Importance of Arts in

Education

UNESCO
As early as 1999, UNESCO has promoted
arts in education to develop ethical
values.
Iwai, K. (2002) listed 5 benefits of
integrating arts in education for children:
Aesthetic development
Socio-emotional development
Socio-cultural development
Cognitive development
Academic achievement

Australia
As part of the educational review in
Australia, Ewing, R. (2010) realises the
potential of arts in the Australian
curriculum.
Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and Visual
Arts
Literature (?) in the English curriculum

2 views:
Arts for the sake of Arts
Arts to foster the development of creativity
and imagination and to facilitate social change.

Creativity & imagination

Creativity is the production of something
that is simultaneously original or
innovative and is also acknowledged as
useful or of value by the relevant field or
area.
creative individuals are constantly
curious, highly motivated, willing to take
risks, possess the ability to think outside
the square, to combine unusual ideas
with more conventional ways of thinking,
and to see them to fruition
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1998, in Ewing, 2010)

Kieran Egan (2007, in Ewing 2010),

suggests that imagining enables us
to think beyond actuality to
possibilities.

Key creative indicators

Imagining possibilities
Critical thinking
Persistence
Discipline
Courage
Risk-taking
Reflection

**Seattle Arts Education Consortium, 2007

Malaysia Primary Education

Arts subjects: PSV (Visual Arts),

Muzik, PJ (Physical Education)
Language Arts: Poetry, Songs,
Drama, Literature

Activity
Group 1 & 2
Listen to one sound in the environment. Try to
reproduce the sound creatively by applying
musical elements using improvised instruments.

Group 3 & 4
Look at and touch one physical object in the
environment. Try to reproduce the object
creatively by applying visual arts elements in a
drawing, sketch, or other crafts.

Group 5 & 6
Look at one movement in the environment.
Try to reproduce the movement creatively in a
dance or dramatization.

Link to theories

Multiple Intelligences
Constructivism
Hoka Hoki

Children, Senses and Arts

What are childrens basic
needs

Physical
Emotional
Social
Intellectual
Aesthetic
Spiritual

What were the senses that you

used?
Touch
Hearing
Sight
Taste
Smell
Children can be taught to be sensitive and
more aware of their senses.
Importance Fulfilment of basic needs and
Teaching and Learning process