Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford

example, in Senegal hair-braiding is an important art form and is present in the curriculum. It
could be argued though, that by being quite specific in the art forms covered, that the
curriculum has a sharper focus. For example, in Colombia a strong focus on music has greatly
lifted educational standards in music.
In the compulsory school, there are basically 4 disciplines that make up arts education.
These are:
Visual arts
Textile
Wood (including metal) craft
Music
Additionally, drama and dance may occur, but these tend to be on a less regular basis and
occur either as part of a festival, performance or occasion or as a component of another subject,
such as language learning or physical education. Some specialist colleges exist for dancing and to
a lesser extent for drama, but these are singular and not representative of the general situation.
Colleges may also have art history, cultural studies, design, media and other arts options.
Secondary schools appear to have more flexibility to develop arts electives, but they have less
core offerings in the arts. Extra curricula activities in the arts are common at all levels of
education and can include talent competitions, quizzes, discos, dances, festivals, school
performances, film making and a range of youth-developed initiatives across all art forms.
College students seem particularly keen to develop and promote extra arts offerings.
Figure 1.3.1 shows those subjects that school principles in compulsory schools consider to
be generally included in arts education in the school system. It can be seen that visual arts,
textiles and woodwork are almost always present.
Figure 1.3.1 Subjects considered by compulsory school principles to be generally included in arts education.
There is also a range of community groups specifically targeting youth. For example, youth
clubs, local brass bands, ‘garage’ bands, the Red Cross, churches, camps, summer festivals and a
number of other local offers add considerably to the cultural possibilities for young people.
Anecdotally it was reported that although many these have a social, environmental or sport foci,
they frequently include arts and cultural dimensions within the programme. It was also noted
that there were ‘youth-led’ groups in many towns and cities and that these provided further
creative opportunities for young people. ‘Ground up’ initiatives seem to be particularly popular –
and often more sustainable – than more contrived initiatives. It would be recommended that
these be more fully ‘mapped’ to determine their extent and distribution. Also many lessons on
success factors could be gained from these initiatives and could be incorporated into future costeffective
cultural planning.
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