Art-based Curriculum to Cultivate Students’ Competency in Secondary Vocational School in China: The Mediating Role of Cross-disciplinary Connections

Abstract

An increasing emphasis on holistic development in students has sparked interest in the impact of arts-based curriculum and teaching approaches in the field of education. Arts education has been shown to increase students' creativity, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence. Although the potential benefits of arts education are widely recognised, more in-depth empirical studies are needed to examine its impact on student achievement and academic performance. In order to better understand how art-based instruction and curriculum affect secondary vocational school students' artistic proficiency and academic achievement, a quantitative study was conducted. Both the moderating effect of learning styles and the mediation impact of cross-disciplinary links were intended to be investigated. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was used for the study. A systematic sampling procedure was used to choose a sample of 384 secondary vocational school students. Participants filled out questionnaires to assess their artists ability, academic achievement, learning methods, and the extent to which cross-disciplinary links were present in their educational experiences. The Amos software was used to analyze the data, which included mediation and moderation analyses. The findings suggest that cross -disciplinary connections have an important mediating role in the relationship between arts curricula, instructional models, students' competencies, and academic achievement. In these interactions, learning styles were identified as moderators, highlighting the necessity for personalized instructional tactics.