The Arts in Schools - Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

is a need, in achieving this, to improve the quality ofin-service training and advisory work. We very muchregret that economies are being made in these two vitalareas of education and want to emphasise the dangers inthis, in both the short- and the long-term, for thegeneral quality of education.e Co-ordination and continuityWe are dealing in this report with the value of the arts inall schools, for all children. Some of the problems wehave touched on lie outside the immediate control ofschools and teachers. Some others do not. In particular,there are those which arise from a lack of co-ordinationand continuity in arts education. There are three aspectsto this. First, there is little contact between teachersworking in different arts — even within the same schools.Second, there is little co-ordination between the threemain sectors of education, primary, secondary andtertiary, and, as a result, too little continuity in children'sand young people's arts education. Third, there is toolittle contact between educationalists and professionalartists. We see a need to tackle these problems ofliaison and want to propose some strategies for doingthis and to bring attention to existing ways in which thisis being done.5 Attitudes These are some of the many practical problems confrontingto the arts the development of the arts in schools. Some of them are todo with a lack of resources: others are not. They are theresult of long-established attitudes towards the arts whichdeprive them of an equitable share of the resources which doexist. To those who see education mainly as a preparation forwork, it may seem that the arts are unimportant for childrenin schools unless they intend to make a career in them. Or, ifthey have a value, it is merely as leisure time pursuits outsidethe formal curriculum. For those who see education mainlyas the pursuit of academic achievement, the arts may seemunimportant except for 'less able' children.We seek to correct such misconceptions. In doing so, wewill reject any tendency to polarise the issues. We do notaccept that the quality of education can be improved only byfocusing on high standards of literacy and numeracy througha specialised curriculum; by choosing between, for example,science or arts, vocational qualifications or education forleisure. We reject these polarities for two reasons. First, allof these should be represented in a well-balanced curriculum.Second, each stands to gain through being taught in conjuctionwith the others. As HMI have indicated, literacy and numeracy