Question

significance of art at secondary level of school

Answer 1

The purpose of this large-scale study was to examine the effects of secondary school arts education (in visual arts, drama, dance, or music) in England and Wales. The data were derived from four sources: (1) case studies of five secondary schools, (2) a secondary data analysis of information from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER)’s Quantitative Analysis for Self-Evaluation (QUASE) project, (3) a survey of Year 11 students and schools, and (4) interviews with employers and employees in the work sector. Results demonstrated positive effects of arts education in several areas including students’ intrinsic enjoyment, art form knowledge and skills, social and cultural knowledge, creativity and thinking skills, communication and expressive skills, personal and social development, effects that transfer to other contexts (e.g., learning in other subjects, work-related benefits such as teamwork), culture of the school, and benefits to the local community. However, arts education coursework was not predictive of general academic performance as measured by scores on standardized national exams