The importance of passionate individuals for navigating school arts provision in 19 Australian schools

Abstract

Arts programs are increasingly recognized for their role in promoting student development and cohesive school communities. Yet, most Australian schools are left to navigate a landscape characterized by shifting policy goals and external providers of diverse quality and intent. Drawing on interviews with 27 stakeholders from 19 Catholic primary schools in Melbourne, Australia, we explored key approaches to arts provision in this context, and conditions that hinder and support it. Approaches varied markedly, from school-wide programs embedded across the curriculum, to one-off incursions. Conditions consistently affecting provision ranged from leadership support to a community’s view of the arts. Programs regularly relied on individuals passionate about arts to go beyond their paid roles, yet this frequently jeopardized sustainability. Overall, the approaches identified, and conditions affecting their sustainability, reveal a lack of value for school arts at policy and administration levels. This lack of value is not demonstrated in the provision of other traditional school activities like math or literacy, which begs consideration by policymakers and school administrators.

Exploring the Potential for Music Therapy to Support 21st Century Education Goals

“…They also illustrated the idea that the school system itself (Norwegian and otherwise) can be responsible for hindering school music provision at several different levels -from the culture of a specific school to national curriculums and policies -and in this way, contribute to the reproduction of social inequality. This accords with existing research which illustrates that ecological context plays an integral role in informing school music provision, from high level policy (Crooke, 2015) to leadership buy in and support from colleagues (McFerran et al, 2021).…”