSCHOOL:REFORMING TEACHEREDUCATION

© 1989 Calouste Gulbenkian FoundationISBN O 903319 45 4Designed by The Upper RoomPrinted by Melbourne Press

Further copies of this report and completepublications list are available fromCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation98 Portland PlaceLondon WIN 4ETTelephone 071-636 5313/7

CONTENTS

2 FOREWORD

3 THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

5 INTRODUCTION

6 THE CASE FOR REFORM

7 THE TEACHERS WE NEED

8 INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING

10 INSET

12 PRINCIPAL RECOMMENDATIONS

13 BIBLIOGRAPHY

FOREWORD

Although children in primary schools engage increative activities naturally and spontaneously, fewprimary teachers have either the skills or the confi-dence to enable this to happen to the degree thatit should. This is often because they themselveswill have abandoned the arts during their earlyyears in secondary school. It follows that the initialtraining in the arts of primary school teachers,where skills can be imparted and confidencerestored, is crucial. Unfortunately this training isoften woefully inadequate, as an earlier report bythe National Foundation for Educational Researchindicated.

It was these considerations that led the Gulben-kian Foundation, in conjunction with the NFER, toconvene a seminar of HMIs, LEA advisers, teachersand teacher educators to share views on what wasneeded to improve the situation. The terms ofreference reached beyond initial teacher training toinclude in-service provision. The recommenda-tions that came from the seminar were reworked ina series of draft documents, of which this report isthe final version. The report summarises the casefor the reform of the initial training of primaryschool teachers in the arts and sets out a numberof recommendations concerned with improvingboth initial training and in-service provision.

The Gulbenkian Foundation would like to thankDr Seamus Hegarty, Deputy Director of the NFER,for chairing the Advisory Committee that presidedover the development of this report; the membersof the Committee for their advice and support;Rick Rogers for his work on the early drafts; andMalcolm Ross for writing the final document.

Simon RicheyAssistant Director, EducationUK BranchCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation

THE ADVISORYCOMMITTEE

CHAIRMAN

DR SEAMUS HEGARTYDeputy Director, National Foundationfor Educational Research

MEMBERS

MERVYN BENFORDGeneral Advisory Headteacher, formerlyHonorary Secretary, National Associationof Primary Education

SHIRLEY CLEAVESenior Research Officer, NationalFoundation for Educational Research,co-author The Arts: A Preparation toTeach (NFER)

DR ALYN DA VIESChief Inspector (FHCE), Inner LondonEducation Authority

SIMON RICKEYAssistant Director (Education), CalousteGulbenkian Foundation, UK Branch

MALCOLM RossSenior Lecturer in Education, Universityof Exeter

CAROLINE SHARPResearch Officer, National Foundationfor Educational Research, co-author TheArts: A Preparation to Teach (NFER)

OBSERVERS

DR KEN ROBINSONDirector, School Curriculum Develop-ment Committee/National CurriculumCouncil Arts in Schools Project

DAVID MARJORAMStaff Inspector for Art and Design, HMIInspectorate

Final Report written by Malcolm Ross

"The curriculum for a maintained school satisfiesthe requirement of this section if it is a balancedand broadly based curriculum which -

a) promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mentaland physical development of pupils at the schooland of society; and

b) prepares such pupils for the opportunities, re-sponsibilities and experiences of adult life."

Education Reform Act, 1988

"A national curriculum which simply turned outchildren who had first rate numeracy and scientificskills would not be one which any of us wouldwant. And pupils, teachers and parents wouldrightly rebel against it if it ever came into being. Inmy view it is education in the arts which makes asignificant contribution to the way children de-velop their feelings and understand their emo-tions. It is this part of the curriculum which canplay the most significant part in ensuring thatchildren, when they leave schools and go out intoadult life and employment, have developed emo-tionally in a way which complements the intellec-tual knowledge and skills which we all hope theywill acquire. The arts then will also have provideda precious foundation which can be developedthroughout their lives as adults and can be acontinuing source of inspiration, pleasure and ex-citement."

Angela Rumbold, 28 October 1988. Speech to theNational Association for Education in the Arts

NTRODUCTION

1.1 The Education Reform Act confirms the im-portance of the arts (ie art, music, dance and drama)in general education. Encouraging developmentsin recent years have included the work of the NCCArts in Schools Project, the increasing involvementof the Arts Council and Regional Arts Associationsin schools and community arts, the enhanced pro-fessional qualifications of arts teachers, and theemergence of innovatory schemes of assessementand examination. However, despite these realachievements, the quality of arts education inprimary classrooms remains patchy. In this paperwe make the case for reform and indicate ways inwhich improvements might be brought about.

1.2 The arts make a vital contribution to the edu-cation of the whole child, both as subjects to belearnt and enjoyed in their own right and becausethey encourage and enrich learning in other sub-jects. In primary schools the arts subjects havetraditionally been a powerful vehicle for education,with their strong emphasis on learning by doing, onstimulating the child's imagination and on generat-ing manipulative, mental and inter-personal skillsand values. Such an approach is widely regarded asespecially appropriate for the early years of school-ing.

1.3 The recent report The Economic Importanceof the Arts in Britain, published by PSI, has re-vealed not only the growing employment opportu-nities available to young people with qualifications,in the arts but also the considerable contributionbeing made by the arts to the nation's GNP. Turn-over in the arts, for instance, is now greater than inthe motor industry.

1.4 The new Education Reform Act presents anumber of challenges and opportunities to the artsin education. The remit of the NCC encompassesthe whole curriculum, ie is not confined to the coreand foundation subjects of the National Curriculumas specified in the Act. A balanced and broadlybased curriculum promoting the educationalobjectives identified in the Act must include the arts- and Ministers have given ample evidence of theirfirm, personal commitment to the future of the artsin both primary and secondary schools. Music andart are to provide the basis of a general arts educa-tion for all - these subjects are both designated'foundation' subjects in the National Curriculum -and drama and dance, we have been assured, arenot to be neglected.

1.5 The phased introduction of the TGAT rec-ommendations for testing and assessment, theserial publication of the Subject Working Partyreports establishing profile components andattainment targets, and the commissioning ofstandard attainment tests, all indicate an educationsystem which, by the mid 1990s, will differ in anumber of respects from the present. Teacherswill need new skills and understanding if they areto cope with the changes now afoot.

1.6 Unfortunately, these planned developmentsare taking place at a time when, due to a numberof factors, there is likely to be a shortfall both inthe numbers of primary generalist teachers and ofgraduate specialists required to deliver the Na-tional Curriculum. Since traditional routes for thetraining and supply of teachers are likely to proveinadequate, some radical alternatives are beingsought.

1.7 If the quality of primary arts education is tobe improved then arts educators themselvesshould now come forward with their own propos-als as to how the arts are to respond to thesevarious developments and, in particular, play thevital curricular role allotted to them. Thoughtshould be given to the content of the arts curricu-lum and to the identification of a set of aims andobjectives that respect both the separate identitiesof the different arts subjects and their commoninterests. Renewed attempts should be made tosolve the complex and difficult problems associ-ated with assessment and testing in this area.

1.8 With changes in initial teacher training - in-cluding the review of the GATE criteria - the artsrequire sustained support and a cogently arguedand coherent programme of development toensure that they remain a significant element inthe training of primary teachers.

THE CASE FOR REFORM

2.1 The National Foundation for Educational Re-search, Her Majesty's Inspectorate and the Cal-ouste Gulbenkian Foundation have all recentlypointed to the need to improve aspects of primaryteacher education in relation to the arts.

2.2 The NFER's survey The Arts: A Preparationto Teach, carried out in the summer of 1985,looked at the initial training of primary teachers infour of the expressive arts - art, dance, drama andmusic. The report considered the patterns ofcompulsory and optional course provision in thearts on undergraduate and PGCE programmes;students' professional preparation for teaching thearts; tutors' perceptions of the role of a newlyqualified teacher; the evaluation and assessmentof students' and pupils' work and the nature ofrecent and proposed course changes. The find-ings painted a bleak picture of the problemsassociated with providing adequately for the artsin the preparation of primary teachers.

2.3 The HMI survey Quality in Schools: theInitial Training of Teachers, carried out between1983 and 1985, looked at the whole range of initialtraining and found "inadequate provision for theexpressive arts in virtually all the institutions". Itconcluded that "further consideration needs to begiven to the time allocated for expressive arts ifstudents are to be satisfactorily prepared to teachthis important area of the primary school's curricu-lum".

2.4 Although the HMI report The New Teacherin School, published in November 1988, revealedgeneral satisfaction among new teachers with theirtraining - two thirds were content -"substantialproportions" criticised an over-emphasis onsubject studies, and a lack of emphasis on profes-sional matters such as teaching method andclassroom observation. Some teachers, in thewords of the report,

"...lacked confidence and understanding in sub-jects in which they had followed only professionalor curriculum courses, physical education and artbeing the commonest".

2.5 The Gulbenkian Report The Arts in Schools,published in 1982, makes similar points, empha-sising in particular the class teacher's general "lackof confidence" where the arts are concerned.

2.6 These reports identified several areas of par-ticular concern:

a) Course organisation

i. There was considerable variation in the charac-ter and balance of courses between differentinstitutions.

ii. The number of hours allotted to the arts variedwidely from course to course.

iii. The arts suffered disproportionately from in-adequate resources of time, staffing, space andmaterials.

b) Subject Studies and Subject Method

i. Too few courses helped students apply theirspecialist subject to children's learning.

ii. Students generally lacked confidence aboutlong-term planning and the progressive develop-ment of children's arts knowledge, concepts andskills.

iii. There was insufficent emphasis upon trainingfor curriculum leadership.

e) Educational and Professional Studies

i. Those with limited previous arts experienceoften lacked confidence and did not gain theinsights needed to teach the arts creatively.

ii. Undergraduate and PGCE courses rarely con-sidered the variety of pupils' needs.

iii. The relationship between the expressive artsand the rest of the primary curriculum was littleexplored or systematically related to other parts ofan undergraduate programme.

iv. Insufficient attention was paid to the needs ofethnic minority pupils.

v .The special needs of pupils with learning diffi-culties or particular strengths were not beingadequately addressed.

vi. Too few undergraduate and PGCE arts coursesprovided guidance in assessing or recording chil-dren's progress in the arts.

vii .Developing critical awareness in student andchild was not adequately considered in many ofthe PGCE courses surveyed.

THE TEACHERS WE NEED

3.1 Three kinds of teacher of the arts are neededin primary schools: the generalist class teacherconfident enough to include the arts as part of abroad and balanced curriculum for all pupils; thespecialist teacher able to offer practical expertise inone of the major art forms; and the curriculumleader capable of co-ordinating arts provision andstaff development in the school as a whole.

3.2 The Class Teacher should

a) have a clear grasp of the educational role of thearts, an understanding of how children learnthrough the arts, and a knowledge of the differentstages of a child's aesthetic development;

b) be personally interested in and familiar with atleast one or two art forms;

e) be confident in encouraging creative workacross the whole range of the arts;

d) be able to recognise and evaluate the artisticquality in children's work.

3.3 The Specialist Teacher should, in addition tothe skills and understandings of the generalistclass teacher,

a) be able to offer practical expertise in one of themajor arts disciplines (eg art, music);

b) be able to apply that expertise in support ofnon-specialist colleagues.

Every school or cluster of small schools should,ideally, have a practising artist and a practisingmusician on the staff.

3.4 The Curriculum Leader should, in additionto the skills and understandings of the generalistclass teacher,

a) be fired by a personal enthusiasm for andunderstanding of the arts;

b) be able to assist in the development of a com-prehensive arts policy for a school;

e) play an active role in staff development and theproper management of the arts curriculum;

d) be a persuasive and articulate advocate for thearts with parents and governors.

INITIAL TEACHERTRAINING

"With the recognition that the arts should form partof the curriculum we see the need for the follow-ing reforms:

4.1 Selection of Students

a) Prospectuses should make clear and specificreference to the arts component in a course.

b) Application forms should invite students to listtheir qualifications, particular interests and previ-ous involvement in the arts.

e) Procedures for selecting students for under-graduate and PGCE courses should, irrespectiveof main subject, reflect the role of the arts inprimary education. Where appropriate, interviewsshould include practical arts workshops involvinga variety of creative activities.

d) Interviewers should build up a detailed profileof a student, through written and verbal means,and assess a student's enthusiasm for and commit-ment to the arts. Where possible, arts tutorsshould be involved in selection interviews toensure that students are asked relevant questionsabout the arts.

e) Students should be expected to demonstratecommunication and inter-personal skills at inter-views by participating additionally in simpleworkshops and simulation exercises.

f) Interviewers should assess students' responsesto children's arts work by showing slides, videosand actual examples.

4.2 Staff

a) Staff should be qualified to educate and trainthe students in their main arts subjects at a levelappropriate to higher education.

b) Staff concerned with pedagogy should have hadrecent experience as teachers of the arts, ideallyteaching pupils within the age range for whichthey are preparing students, and should maintainregular and frequent experience of classroomteaching.

e) All staff should be encouraged to develop theirpersonal interests in the arts and should appreci-ate the scope for arts education across the wholecurriculum.

4.3 Course Organisation

a) Close links should be established and main-tained between courses, local schools and localprofessional arts organisations.

b) Experienced arts teachers and arts workersshould be involved in planning, supporting andappraising students' practical work in schools andin their training within the institution.

e) Students should be able to work alongside aclass teacher teaching the arts prior to teachingpractice itself.

d) Adequate and appropriate resources (staff, time,materials and equipment) are essential to success-ful work in the arts. For example, music makingdepends upon the possibility of "silence" and thecontrol of "noise". Drama and dance need space,privacy and a suitable floor. Art needs the controlof light source, the availability of basic markmaking and modelling materials, tools and instru-ments, and of suitable working surfaces. Newtechnology is rapidly revolutionising many artsexperiences and opportunities for children, andstudents should be trained to exploit them.

4.4 Course Content

a) Students should be prepared for the diversity ofability, behaviour, social background and ethnicand cultural origins encountered in ordinaryschools, and to respond to that diversity.

b) Students should be prepared to recognise,understand and cope with different expressiveneeds and levels of performance, including learn-ing difficulties and special abilities.

e) All students should be able to teach at least twoof the arts during teaching practice - on a worth-while scale.

d) Students must be encouraged to see the "ex-pressive" and the "aesthetic" as cross-curricularthemes.

e) Students should experience and understand thecontribution of the new technologies to children'slearning in the arts.

4.5 Subject Studies and Subject Method

a) Courses in individual arts subjects should bedesigned to equip some students to act as curricu-lum leaders.

b) It should be possible for students to have suchpractical experience of the other arts as wouldallow them to make connections across the artsand develop a coherent, inter-disciplinary under-standing of die field.

e) Combined Arts Courses should offer specialisttraining in each of the major arts domains andshould prepare students to act as curriculumleaders in the arts.

4.6 Educational and Professional Studies

a) All students should receive a basic arts coursethat includes art, music, dance and drama. Timeallowed for these subjects together should begenerally equivalent to that for other major cur-riculum areas such as maths, language, science/technology.

b) Optional courses in individual arts subjectsshould be provided where possible (approxi-mately 60 hours) which, taken in conjunction withother relevant arts experience, would equip thestudent with a particular arts strength and - aftersay two years in a school - with the personalresources needed for curriculum leadership in thearts.

4.7 Student Assessment and Certification

a) Modes of assessment should reflect the specialcharacter of work in the arts and be consistentwith procedures advocated for use in schools.Students should be assessed on the basis ofwhether or not they reach the criteria specified inthe various tasks they are assigned.

b) Criteria should be drawn from the course aimsand objectives - that students should be aware ofand have confidence in the arts, be effective in or-ganising learning, and be sensitive to children'saesthetic development.

e) The emphasis on assessing students should shiftfrom their written work to their responses to chil-dren's work, as set down for example in student'spersonal logs.

d) Students should be familiar with relevant publi-cations on the arts in education.

e) Course work might be examined by continuousassessment recorded in a student profile, with afinal assessment which could comprise writtenexam, personal interview, group seminar andpublic presentation. The profile would serve twobasic purposes - to help determine whether or nota student be awarded a certificate, and to act as adetailed source of reference, including evidence ofthe student's involvement in the arts, both for thestudent's first post and for subsequent posts.

INSET

5.1 The Arts: A National Priority

In 1987 the Government established the LEA Train-ing Grants Scheme (LEATGS) following its deci-sion in the 1985 White Paper Better Schools that "amuch more systematic approach is needed to theplanning of in-service training at school and LEAlevel". In addition, the 1988 Education Act hasgiven new responsibilities to school heads andgoverning bodies: schools are to manage theirown finances, must publish full details of theircurriculum and take overall charge of staff recruit-ment, development and in-service training. Ourrecommendations in this report for initial training,if adopted, are likely to take time to bear fruit:more immediate would be the impact of ourrecommended changes in in-service training. Theproblems facing the arts in primary schools aredeep-rooted: they could be addressed immediatelyby making the arts a national INSET priority.

5.2 Planning INSET

a) INSET should be planned through a combina-tion of award-bearing and other professionalcourses. Such courses should, where appropriate,be supported by learning packs, devised atnational and local levels. Accreditation of modu-lar part-time professional INSET should be linkedto nationally validated awards and possibly, intime, to National Council for Vocational Qualifica-tions (NCVQ) levels of competence. Considerationshould be given to participation in any network ofregional centres which might be established as aresult of the NCC Arts in Schools Project.

b) INSET planning can enable teachers to takeownership of the National Curriculum and trans-late it in ways appropriate to the children theyteach. Planners should take account of the sizeand range of the staff team, locally availableresources, children's cultural and linguistic needs,and a school's location in the community.

e) Priority should be given to establishing school-focussed in-service training programmes relatedto school development plans and with teachers,including peripatetic teachers, working as a team.

5.3 The Focus of INSET in the Arts

a) The Whole Curriculum: Schools will need toensure a broad and balanced educational experi-ence for their pupils and, in the time remainingoutside the National Curriculum, should accom-modate these other subjects traditionally taught inschools. Drama and dance should both receiveconsideration in terms of the school's wholecurriculum and INSET courses of all kinds shouldbe available to teachers in these areas.

b) The National Curriculum: It is to be expectedthat the National Curriculum will exert a majorinfluence upon future INSET provision. Wherethe arts are concerned there will be particularadditional demands for training in the two foun-dation subjects, music and art. Drama teachersshould be provided for alongside English col-leagues, and dance teachers within the arrange-ments made for PE. Apart from offering specialisttraining such courses should address the issue ofcross-curricular themes - in particular the cross-curricular aspects of the arts: creativity, self-expres-sion, aesthetic judgement and enjoyment.

e) The Arts Curriculum: INSET programmesshould be developed which will ensure balancebetween the various arts disciplines and, withineach art form, balance between creative activity,enjoyment and critical reflection. Through theirINSET courses teachers should be encouraged torealise the six objectives identified for arts educa-tion in the Gulbenkian Report The Arts in Schools:

- developing the full variety of human intelligence

- developing creativity

- educating in feeling and sensibility

- exploring values

- understanding cultural change and differences

- developing physical and perceptual skills.

Courses should consider the questions of "pro-gression" and "continuity" and be sensitive tochildren's varying rates of development. (It isworth noting that at least 60% of primary schoolscurrently have classes comprising two or moreyear groups.) Courses should also include experi-ence from outside the school, such as links withcommunity arts groups, arts centres, theatres,museums and galleries, artists and parents.

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5.4 Curriculum Leaders and SpecialistTeachers

a) Curriculum leaders, including headteachers, arecrucial to the successful development of the artswithin die National Curriculum. Such leadersneed in-service training in arts skills and INSETdevelopment skills. Focussing curriculum leader-ship training on teachers' centres can encourageteachers to see their role as wider than their ownschool.

b) Curriculum leaders need substantial training tomanage the complex range of resources availableto them and to run staff development and trainingfor their colleagues. LEAs could establish aninventory of resources and make teachers awareof this during their training.

e) Each school would benefit from the presence ofa specialist in music and art. Appropriate special-ist courses should be provided as part of aschool's total INSET programme.

5.5 Professional Qualification

Where possible INSET programmes should allowteachers to participate in full-time and part-timecourses leading to higher degrees and to build upaccreditation for professional awards throughCNAA and Institutions of Higher Education. Suchcourses can provide valuable incentives andsupport for professional updating and renewaland should not be lost sight of as other, relativelyless intensive training schemes become available.

5.6 Evaluating INSET

a) With teachers publicly accountable for theeffective delivery of the National Curriculum theywill need to spend more time on the cyclicalprocess of monitoring, evaluating, planning anddelivering the arts work of the school. Teachers'directed time and training days can be used toappraise and evaluate the school curriculum andthe INSET programmes needed to sustain anddevelop the school's work.

b) Curriculum leaders are key people in appraisingdie effectiveness of the arts curriculum and evalu-ating INSET programmes. They need to distin-guish between long-term evaluation and moreimmediate requirements in implemendng dieNational Curriculum. Feedback from teachers aftersix weeks or one term of applicadon in die class-

room can help short-term evaluation of INSET,which can influence planning and delivery ofsubsequent programmes concerned widi the intro-duction of die National Curriculum.

e) The evaluation of die arts INSET programmesfor dieir long-term effects on die quality of chil-dren's learning should be related to school devel-opment plans and involve people in the arts fromoutside the school. Such long-term evaluation canbe supported and augmented by die national orregional curriculum resource centres linked totraining institutions in die regions, and co-ordi-nated by LEA advisers and inspectors.

d) Heads bear a central responsibility for imple-menting school development plans and for report-ing publicly on die success of those plans. Theirarts in-service training programme needs to in-clude training as arts curriculum leaders andtraining in evaluating balance in the arts curricu-lum, in the broader sense, across die school.

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PRINCIPALRECOMMENDATIONS

Initial Training

1 Selection procedures should reflect the impor-tance attached to learning in and through the arts.4.1

2 Staffmust have recent relevant experience ofteaching the arts in schools. 4.2

3 Adequate and appropriate resources are essen-tial to successful work in the arts. 4.3

4 Students must apprehend the scope for theexpressive and the aesthetic as cross-curricularthemes. 4.4

5 Courses should equip students to work ascurriculum leaders and (eg in music) as subjectspecialists. 4.5

6 All students require a basic course in the artsmeriting equal status with maths, language, sci-ence/technology. 4.6

7 Students should learn about the special charac-ter of assessment in the arts and this should be re-flected in their own experience on the course. 4.7

8 In granting students Qualified Teacher Statusthe quality of their practical arts work in the class-room should be taken into account. 4.7

INSET and Staff Development

9 Consideration should be given to making thearts a national INSET priority. 5.1

10 INSET programmes should combine award -bearing courses and other professional coursesorganised locally and through regional develop-ment centres. 5.2

11 The arts teacher's role in National Curriculumassessment should receive INSET attention. 5.3

12 Parents and governors should be invited toparticipate in school-based INSET. 5.3

13 INSET courses should address the issue ofpupils' aesthetic development. 5.3

14 Continuity between primary and secondarysectors should be a major concern of future INSETprogrammes. 5.3

15 Heads must be given help in appreciating thespecial importance of the educational role of thearts. 5.4

16 Priority should be given to INSET for arts spe-cialists and curriculum leaders. 5.4

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Arts in Schools,Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 1982

Better Schools, HMSO, 1985

The Arts: A Preparation to Teach,National Foundation of Educational Research, 1986

Quality in Schools:The Initial Training of Teachers, HMSO, 1987

The Economic Importance of the Arts in Britain,Policy Studies Institute, 1988

The New Teacher in School, HMSO, 1988

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