Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford
Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford
Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford
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Despite the geographical challenges, there were a number of good practice examples were small<br />
<strong>and</strong> isolated schools <strong>and</strong> communities were engag<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>novative ways to ensure that the<br />
pupils <strong>in</strong> their areas received high quality arts <strong>and</strong> cultural education, as the follow<strong>in</strong>g vignette<br />
from a small rural compulsory school suggests:<br />
Vignette 3.7.7 We are a small school<br />
We are a small school. There are altogether only 40 pupils.<br />
We do s<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g three times a week to start the day. We are currently practic<strong>in</strong>g songs for the traditional day on Friday.<br />
Every child learns a musical <strong>in</strong>strument – guitar, flute, <strong>and</strong> electric base, piano. We have a school b<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> the<br />
children compose songs <strong>and</strong> create soundscapes. Music teacher come to the school. It costs around 50,000 ISK per<br />
year.<br />
All pupils get general music from pre-primary school to the 7th grade. This <strong>in</strong>cludes s<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> listen<strong>in</strong>g, but it does<br />
not focus on teach<strong>in</strong>g the children to read music. Some teachers travel to the school to teach <strong>in</strong>struments, like the<br />
accordion.<br />
We have danc<strong>in</strong>g classes from Pre-primary school to grade 5 <strong>and</strong> dance <strong>and</strong> drama for grades 6, 7 <strong>and</strong> 8. The older<br />
children completed an expressive dance piece about the Cold War. We comb<strong>in</strong>e percussion <strong>and</strong> dance. We pay for the<br />
dance teacher out of the school budget. The visual arts teacher is based here. She has a full-time job <strong>and</strong> is tra<strong>in</strong>ed.<br />
Each class does 80 m<strong>in</strong>utes per week of visual arts. They also do 80 m<strong>in</strong>utes per week of sew<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> textile. She is also<br />
a specialist teacher. They are supposed to have 40 m<strong>in</strong>utes per week, but we do 80 m<strong>in</strong>utes a week for half a term. It<br />
is fantastic.. Art stops <strong>in</strong> the 8th grade, but we have a period once a week when the older children can choose <strong>and</strong><br />
many of them choose woodwork or hair or make-up.<br />
We have some children that have been placed here from other areas because they have had problems <strong>in</strong> their school.<br />
They come here <strong>and</strong> live with a family. At first I was worried, but it actually works well <strong>and</strong> they fit <strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> seem happy.<br />
We celebrate lots of festivals <strong>and</strong> events throughout the year. Everybody does someth<strong>in</strong>g, but a person with expertise<br />
will take control. We also participate <strong>in</strong> a student exchange programme with a small school on the Faroe Isl<strong>and</strong>s. The<br />
9th <strong>and</strong> 10th grade raise money to go on an excursion to Reykjavik. We try to visit the gallery <strong>and</strong> take <strong>in</strong> a play. The<br />
older pupils organise a disco for the youngest pupils. They do everyth<strong>in</strong>g – the music; the light<strong>in</strong>g, a shop <strong>and</strong> they<br />
even clean up!<br />
3.8 Detailed assessment, reflection <strong>and</strong> evaluation strategies<br />
‣ All schools visited had formal procedures for assess<strong>in</strong>g the arts<br />
‣ In terms of assessment, the arts were treated <strong>in</strong> the same way as other subject areas<br />
‣ Younger children tend to receive an assessment comment while older pupils are more<br />
<strong>in</strong>cl<strong>in</strong>ed to receive marks <strong>and</strong> grades alongside a comment<br />
‣ More teacher tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> professional development could occur <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>novative <strong>and</strong><br />
creative assessment methods <strong>in</strong> the arts so that teachers can track pupils’ learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong><br />
monitor the quality of programmes<br />
Formal <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>formal contemplative practices encourage people to view their work more<br />
critically <strong>and</strong> reflectively.<br />
Reflection is not part of education either <strong>in</strong> policy or <strong>in</strong> practice. We need to be given the responsibility to take<br />
<strong>in</strong>itiative <strong>and</strong> to be accountable. In theory, education <strong>in</strong> Icel<strong>and</strong> is a very open system, so people can just come <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> have a go.<br />
The arts teacher told us that she encouraged the children to talk about their art, what they thought was good<br />
<strong>and</strong> what not so good.<br />
Assessment of the arts is a rout<strong>in</strong>e part of arts learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Icel<strong>and</strong>. Younger children tend to<br />
get a comment based on their <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>and</strong> enjoyment of the arts, while older children will get a<br />
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