The Arts in Schools - Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

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children of Asian or West Indian background. All the children are involvedin dance from the second to the fourth year. During the second year andthird year they have a 35 minute period each week. In the fourth year thepupils are allowed to choose whether they wish to continue. As at least2/3 of the children opt for the dance, selection is necessary. This selectionis based on commitment and attitude rather than ability. Ultimately thefinal number of children is between 50 and 60. These children then have1% hours of dance each week.It is with a knowledge and experience of the fourth year production asa background that the 2nd and 3rd year absorb their new language. Theysee the dance production as the fruit of their labours. The production isstaged in the Autumn term. The vocabulary they have acquired is put touse. A theme is chosen and the production is built. Each child contributeswhat he has learnt and what he has developed. The process is a working outtogether of a multitude of details, each detail being provided by the children;each detail being a growth upon the original vocabulary within the frameworkof tensions provided by the show. The production can be seen as aprocess whereby the children are transformed into interpreters of theirown emotions through the dance and music. They become more aware ofwhat they are and what they could be. Because they come to understandthat dance has meaning beyond itself they bring their whole consciousnessto bear upon it. Concern for minute details becomes important in thelargeness of the production. The highest possible standards become thenorm since they embody individual and collective image within the unity.The staff involved in this do not direct every movement the childrenmake, but rather highlight the possibilities that the children discover andprovide the overall form to the production. Many 4th year pupils who arenot directly involved in dance are drawn into the production in other ways.Lighting, sound, costume, set building, written work and art work, allcentred on the theme, are their responsibility. The themes that have beenchosen ensure a wide variety of background and ideas are created. Theproductions have been drawn from both classical and contemporary themes:Jesus ChristThe Family of Man (Sound evolution)The Lord of the RingsThe King Must Die (Theseus)Paradise LostThe Wizard of OzThe 4th year dance course gives many opportunities for seeing professionalgroups rehearsing and performing, including visits to the theatrein Leeds, Harrogate and York and to take part in and watch workshops andrehearsals. Dancers from the Ballet Rambert and the London ContemporaryDance Company come to school to take classes and they are alwaysimpressed by the enthusiasm of the children (especially the boys). We havealso travelled to London to see the Martha Graham Company and the LondonContemporary Dance Company (we camp at Crystal Palace to keep down153
the cost). Groups of children have visited many parts of the country toperform, including a four day visit to Wales at the invitation of the WelshInspectorate to perform at different schools. Two years ago a group travelledto Edmonton, Canada, to perform the International Conference of Danceand the Child. Last year another group performed in France for variousschools and youth groups.As might be surmised, this final year demands a great deal of the children.They give much of their own time to it, working almost every lunchtime aswell as weekends, and during the holidays. When the production is over, therealisation of three years work brings a desire to work harder. We are thereforeable to make progress during the spring and summer term, introducingtechniques requiring greater maturity and sophistication. The productionseems to act as a stimulus to greater development both physically and inattitude, towards the subject.There are now six of our ex-boys at the London School of ContemporaryDance. I think this is indicative of the standards and involvement attainedby at least some of the children at this school. The school programme,however, is not designed to make dancers but to give the children a means ofexpression in the skills required, and to be able to translate and develop theseskills into self expression within a community of dance.The depressed urban environment the children live in makes the success theyachieve at school of the utmost importance. From impoverished backgrounds,they receive, in many cases, little help from home. Their self-image and theirimage of society would, if this were all they had, be a self-destructive andsocially destructive force. As many of these children are not academicallybright, dance provides a form of success upon which they can grow as people— perhaps the only one they have. Further it provides stimulus to greatereffort in areas where they have not succeeded before. One boy who is nowtraining at the London School of Contemporary Dance, when asked what hewould have done had he not been a dancer, replied — 'a thug.'It may seem that I have overstated the importance of dance to the childrenat this school but I believe they display a commitment and enthusiasmwhich is unique. They demonstrate a self discipline and dedication not oftenfound in children of this age and background. They become able to overcomeattitudes derived from an impoverished and prejudiced environment,learning how to accept criticism and new ideas. These may seem wild claimsbut I have seen these children grow from immature confusion and ignoranceto sensitive and tolerant maturity as they escape the mentality of the ghetto.4 Works of Art — the Ethos of the SchoolWe see a clear case for the provision of works of art in schools as a matterof policy. One reason for this is to provide a more stimulating school environment,on the practical principle that if the school looks good it will betreated well and with disrespect if it looks bad. But while concern with theschool environment can have an important bearing there are far more cogentreasons for encouraging contact with works of art. In Leicestershire anoutward and visible sign to children of a positive attitude on the part of the154
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THEARTSSCHOOLSPrinciples, practice
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© 1982 Calouste Gulbenkian Foundat
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Chapter 4 Provision: the arts in pr
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The Advisory CommitteeChairmanMembe
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Foreword by the Chairman of the Inq
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Introduction—1989This is not a re
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and many others have done so since.
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politicians on all sides were compe
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the GCSE examination has addressed
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REFERENCESArts in Schools Project (
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stances and of the perennial and va
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significant than at present.4 The n
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likely to be measured publicly by e
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seem to improve when taught as part
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world around them.e In understandin
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ence essential to education? Why th
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10 The artsare notoptions11 Notwith
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1 Education, schooling and the arts
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15 The arts This is the ground on w
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for certain forms of artistic activ
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arts — is 'merely subjective" and
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to and an understanding of certain
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school curriculum fall into this se
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one who is intelligent but who exhi
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38 Quality Quantity by itself is in
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43 Freedom Two further points must
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3 Arts education and the cultural h
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universally valued archive of stabl
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a helps pupils to understand cultur
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Child: "They said it was a march, b
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their cultural identity'. Haley's b
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life and on perceptions and values
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4 Provision: the arts in primary sc
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a What should be aimed at?b What pr
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composition — Western and non-Wes
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learning.' (Schools Council, 1981a,
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performing arts — music, dance an
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techniques and resources for workin
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are thinking particularly of the ar
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they will suffer disproportionately
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Second, integration can mean many t
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arts have a substantial contributio
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distributed equally and equitably a
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art, craft, home economics, music a
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FIGURE 2SHEPSHEDCOMMUNITYCOLLEGEope
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in upper schools. Associated with t
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120 A Implicit in such proposals is
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78literature and put money and reso
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80outlined the sorts of provision t
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used — are appropriate to the wor
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135 Respon- If education involves t
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we look at, or participate in, visu
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MotivationalChildren on examination
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elevant help in compiling the profi
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ible to some form of appropriate as
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94more in-service training provisio
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1%—2% of the school population
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tuition under well qualified teache
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it is likely that more children wil
Page 119 and 120: 102by professional musicians, many
Page 121 and 122: frequencies and belongs to the Part
Page 123 and 124: classroom teacher. Nevertheless, th
Page 125 and 126: 'Within individual schools in certa
Page 127 and 128: implications of different types of
Page 129 and 130: We will first outline five main are
Page 131 and 132: 186 Arts In the schemes we have jus
Page 133 and 134: schemes. The Arvon Foundation, for
Page 135 and 136: is likely to give his teaching rele
Page 137 and 138: periods of time. There are possibil
Page 139 and 140: 207 The role The rple of the teache
Page 141 and 142: to be essential to the future devel
Page 143 and 144: scheme. The Charlotte Mason College
Page 145 and 146: d education is something that only
Page 147 and 148: iture. It does require a different
Page 149 and 150: 225 Initial Initial and post-initia
Page 151 and 152: Germany 18% of the workforce has be
Page 153 and 154: outes for the visual arts. In parti
Page 155 and 156: at the centre on a regular basis. T
Page 157 and 158: potential. The exceptional situatio
Page 159 and 160: We have developed our arguments in
Page 161 and 162: wherever possible, co-ordinate the
Page 163 and 164: AppendixOur arguments in this repor
Page 165 and 166: Evening classes range from life-dra
Page 167 and 168: to work with them. CSE groups with
Page 169: from other schools to watch two lec
Page 173 and 174: iii as a special authorised charge
Page 175 and 176: BibliographyAdvisory Council for Ad
Page 177 and 178: Kerr, J F 1968 Changing the Curricu
Page 179 and 180: NotesThe Issues1 For a description
Page 181 and 182: the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenste
Page 183 and 184: for candidates between the 100th an
Page 185 and 186: their education full-time in school
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