Session Information
29 SES 01 A, Parallel Paper Session
Paper Session
Contribution
Increasing demands on the school curriculum have resulted in less time for arts education programs in Australia and internationally (Gibson & Anderson 2008). This is despite growing evidence of the potential benefits of the Arts for both academic development and social wellbeing (e.g. Deasy 2002; Hetland & Winner 2001). Hunter (2005) proposes that "arts programs in schools can effectively contribute to improvement in teaching quality; provide students with positive role models; [and] encourage family involvement in students' learning" (p. 4). Moreover, the Arts are inextricably linked to creativity and “there is little doubt that emphasis in 21st century education is on the need to foster creativity, flexibility and imagination” (Gibson 2012, p. 2). Florida (2005) maintains that creativity is a key driver to technological innovation and economic prosperity. To this end, creativity has become one of the most desperately sought-after qualities in our future workforce.
Innovative and rigorous research that can ascertain the learning and motivational gains arising from participation in arts education will thus inform policy and practice relating to arts education provision. Indeed, with the current surge in national and international advocacy surrounding the Arts and education (Gibson & Anderson 2008), it is time to establish an Australian evidence base for the academic benefits of art-related programs. According to Bamford (2002) “while substantial studies into the benefits of arts education have been undertaken in the USA and UK, very little research has been conducted into the impact of arts education in Australian schools … There is an urgent need for a detailed study of the impact of art programs within the context of Australian schools” (p. 3).
Although growing international research (e.g. Ewing 2010; Catterall 2009; Bamford 2006; Deasy 2002; Fiske 1999) provides evidence that quality arts experiences enhance students’ learning outcomes, to date there is no large-scale, Australian longitudinal data or complementary qualitative analyses available to inform educators and policy-makers. In partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts and in collaboration with overseas investigators, this paper reports on the second phase of a large-scale, longitudinal project which examined the role of in-school participation in arts education on students’ academic motivation, engagement and achievement. The project harnessed mixed methods to examine in rigorous and robust ways the precise impact of in-school arts education on both elementary and high school students. The qualitative phase aimed to address the following:
1. What classroom practices contribute to high engagement in the Arts and how can this inform pedagogy, more broadly?
2. What are the real-time processes and dynamics occurring in arts-based classrooms that inform adaptive patterns of academic motivation and engagement?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bamford, A. (2006).The WOW factor: Global research compendium on the impact of the arts in education. Berlin: Waxmann Verlag. Catterall, J. (2009). Doing well and doing good by doing art: The long term effects of sustained involvement in the visual and performing arts during high school. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Imagination Group. Cresswell, J. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantiative and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Deasy, R. (ed.) (2002). Critical links: Learning in the arts and academic and social development. Washington, DC: Arts Education Partnership. Ewing, R. (2010). The arts and Australian education: Realising potential. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research. Fiske, E. (ed.) (1999). Champions of change: The impact of arts on learning. Washington, DC: The Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Learning. Florida, R. (2005). The flight of the creative class. New York: Collins. Gibson, R. (2012). Are the arts still as elusive as the white rabbit? Asia-Pacific Journal of Arts Education. Asia Pacific Journal of Arts Education, 10 (3), pp. 1-20. Gibson, R. & Anderson, M. (2008) Touching the void: Arts education in Australia. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 28, pp. 103-112. Hetland, L & Winner, E. (2001). The arts and academic achievement: What the evidence shows. Arts Education: Policy Review 102, pp. 3-6. Hunter, M. (2005). Education and the arts: Research overview. Sydney: Australia Council for the Arts. Malmberg, L., Hallburton, C. & Martin, A. (2008) Using PDAs collecting longitudinal data. Quantiative Methods Special Interest Group, Oxford.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.