Showing papers in "Arts Education Policy Review in 2010"

Teaching Creativity in Higher Education

Abstract: Individual creativity is ubiquitous. New technologies both enable and urge fresh approaches to creativity in the context of education. University-level education offers a natural place to adjust pedagogical structures in favor of a more individual approach to learning that organizes the intellectual community into new patters of interaction and time allocation. This direction is made possible by the vast improvements in access to information, data, knowledge, and opinion. College students live in this world of access, in an ever-expanding sea of material. Networking second-by-second is central to their zeitgeist. The result is far more than social. Interaction and collaboration are now important in most workplaces, and are expected to be even more important in the future. Higher education needs to use its natural resources in ways that develop content knowledge and skills in a culture infused at new levels by investigation, cooperation, connection, integration, and synthesis. Creativity is necessary to ac...

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Factors that Influence the Retention, Turnover, and Attrition of K–12 Music Teachers in the United States

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to construct a profile of K–12 music teachers in the United States and develop a model to predict their retention, turnover, and attrition. Responses to the Schools and Staffing Survey from 47,857 K–12 public and private school teachers, including 1,903 music teachers, were analyzed using comparative statistics, factor analysis, logistic regression, and structural equation modeling. Results indicated that music teachers were far more likely than other types of teachers to hold itinerant or part-time positions, and were less likely to receive support for working with special needs students. Music teachers changed teaching positions because of dissatisfaction with workplace conditions and for better teaching assignments. Music teachers left the teaching profession for better salary or benefits, and were generally more satisfied in their new field. Music teachers’ perceived level of administrative support had the most prominent influence on both music teacher satisfaction and re...

From Dewey to No Child Left Behind: The Evolution and Devolution of Public Arts Education

Abstract: This historical narrative tracks the evolution and devolution of visual arts education from Dewey’s progressive era pedagogy and the theory of the arts as experience through the modern accountability movement. Archival material, state curricular documents, and conversations with policymakers show an increasing focus on core subject areas of reading, writing, and mathematics at the expense of arts education. Texas House Bill 3, the third generation of accountability legislation in the Lone Star State, provides a case study of the status of arts education after more than fifteen years of high-stakes testing and accountability. Policy considerations are offered for arts education and its future standing within the public educational curriculum.

Teaching Creatively and Teaching for Creativity

Abstract: This article provides a brief review of generally accepted ideas about creativity, followed by examples of music teachers teaching creatively and teaching their students to be more creative. Implications for teacher education and policy recommendations for music education are discussed

Dance Education Matters: Rebuilding Postsecondary Dance Education for Twenty-First Century Relevance and Resonance

Abstract: Postsecondary dance education is at a crucial juncture in its history in academe. Emerging from women's physical education programs in the 1930s, the profession's realignment with the arts broadly and arts-based education specifically has been characterized by ambitious goals and steady growth through the 1990s. However, a number of critical developments over the past decade have displaced many previous gains and undermined the overall stability and integrity of the field. Four primary challenges are investigated in this article: curricular equity, expansive dance education programs, graduate study opportunities, and national leadership. I urge dance educators and administrators to re-envision and expand P–12 dance education in the liberal arts tradition to include private studio, commercial-sector, dance in community and related teaching professions. This article provides recommendations and strategies for developing relevant and resonant twenty-first-century dance education programs beyond curr...

Fostering Creativity for Leadership and Leading Change

Abstract: Creativity is about more than imagining or making something that has not previously existed. Though most of us perceive of the concept of creativity actualized as creation, creativity is really much broader—it is that force in each of us that begins with a yearning to answer an unanswered (or ill-answered) question by imagining more than one correct new answer. Being comprehensively creative then concludes when an answer is realized. Often this concluded answer has to do with changing something that was true before we thought and acted creatively, in order to make a new or additional truth. In such cases, being creative is most fundamentally about advancing change in or about something. This paper examines the differences between imagining, thinking, and acting creatively and about how each is related to leadership and change.

Creativity, Content, and Policy

Abstract: Creativity, content, and policy have multiple relationships. Creativity and disciplinary content are inextricably linked. In dealing with creativity, the first education policy choice is whether to recognize and act on that fact. Care is needed in using the term creativity in advocacy contexts, lest the relationship between creativity and content become obscured or forgotten altogether. Creativity is central to the arts, and thus arts education is a natural curricular place to develop creativity. However, the development of creative potential requires work over time. Creativity development in all fields requires serious sustained study and practice with certain goals in mind. Other kinds of study may be valuable, but they will not develop creativity. If we want to develop creative potential in schools, we must want the necessary structures and means for its development as much as we want the results. A number of major adjustments are required. Necessary means include the provision of environments that phi...

From Lessons Learned to Local Action: Building Your Own Policies for Effective Arts Education

Abstract: This article explores the process of using lessons learned about high quality, effective arts education programs to help local educational leaders and practitioners create their own policy statements. It raises questions about policy implications from those lessons and connects them to the readers'own experience. It provides an intellectual framework and an action agenda for developing local policy at the classroom, school, or district level that supports high quality arts education for every student. It argues that effective arts education programs must be supported by responsive policy and ongoing tax levy funds to have a greater chance for providing quality arts teaching and learning that endures.

Developing Capacity for Change: A Policy Analysis for the Music Education Profession.

Abstract: Policy can be a useful tool for effecting change, but policy analysis, which shapes policy development, has been underused in music education research. This paper demonstrates how Bardach's (2000) Eightfold Path can be used to develop solutions to problems in music education. Some have argued that school music programs do not prepare students to engage musically in today's society. To develop alternative solutions and project their outcomes, I analyze several current and past efforts to redefine music education and secure its place in the curriculum. Several alternatives, which include revising the National Standards, developing a national curriculum, improving professional development, and reconceiving advocacy, are evaluated, and policy recommendations are made that will enable the profession to redefine music education to better serve today's students.

Initial Music Training of Generalist Kindergarten Teachers in Greece: What Do They Ask For and What Do They Receive?

Abstract: This article investigates generalist kindergarten teachers’ academic music training based on data collected from students undertaking an undergraduate degree in preschool (kindergarten) education (students aged 4–6 years) in Greece. The study was carried out through a questionnaire survey that addressed students’ aspirations when entering the university and the real learning outcomes by the end of their studies. This article seeks to find relationships between students’ academic experiences and their level of confidence and enthusiasm to teach music in kindergarten. The findings suggest that higher education provides students with most of the learning outcomes that they anticipate. However, students lack adequate practical experiences in terms of observing lessons in real educational settings, which can significantly affect their confidence levels. Finally, the author explores some implications for higher education policy and teaching practice.

Self-Assessment in Generalist Preservice Kindergarten Teachers’ Education: Insights on Training, Ability, Environments, and Policies

Abstract: Self-assessment can play an important role in teachers’ personal and professional development and is encouraged by educational programs worldwide. This article reports on a Greek study that aimed to investigate generalist preservice kindergarten teachers’ self-assessment of their music teaching ability. One hundred participants were asked to design and deliver three music sessions for the kindergarten and then prepare a short reflective portfolio. Qualitative analysis of the portfolios led to the identification of different issues related to student practices, including preservice teacher training, teaching ability, the effect of different school environments and policies, and personal thoughts and feelings. Finally, the article discusses the role of self-assessment in understanding students’ academic needs and suggests initiatives and policies that might promote better teaching practices in music education, both at kindergarten and university level.

The Impact of a Funded Research Program on Music Education Policy

Abstract: Sounds of Learning: The Impact of Music Education is a research program designed to allow researchers to examine the roles of music education in the lives of school-aged children to expand the understanding of music's role in a quality education. The NAMM Foundation, the sponsoring organization, has provided more than $1,000,000 to fund research on the impact of music education on student achievement and success in school; all aspects of a child's growth and development; the uses and functions of music in daily life; and home, school, and community environments. Quality research about the role and impact of music education conducted by experienced researchers who publish in rigorous, peer-reviewed, scientific research journals plays a vital role in moving a public policy agenda forward to achieve expanded access to music education for all children. The goal is that this research will inform policy debates and development to achieve policies that support opportunities for every child to experience the power and benefits of learning music.