Teaching Integrated Arts in the Primary School

Dance, Drama, Music, and the Visual Arts

Anne Bloomfield, John Childs

• Publisher: David Fulton Publishers
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781134118533
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

First Published in 2000. This book reasserts the place of the arts - dance, drama, music and the visual arts - in the primary school curriculum at Reception and Key Stages 1 and 2. It acknowledges the time constraints in a crowded curriculum and stresses a common developmental approach to the different forms of creative and aesthetic expression. The arts are presented as the vital '4th R', integrated modes of learning alongside Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, where children can absorb and express ideas, feelings and attitudes. Supported by illustrations, examples of work, a glossary of terms, appendices of addresses for resource materials and further reading, the work will stimulate and give confidence as a course textbook for student teachers and as a professional handbook for practitioners, including arts coordinators, advisory teachers and artists working in educational settings. Clear guidance is given on the development of a personal, autonomous teaching style and on evaluating and monitoring children's progression in skill acquisition, creative production and critical response.

CHAPTER 1

The Integrated Arts Mode

REDEFINING THE ARTS CURRICULUM

The philosophical foundation for teaching integrated arts in the primary school is based on the belief that aesthetic and creative education is the entitlement of every child and that the nature and quality of the provision determines the distinctiveness of cultural life and academic performance in school. As a model for the new millennium, the integrated arts mode accords dance, drama, music and visual art a collective, central and pivotal role in primary education and demonstrates that when children experience the arts from an integrated approach their learning in the humanities, sciences, technology, literacy and numeracy is complemented and enriched. Children’s natural enthusiasm for the arts, as major and valid sources of knowledge, is nurtured from the first day at school and their motivation and commitment is maintained throughout their primary years.

Rationale for the integrated arts mode reflects the developmental stages in the child’s creative and artistic growth enabling teachers to nurture the creative self of the child, to facilitate the genesis of children’s ideas and to help manifest the genius of their expression. It promotes individual achievement and provides the foundation for a lifelong interest and participation in the arts. Teaching approaches and learning experiences advocated for children incorporate independent linear programmes of study in the main subject areas of dance, drama, music and visual art, but also include the exciting possibilities of exploring the integrative nature of these disciplines. Although dance, drama, music and visual art possess their own epistemological knowledge areas, there are elements which overlap. The new millennium model recognises cognitive and affective modes of learning and the power each has upon the other as experienced by children studying the wide range of National Curriculum subjects. Unity of teaching and learning occurs because of the vibrant interaction of arts disciplines which are strengthened when collaboration and mutual support for, and from, other curriculum subjects takes place.

The new definition encourages a change of attitude towards the role and status of the arts in the primary school curriculum and places them in a context as the fourth ‘R’ alongside the traditional three ‘Rs’ of reading, writing and arithmetic.¹ Above all, the reaffirmation of the arts curriculum in the primary school denotes recognition of a number of important factors which are presented in Figure 1.1. Children are recognised as creative artists in their own right, with ideas and abilities that go beyond stylistic copies of adult work – this is a continuous route throughout the school years. From the springboard of the nursery, or Reception class, there is a clearly focused programme extending through Key Stages 1 and 2 leading children towards proficiency, self-discipline and artistic control. There is recognition of the common processes that take place as children transform their ideas into the reality of artifacts such as paintings, dances, musical compositions or short plays. This practical realisation of their ideas recognises that children are artists in their own right and, importantly, the arts curriculum is conceived as a whole, acknowledging the distinctive art forms and the technical methods each require, but celebrating the reciprocal relationships and commonalities that are shared.

Figure 1.1 The reaffirmation of the arts in the primary school. Mapping out the fourth ‘R’ in the new millennium model

The understanding of the roots of the arts as cultural forms recognises the links between creativity and traditional arts from around the world, past and present, and also represents how children are taught to reflect upon their own work and that of others as a natural outcome of rich experiences. Children’s individual roles and their relationship with their teacher is highly valued. The process of professional development is the way in which teachers can explore their own professional practice, through sharing ideas, working together and recording the progress of their pupils. This shift in focus, reinstating the arts to the centre of learning for children, is intended to empower pupils and teachers providing a greater degree of flexibility and individual autonomy in the way in which the National Curriculum orders are interpreted. Legislation of the National Curriculum 2000 (DfEE & QCA 1999) facilitates and maximises the teaching and learning potential of the arts curriculum for the new millennium. All children, whatever their background or aptitude, have the ability to express themselves successfully through the arts, gaining confidence and a new means of accessing other areas of the curriculum.

Recognition, therefore, denotes the important role of the arts in the primary curriculum as valid routes of learning, not only as art forms in their own right, but as arteries that invigorate other fields of learning. The purpose of this book is to encourage successful, rewarding and confident teaching of the arts by providing a working framework that enables teachers to transform their ideas into the reality and joy of success and professionally rewarding practice.

THE TEACHING AND LEARNING FRAMEWORK FOR THE ARTS

An education in and through the arts is based upon the level of understanding, knowledge and skills that are acquired by children and which are experienced in an imaginative and creative way. Vital for individual achievement is the method of teaching and the teacher’s own knowledge of the subject that is being taught. A special, dynamic and sensitive relationship exists between what the teacher knows, how the teacher provides an appropriate learning environment, and how the child responds to what is taught. The personal and sensitive quality of the arts means that the pupil’s experience is a highly valued part of the learning process. Equally, although creative thought and independent action are desirable components in the art-making process, understanding the nature and context of the artifact by teacher and pupil is also important especially as an artifact acts as a vehicle through which cultural values are transmitted. The teacher’s role is conceived as being interactive and responsive since feeling secure and gaining confidence are key issues for both the teacher and the pupil. This grows from an understanding of the knowledge areas of individual art forms and how they are to be applied.

The teaching and learning framework for the arts has been designed as a principal plan that recognises distinctive and interrelated areas of study in each major art form – dance drama, music and visual art – which are part of the primary school curriculum.² Teaching and learning principles are based on the ways in which children acquire knowledge, skills and understanding of dance, drama, music and visual art, and interrelated experiences through four types of engagement:

• art-making as a process

• realising through art by producing an artifact

• critical responses to the arts as process and product

• contextual understanding of art.

Firstly, art-making includes all the participatory experiences or practical engagement of children as they learn how to dance, to paint, to write, or to compose music. Secondly, as children progress through the school year their acquaintance with each art form deepens. They acquire knowledge which is synonymous with the level of their experience or repertoire. Thirdly, the practical experiences of the arts are supported by the ability to discuss or write about works of art, either dances, plays, paintings or pieces of music. These may have been produced either by children or professional artists. This area of understanding is referred to as propositional knowledge because it reflects the pupil’s understanding of the meaning, action or symbolism inherent in the arts. Fourthly, discovering about the social, cultural or historical aspects of the arts means that children can refer to books, recordings, artifacts, videos and CDs in order to broaden their horizon and deepen understanding of their own work. Finding out about the arts in this way encourages children to acquire contextual knowledge.

The richness of an arts education is provided when children acquire knowledge and understanding through these four recognised routes since the understanding of one area enhances the understanding of another:

• participation – children’s knowledge of how to paint, dance, write and make music

• repertoire – children’s knowledge through experience and collecting their work

• critical skills – children’s knowledge of the qualities and special nature of the arts

• contextual skills – children’s knowledge of the historical, social, and cultural worlds that inform their work.

These areas are interrelated in some way or other, and each adds to the children’s holistic understanding of the arts.

Participation through active engagement in art-making is based on children’s ability to cope with its various technical aspects and the way in which this helps to fashion or create the artifact, for example, the manner in which children learn to draw and produce drawings. The collection of artifacts constitutes the repertoire, and may include drawings in a sketchbook; dances composed by or country dances learned by the class; songs they have learned to sing; and musical compositions, such as short percussion suites which children have learned and continue to perform. Over the academic year one class will have several different and varied artifacts as part of their repertoire, and each year of their school life should become the launching pad for the new aspirations of the following year’s work.

Acknowledging that children are artists in their own right means that as individuals, or collectively as a class, they produce artifacts – paintings, sculptures, dances, plays – and in so doing engage in all the complexities that this entails. Creating an artifact draws upon inspiration, solution-seeking skills and decision-making skills that go beyond the acquisition of technical skills. For example, in dance the ability to execute a sequence of movements based on stepping and turning demands technical control and skill, but placed within the context of a dance also requires creative understanding. Teaching integrated arts in the primary school requires that children gain understanding of art-making processes and that they are able to recognise and value a finished work. The way in which their conceptual understanding of the arts goes beyond the confines of their own classroom depends upon the access and exposure they have to information and artifacts, including reproductions, from outside sources and visits. In this manner they will become familiarised with the context of the arts.

The knowledge, skills and understanding of the arts within the National Curriculum 2000 include participation, repertoire, critical and contextual skills, and requires that primary school pupils know:

• how to execute the skills required for art-making

• how to create artifacts

• how to analyse and understand the process inherent in production of the artifact

• how to observe and criticise artifacts

• about the arts in relation to the time and place of the art-makers and the artifact.

Figure 1.2 represents the child’s role in acquiring and experiencing these major areas of artistic understanding, and provides some insight into the complexity of the processes involved from forming ideas, testing them out, making artifacts through which the ideas are communicated to the world, and then how the child learns to respond to the art works.

Figure 1.2 The artistic experience of children

The reaffirmation of the arts in the primary school also relates to the teacher’s role in meeting requirements and facilitating learning in the key areas of creating, realising and responding to art works, whether produced by the children or selected received works of art.

• Creating – refers to the manner in which the teacher guides the pupil through processes of making the dance, musical work, play, or painting, etc.

• Realising – refers to the way in which the teacher guides the pupil towards the emergence of the artifact or product which can be the dance, the poem, the song, the sculpture, etc.

• Judgement – refers to how the teacher responds to the artifact through critical evaluation and assessment including the way in which s/he responds towards the work the pupils have produced and the manner in which the pupils are taught to appraise their own work and that of others.

• Context – refers to the way in which the teacher excites interest in the cultural and historical aspects of the arts providing information about the where, why, and when of artists and their work.

Figure 1.3 is an overview of the teacher’s role in this teaching and learning process, indicating how teachers help children to form and test their ideas through constructive teaching. It shows how teachers help the children to communicate through their art work, to gain understanding and insight of processes and finished works by developing their critical skills acquired through a variety of means that should be at the disposal of schools. Read in conjunction with Figure 1.2, this diagram shows the reciprocal relationship that exists between teacher and child and between other children in the class.

ARTISTIC AND AESTHETIC ASPECTS

The reaffirmation of the arts in the primary school recognises the interactive processes that occur between teachers and children during lesson time, when each shares an artistic vision of what an outcome will be, whether using paint, voice, instrument or, in the case of dance, movement. The teacher’s role is always supportive, but the approach and style can vary from the didactic, interventional and ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• 1 The Integrated Arts Mode
• 2 The Drama Mode
• 3 The Dance Mode
• 4 The Music Mode
• 5 The Visual Art Mode
• 6 The Interrelated Curriculum Mode
• 7 Professional Growth
• Glossary of Terms
• Appendix: Resources for the Integrated Arts
• Further Reading
• Index