Arts Immersion across the curriculum: An action research case study in using the Arts as the home language in a primary school classroom

Abstract

The Arts are integral to our lives and the benefits of Arts education are widely documented. They offer us different ways of knowing and of making sense of our world and our own experiences. With their own semiotic systems, each Arts subject represents a rich store of understandings and skills, embracing nuance, complexity, and the perspectives of multiple intelligences. However, the inclusion of high-quality Arts education in primary schools may be threatened by the influence of high stakes testing which, in some cases, has been interpreted through narrower test-driven pedagogy. Despite calls for equity in the classroom, narrower pedagogical approaches may privilege some students and disadvantage others. The dominance of word-based texts and perceptions that going ‘back to basics’ will be a ‘silver bullet’ in improving student outcomes may cause non-high-stakes-tested subjects to receive lower priority in the curriculum. Where there is a tendency for subject areas and teaching practices to operate as ‘silos’, knowledge may be fragmented and deeper levels of cognition may be compromised. Teachers’ perceptions of an overcrowded curriculum and their own reported lack of training in Arts education require more creative attention. To address these challenges—improving student learning, building teacher capacity, and relieving an overcrowded curriculum—this research project develops an on-the-job professional learning model where an Arts specialist and a generalist teacher work together in the same classroom. An Arts Immersion approach provides an opportunity to increase teacher capacity while widening the learning pathway for students. In this scenario, the Arts become the home language of the classroom and are used across the curriculum as both a domain of learning and a vehicle to access other learning.