One of the most important factors determining a nation's level of development in the modern world is preschool education. When preschool education is perceived as an entity that affects every aspect of childhood development, this fact is undeniable. Several aspects of preschool education, including art education, play a significant role in a…

More than 98 percent of children in Finland attend preschool, where different kinds of projects are carried out in order to strengthen the children's abilities. This article focuses on the effects of one arts education project from a school readiness point of view. The main question was, How did the Helsinki arts education project affect the…

This article discusses how biographical materials may be used in youth arts education projects to develop new methodologies and approaches that can stimulate artistic and social intervention in contemporary urban communities, thus changing the field of arts education policy at the community level. Through their creation of Artistic Society…

Visual arts teachers engage in complex work on a daily basis. This work is informed by practical knowledge that is rarely examined or drawn on in research or in the development of policy. Focusing on the work of secondary visual arts teachers, this article reports on a research program conducted in a regional area of New South Wales, Australia.…

This article explores the views of children's poet Michael Rosen in relation to poetry in education. It is based on an interview in which Rosen not only discusses the significance of encouraging young people to engage with poetry at school but also analyzes a number of threats to poetry's place in the English curriculum. This article…

Does arts integration contribute to student success for disadvantaged student populations? The introduction to this article compares students' academic performance and arts education in countries outperforming the United States on the recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading…

At present, there is growing scientific evidence of music's powerful, positive influence on the neurological, cognitive, and social-emotional development of all children. At the same time, a flurry of new studies now show that extensive, deliberate, and deep practice supported by an ability growth mindset--and not a fixed degree of talent--is the…

The rhetoric of the creative economy agenda has influenced the revised Ontario curriculum in the arts for grades 9-12. Yet, increasing rhetorical and substantive support for a creative economy agenda in Ontario at large is not sufficiently reflected in the revised Ontario arts curriculum. The expanded agenda is not matched by expanded substantive…

This longitudinal study (2001-09) of two Hong Kong secondary schools highlights six issues with an integrated arts curriculum: first, integration of knowledge and skills negatively precedes the integration of learners' construction of meaning; second, integration is perceived as challenging the profession's status; third, teachers are unaccustomed…

This article aims to examine the kinds of teaching practices that correspond to the various educational roles ascribed to the arts within school curricula. Three teaching approaches are analyzed: (1) "teaching the arts", in which the arts are treated as distinct cognitive teaching subjects; (2) "teaching through the arts", in which the arts are…

Arts education partnerships have become an important means for developing and sustaining school arts programs that engage students, teachers, and communities. Tapping into additional perspectives, resources, and support from arts agencies and postsecondary institutions, arts education partnerships strengthen arts education infrastructure within…

Strong school-university partnerships yield effective music teachers. However, music teacher preparation curriculum has undergone little reform over the years, resulting in a homogeneous P-12 curriculum. Encouraging preservice music teachers to consider cultural and pedagogical differences holds promise for changing music teacher preparation and…

The arts are an integral and important component of our everyday lives. As such, they need to be a vital part of our children's education. However, this has rarely been the case in Australian state primary schools over the past two hundred years. This article explores the history of the arts in Australian state primary schools since the…

In light of the tendency to present the arts in an integrated fashion in many education systems worldwide, this article examines the consequences of integration for discrete art forms. In particular, we investigate the advantages of adopting a syntegrated approach to the facilitation of arts in teacher preparation. A specific comparison between…

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…