During the early twentieth century, art education was seen as unproductive and more often not

cost effective. However, in the 1950’s opinions about art education made a drastic change as
Americans craved more self-expression. Art education began to flourish as the importance of art
involvement became known. This essay will explain the importance of Art and Design to
Primary School going children.

Art and Design education is often underestimated by many who believe that school was created
to teach only analytical concepts such as mathematics and literature. However, research has
shown that art subjects are important, even necessary for students in elementary, middle, and
high schools. These art classes may include not only visual arts but performing arts such as
dance, theatre and choir. Ajzen, (1998:123) notes that Barbara Streisand said, “Art and
Designdoes not exist only to entertain, but also to challenge one to think, to provoke, even to
disturb, in a constant search for the truth”.

At the outset, it is thought by a handful of people that Art and Design education at primary
school is a waste of time. There are more important subjects that would benefit children for their
future life. Science, technology and mathematics, for example, are of great significant subjects
which allows students to find a good job after graduation. On the other hand, studying arts does
not lead to a successful career. It is easy to see that those days, most artists have been struggling
to make a living from selling their work of art. The arts don’t just develop a child’s creativity the
skills they learn because of them spill over into academic achievement. Researchers have found
that young people who participate regularly in the arts and are four times more likely to be
recognized for academic achievement, to participate in a math and science fair or to win an
award for writing an essay or poem than children who do not participate (Bennett, 2000).

Despite the above arguments, from my perspective, learning art is necessary for students at
school because of some radical reasons. Firstly, art subjects including music, drawing, painting
and sculpture allow children to enter a state of relaxation. After concentration on STEM subjects,
what learners need is to unwind by usefully physical activities in order to make a balance. For
instance, singing a song in the musical class could bring positive emotion to students. Secondly,
studying art could improve performance in other subjects. It is true that art enhances fine motor
skills, hand-eye coordination and problem-solving skills which may assists children in attaining
better learning outcomes (Ajzen,1998).

1
The role of the visual arts in early childhood education has long been recognised and valued as
an essential component of the curriculum (Bennett, 2000). The arts consist of variation of
appreciation. The different forms of art such as dancing, drawing and painting, performance art,
sculpturing and many more. The school curriculum has to embrace arts education. Art
appreciation can be inculcate to children at young age. Knowing and understanding of the arts
help children to express themselves in different creative art forms in which they are comfortable
in.

Art and Design nurtures the child to be inventiveness as it engages the child in a process that
helps in the development of self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, self-motivation and
problem-solving. Children’s self-esteem will improve as there is no right or wrong in self-
creative creation. In this way, children are able to complete task with self-discipline. They
practice how to complete a piece of work with patience. As the task assigned in an art lesson is
usually engaging, whether it is to complete a drawing or learn a dance, the children would
unknowingly establish a positive attitude towards completion of the task (Wallin,2001). The
young learners also get the opportunity to practise social skills through co-operative learning. For
instance, the children could partner one another and dance to the music. They could even
perform a simple skit together during a speech and drama lesson. As the child discovers the love
in arts, they would also become self-motivated and freely express themselves in the different
forms of arts (Bennett,2000).

In co-operative learning, it is inevitable that each child will have different opinions and thoughts.
In order to complete the task allocated, they would have to learn how to respect one another’s
view. This is part of the process of problem-solving while accomplishing a group assignment
together. Each child will have to communicate in a variety ways to express their thoughts and
produce the art piece they want it to be or the way they want to express themselves in a play. The
young learners will pick up useful life skills to solve problems independently (Abrams,1990).

The belief that Art and Design education should encourage the child’s creativity, imagination,
and expression did not mean that all previous pedagogies were replaced. Imagination helps
children with expression in dancing and also helped in language acquisition to find the correct
vocabulary to describe their expression. A child’s creativity should not be obstructed or corrected
by the adults or educators (Wallin,2001).

2
In summary, we have seen that there’s no doubt that the Art and Design education is not only fun
for primary school children but also very beneficial for their academic development. Diving into
those finger paints and making a beautiful picture to hang on the fridge at home or on the wall of
the classroom is awesome. Acting in a play is exhilarating. But the arts also help kids develop on
many fundamental levels.

3
 References

Abrams, D., (1990). Social identity theory: Constructive and critical

advances. New York: Springer-Verlag Publishing.

Ajzen, I. (1998). Attitudes, personality, and behavior. Chicago: Dorsey Press.

Bennett, A. (2000). Youth culture. New York: Palgrave.

Wallin, B. (2001), The Arts. Cambridge: MIT Press.