A Socially Critical look at the state of Arts Education

I have been teaching students about Critical Theory and Critical Incidents. It occurred to me that arts educators might need to think about making a social justice case for the arts in schools. 

Critical Incident

In 2020, the implementation of arts education is under threat. Government decisions to strengthen STEM Education and the pressure to focus on Literacy, Numeracy and Science education through NAPLAN focus and teaching to the test, is diminishing the promise of arts education that documents like the Australian Curriculum: The Arts (ACARA 2014) dangle before us. Arts teacher education is being contracted. What is even more troublesome and galling is that the voices of arts educators are not cutting through the static. Our point of view is not being heard nor respected.

As Robyn Ewing (2020) observes, while 

…there is unequivocal research evidence that quality arts processes and experiences engender a distinctive and critical set of understandings and skills that all young people need to navigate twenty-first century living.… the potential for the Arts and arts education to transform the curriculum coupled with the ongoing paucity of Australia’s arts storylines threaten the actualisation o The Australian Curriculum: The Arts. (p 75)

It distresses me, as an arts educator, that the good work of many arts educators is going unnoticed. It angers me that my life’s work in arts education seems to be evaporating. I have been teaching my students to deepen their analysis of Critical Incidents as part of professional growth.and should try that approach.

Applying a socially critical lens to the current state of arts education as I perceive it, might help us better understand what is happening and why it is causing me distress.

Here is a useful outline of Critical Theory as proposed by David Tripp

Socially critical analysis in education is informed by principles of social justice, both in terms of its own ways of working and in terms of its outcomes in and orientation to the community. It involves strategic pedagogic action on the part of classroom teachers aimed at emancipation from overt and covert forms of domination. In practical terms, it is not simply a matter of challenging the existing practices of the system, but of seeking to understand what makes the system be the way it is and challenging that, whilst remaining conscious that one’s own sense of justice and equality is itself open to question. (modified from Tripp 1990b: 161) (Tripp 1993/2012 p 114)

Using this formulation for socially critical analysis I argue that arts education is being discriminated  against, marginalised and disadvantaged.

What is happening to arts education goes against fundamental principles of social justice, against a sense of what is fair and just. Prevailing attitudes to arts education in many schools are marginalising the value and significance of the arts in education; arts educators have legitimate concerns about choices which discriminate or minimalise their contribution and place in schools. There is hegemony in the status given to forms of knowledge and subject disciplines that play out in the curriculum offerings and the teaching of the arts.

There needs to be care in making this argument. In a time when there are many examples of marginalisation and discrimination, it might seem whinging to argue a case for arts education. Disadvantage, poverty, racism, gender bias and cancel culture are all legitimate causes for social justice concern. In the wider scheme of discrimination on social justice grounds, it might seem that the case for arts education is relatively trivial and unimportant because it speaks for a narrow group of people. Rather than weakening the case, the fact that we continue to see forms of discrimination gives legitimacy to the claim. The lack of arts education in schools is an indictment of discrimination which ultimately is one measure of social justice. It is discriminatory because the benefits of arts education are  withheld from the many whose lives would benefit from an arts education.

What arts education suffers from are forms of overt and covert domination. Decisions made by politicians,  school administrators and parents reflect unspoken misconceptions, assumptions and prejudices that place other forms of knowledge, other subject areas in the curriculum ahead of arts education. Arts education needs to be freed from these hegemonic decisions.

In stating this, I am not arguing that arts education is more important than other fields rather that arts education is as important. It is as important because a successfully comprehensive education addresses the breadth of human needs. Over time in schools, students need their cognitive, social, emotional and physical needs to be addressed. The Arts are part of a whole education. The arguments of a need for efficiency and prioritising of some sections of the curriculum over others, ignore the need for a broad and comprehensive approach that addresses the overall health, well-being and sense of identity in a democratic society. 

Steven Covey in (2004) offers the principle… seek first to understand, then to be understood. It is useful to consider how we understand what makes the system be the way it is. We need to spend time analysing why attitudes and values about arts education prevail. I speculate three points here: 1) the inertia of the ways things have always been (history and precedent); 2) fear of the unknown; and, 3) lack of opportunity.

History and precedent are no defence. In former times, prevailing social values gave legitimacy to slavery, racial and religious discrimination that we now question and challenge. Consider how attitudes and forms of habit about smoking have changed broad societal values and actions. What are the factors of those campaigns that provided the psychological and physical push towards change?

Fear of the unknown is a legitimate human response. To flee from the unknown rather than to confront it, is common. Without resorting to Rumsfeld’s known unknowns , the truism about teaching must be recognised: you can’t teach what you don’t know. In what ways can there be unthreatening and enjoyable experiences of arts education?

Ignorance and lack of opportunity. Poor or ineffective arts education negate decision makers who do not see the value and purpose of arts education. But the danger of Catch 22 lurks in the proposition that we bring long term improvement by incremental change. How do we implement opportunities in arts  education that are transformative of attitudes and values?

Shouting in the face of discrimination sounds hysterical and is too easily dismissed. Making logical arguments (like this one) are too easily ignored. Taking positions of influence and power are one way of addressing these issues – but slow, glacially slow. It is easy to get into a cycle of hope followed by disappointment. Making a cosy critical analysis of the arts education problem might help me understand better what is happening but does it change anything? What brings about actual change?. 

In a socially just view of the world, there is a fair sharing of resources, opportunities, status and responsibilities, There is a balance between the reciprocal needs of individuals and the institutions in society. A more socially just view of arts education means:

• overt and covert discrimination against the arts is addressed

• balance recognition of the place and value of arts education in schools is intrinsic to our society

• Arts Education is not just an entitlement but is fully realised.

The arts have often been vehicles for social justice and change. It is time for us to use our art forms to highlight the social injustice been meted out to arts education in schools. This is a call for action beyond analysis.

Bibliography

ACARA. (2014). "The Australian Curriculum: The Arts." from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/the-arts/introduction.

Covey, S. R. (2004). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY, Free Press.

Ewing, R. (2020). "The Australian Curriculum: The Arts. A critical opportunity." Curriculum Perspectives 40: 75-81.

Tripp, D. (1993/2012). Critical Incidents in Teaching: Developing Professional Judgement. Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge.