NSW teachers and artists have called for a renewed commitment to arts education, warning the New South Wales Education Standards Authority’s proposed creative arts updates minimise creativity and deprive students of essential collaboration and communication skills.
The National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE) has submitted an inquiry to the Joint Select Committee on Arts and Music Education and Training in New South Wales, calling for increased time allocations for primary school teachers to receive adequate training and resources in arts education.
Former artist-in-residence for NSW primary and secondary schools Jessica Watts said the current education system had demonstrated a disregard for creative thinking.
“There seems to be this idea that being good at art is inextricably linked to having drawing skill,” she added
“Anyone can draw. But what people are forgetting is that art is higher-order thinking. It’s problem-solving. It’s rigorous.”
The painter, who spent 10 years in New York City working as an art director for advertising firms, said creativity was necessary for early childhood development.
Studies show active participation in artistic activities encourages the growth of children’s ability to understand meaning.
“If you can create an environment around children where they don’t feel like they’re judged and they are free to express themselves and play, they will be nurtured to understand that creativity is fundamental to everyday life,” Watts said.
“Every single person on this planet is creative. You might feel as if you’re not but you are. Perhaps it has been drilled out of students.
“The misconception that art is a subject that won’t benefit in the long-term needs to stop.”
Training the teachers as much as helping the students [is important] so we don’t have that inequality between schools.
Current artist-in-residence for Sydney Catholic Schools Joshua McPherson holds the same opinion.
“I think there’s an actual kind of awakening for them where they get an appreciation for the craft behind it,” he told Central News.
“When they get to the stage where they elect the subject there are not as many challenges because they are there for the subject. Before that, you may still have that stigma.”
He believes primary school teachers are also going to be negatively affected by the outcome.
“Educators also need help so that they can best teach their students,” he added. “They don’t have to be the best painters or the best drawers but I think the teachers would benefit from learning these skills for primary teaching.”
The 2013 Archibald Prize finalist acknowledged there is a noticeable difference in the output from students between schools with a designated art teacher and ones without.
“You do see the discrepancy and I guess that’s where our roles as artists in residence come in,” he said. “You do try to bridge that gap.
“Training the teachers as much as helping the students so we don’t have that inequality between schools.”
The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) has also expressed its concern with education standards for visual arts subjects after Southern Cross University in NSW decided to stop running its undergraduate courses in creative arts.
McPherson, however, feels there are still children who are keen to learn about art.
There’s such little play in education anymore. Everything seems to be quantified and tested.
“Art definitely had that stigma of being a dull subject when I was in school but I do think it is better now,” he said. “I get a lot out of teaching the high school students who are ready for more serious topics and more technical skills because they can take that information in as they’re keen”.
NAVA has argued that continued neglect of art will lead to irreparable damage to the arts field, adding to the shortages of teachers in the sector.
It comes at a time when there is a national shortage of casual teachers with 87 per cent of NSW public schools lacking access to available casual educators daily.
The NSW Government has promised to commit 16,000 teachers who are either currently employed as casuals or on temporary contracts to permanent roles.
Watts started with an undergraduate degree in visual communication from Sydney College of the Arts, which, as she describes, would have been of no use to her if she wanted to pursue a career as a classroom teacher.
“With the degree that I have, I could not get any post-graduate add-on,” she said. “I would’ve had to go back to university and get a new qualification for another three years.
“I have an honours degree in visual communication, encompassing all the basics one would need to be eligible to teach.
“Yet, they wouldn’t take my experience or education into consideration. They need to change their policies.”
The painter blamed NESA’s focus on theoretical components as one reason for apathy towards creative arts education.
“There’s such little play in education anymore. Everything seems to be quantified and tested. There is not much experimentation,” she said.
Main image of Jessica Watts by Orlando Sagar.
