Arts out of the picture in national curriculum

Felicity Caldwell | 5th January 2009

IPSWICH teacher Cheryl Charlton was extremely disappointed when she heard the Federal Government's new national curriculum would not include drama, dance, music and visual arts at this stage.

Mrs Charlton, Karalee State School deputy principal and a member of the Primary Arts Network Ipswich, which promotes learning in and through the arts, said arts education was vitally important.

“It stimulates all children and all children feel involved when they're engaging in the arts in education,” Mrs Charlton said.

“Sometimes with low achievers; that's where they achieve most of their gains in literacy.

“It gives children the ability to express themselves in a non-threatening way.”

The National Curriculum Board is developing an Australian national curriculum for kindergarten to year 12 students, starting with English, mathematics, the sciences and history.

But the arts are not currently being considered in the curriculum.

Mrs Charlton said she would join a new lobby coalition, the National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE), which last week met with politicians and arts advisors in Canberra.

The NAAE is calling for arts to be included immediately in the work of the National Curriculum Board and the Early Years Learning Framework.

Mrs Charlton said subjects such as music and drama should be given the same recognition as science and studies of society in all levels of learning.

“(Early education) is play based and they're giving children the opportunity to explore for themselves,” she said.

“We're encouraging that in the early years but what happens after that?”