Evidence & research

The NAAE council has curated a selection of publications that present research evidence of the range of impacts that participating in The Arts can have on and beyond students’ academic success and learning. NAAE draws upon this research evidence in our development of submission responses to policy and curriculum consultation that pertain to and impact upon the delivery of Arts Education in Australia.

Inclusion criteria for the research cited here include examples that are mostly open access and published via platforms highly regarded in and by the field of arts education scholarship. NAAE council acknowledges that the research referred to here is not exhaustive, and the determinants of quality research are both contestable and dynamic.

We endeavour to keep an element of dynamism in our review and update of the evidence we refer to, noting that excellent new arts education research continues to be undertaken and regularly published. The current review falls under five headings:

• Collective strengths and benefits of Arts Education

• Arts Education as inclusive, sustainable, equitable and accessible for all

• Arts Education curriculum and policy – development and implementation

• Arts across the curriculum

• Arts teacher education and professional learning

We invite you to use our curated research evidence in your own advocacy initiatives, and please also draw our attention to new publications that might assist us in our advocacy initiatives. Suggestions may be sent to contact@naae.org.au

SCHOLARLY SOURCES

Collective strengths and benefits of Arts Education

A growing body of international and Australian research demonstrates the multiple benefits of an arts-rich education. An arts-rich education from an early age develops individual creativity and self-expression. A steadily increasing body of research evidence points to the direct and indirect benefits that arise from young people’s involvement in arts-rich education programs.

Collective benefits include achievements in reading, language and mathematics development, increased higher order thinking skills and capacities, increased motivation to learn, and improvements in effective social behaviours.

Over and above the obvious development of individual creativity and self-expression, school-based arts participation can increase learners’ confidence and motivation, thereby improving school attendance rates, academic outcomes and the well-being and life skills of children and young people.

Bowen, E.H, Kisida, B. (2019). Investigating Causal Effects of Arts Education Experiences. Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

Bryce, J., Mendelovits, J., Beavis, A., McQueen, J., & Adams, I. (2004). Evaluation of school-based arts education programmes in Australian schools. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.

Cameron Frichtel, M. J. (2017). “We Were the Choreographers; the Dance Teachers Were the Helpers”: Student Perceptions of Learning in a Dance Outreach Program Interpreted Through a Lens of 21st-Century Skills. Journal of Dance Education, 17(2), 43-52.

Dinham, J. (2022). Signature pedagogies of arts education reflected in the Australian curriculum: The arts (version 9). Australian Art Education, 43(1), 13-32.

Lee, B. K., Patall, E. A., Cawthon, S. W., & Steingut, R. R. (2015). The effect of drama-based pedagogy on preK–16 outcomes: A meta-analysis of research from 1985 to 2012. Review of educational research, 85(1), 3-49.

Catterall, J. S., Dumais, S. A., & Hampden-Thompsan, G. (2012) The arts and achievement in the at-risk youth: Findings from four longitudinal studies. Washington, DC.

Davis, D. (2008). First We See: The National Review of Visual Education.

Ewing, R. (2010): The Arts and Australian Education: Realising potential.

Fiske, E. (Ed.). (1999). Champions of change: The impact of arts on learning. Washington, DC: Arts Education Partnerships/President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Martin, A., Mansour, M., Anderson, M., Gibson, R., Liem, A., Sudmalis, D. (2013). The role of arts participation in students' academic and nonacademic outcomes: A longitudinal study of school, home, and community factors. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(3), 709-727.

McKay, L., Barton, G., Garvis, S., & Sappa, V. (Eds.). (2020). Arts-based research, resilience and well-being across the lifespan. Springer.Pascoe, R., Leong, S., MacCallum, J., Mackinlay, E., Marsh, K., Smith, B., Church, T., & Winterton, A. (2005).

National Review of School Music Education: Augmenting the diminished. Saunders, J. N. (2021). Dramatic Shifts in Learning: A Case Study Analysis of Student Literacy Learning Through Drama. NJ: Drama Australia Journal, 45(2), 97–112. Wright, S. (2015). Children, meaning-making and the arts. Pearson Higher Education.

Arts Education as inclusive, sustainable, equitable and accessible for all

A range of national and international studies have demonstrated the capacity of arts education to provide highly inclusive environments for a diverse range of students, and opportunities for engagement, social engagement and meaningful learning. Given that people’s right to education, arts and cultural participation is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Arts education must be conceived and delivered in ways that enable equitable opportunity for everyone to participate.

In a time of social, economic and environmental crises convergence, disadvantage, privilege and innovation are recalibrating in real time. The National Cultural Policy calls for a rethinking of our education system and of the skills and training opportunities for young Australians, and democratising of creative industries and the cultural institutions.

Bibizadeh, R. E., Procter, R., Girvan, C., Webb, H., & Jirotka, M. (2023). Digitally Un/Free: the everyday impact of social media on the lives of young people. Learning, Media and Technology, 1-14.

Dunn, J., Bundy, P., Jones, A., Stinson, M., Hassall, L., Penton, J., Lazaroo, N., & Le, L. (2019). Creating Critical Connections through the Arts: The Y Connect Report.  Examining the impact of arts-based pedagogies and artist/teacher partnerships on learning and teaching in one Australian secondary school. Brisbane, Australia: Griffith Institute for Educational Research. www.yconnectproject.com

Grierson, E. M. (2021). Meeting the demands for social justice through visual arts in the curriculum. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48(5), 889-899.

Hunter, M. A., Aprill, A., Hill, A., & Emery, S. (2018). Education, arts and sustainability: Emerging practice for a changing world. Springer.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: aka the remix. Harvard Educational Review, 84(1), 74-84.

Lorenza, L., Baguley, M., & Kerby, M. (2021). Music in the Australian arts curriculum: social justice and student entitlement to learn in the arts. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48(5), 857-872.

Meiners, J. (2021). Towards a socially just dance curriculum entitlement. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48(5), 837-856.

O’Toole, J. (2021). The basic principles of a socially just arts curriculum, and the place of drama. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48(5), 819-836.

Rankin, J., Garrett, R., & MacGill, B. (2021). Critical encounters: Enacting social justice through creative and body-based learning. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48(2), 281-302.

Wise, K., MacDonald, A., Badham, M., Brown, N., & Rankin, S. (2022). Interdisciplinarity for social justice enterprise: intersecting education, industry and community arts perspectives. The Australian Educational Researcher, 49(3), 595-615.

The Foundation for Young Australians. (2015). The new work order: Ensuring young Australians have skills and experience for the jobs of the future, not the past.

Arts Education curriculum and policy – development and implementation

Australian arts educators have been actively engaged in arts curriculum and policy development, as well as looking to maximise opportunities within implementation and review. The Australian Curriculum: The Arts creates space for myriad policy agendas to permeate education delivery and attainment.

The curriculum and policy space is also one where reform fatigue can become particularly taxing for arts educators. Iterations of curriculum and policy review and renewal, combined with reductive shifts of investment in the arts, mean arts teachers face frustration and fatigue with a sense of inadequate time, resources or support mechanisms to deliver on curriculum and policy ambitions.

The challenge remains for arts educators to use curriculum development and implementation processes to develop and deliver high quality arts education programs across the education continuum.

Alter, F., Hays, T., & O'Hara, R. (2009). The challenges of implementing primary arts education: What our teachers say. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 34(4), 22-30.

Baguley, M., Kerby, M., O’Toole, J., Barrett, M. S., Grierson, E., Dezuanni, M., & Meiners, J. (2021). In their own voice: The role of the Shape of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts Paper Writers in ensuring equitable access to quality Arts education in Australia. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48(5), 795-818.

Bamford, A. (2006). The wow factor: Global research compendium on the impact of the arts in education. Waxmann Verlag.

Chapman, S., Wright, P., & Pascoe, R. (2018). Arts curriculum implementation: “Adopt and adapt” as policy translation. Arts Education Policy Review, 119(1), 12-24.

Eriksson, S. A., Heggstad, K. M., Heggstad, K., & Cziboly, A. (2014). ‘Rolling the DICE’. Introduction to the international research project Drama Improves Lisbon Key Competences in Education. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 19(4), 403-408.

Ewing, R. (2020). The Australian curriculum: The arts. A critical opportunity. Curriculum Perspectives, 40, 75-81.

Gardner, S., & Millard, O. (2021). Teaching the Dance Subject in Australian High Schools. Journal of Dance Education, 21(2), 103-113.

Jacobs, R., Finneran, M., & Quintanilla D’Acosta, T. (2021). Dancing toward the light in the dark: COVID-19 changes and reflections on normal from Australia, Ireland and Mexico. Arts Education Policy Review, 123(1), 29-38.

Kerby, M., Lorenza, L., Dyson, J., Ewing, R., & Baguley, M. (2021). Challenges, implications and the future of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48(5), 901-922.

Lorenza, L. M. (2021). Arts curriculum are better resourced and supported when the principal is focussed on the student experience. Curriculum Perspectives, 41(2), 187-199.

O’Toole, J. (2019) Mind the Gap – Some implications of the Australian Curriculum: Arts for policy change in tertiary arts and education training. NiTRO. Australian Council of Deans and Directors of Creative Arts Incorporated.

Westerlund, H., & Barrett, M. (2022). Narrating arts education research impact in and through research policy: Affordances and constraints for professional transformation. Arts Education Policy Review, 123(2), 97-109.

Arts across the curriculum

Today’s arts curriculum builds on a rich history of reimagining, contributing to and embracing multi-modal ways of knowing and doing. Both as a stand-alone learning area and across the curriculum, the arts enable teachers and students to create new knowledge, skills and understandings about themselves and the world.

When activated in cross-curriculum settings, the arts humanise and converge diverse disciplinary skills that are essential for making sense and meaning. Inter- and trans-disciplinary education ambitions are both furthered and enriched when the arts and arts pedagogies are meaningfully deployed with integrity and authenticity.

The advancement of bespoke cross discipline acronyms (i.e STEAM, SHAPE) that recognise and leverage the role, purpose and value of the arts in and across the curriculum highlight the ways arts education and learning may be integrated, diverse and varied.

Barton, G. (2013). The Arts and Literacy: What Does it Mean to be Arts Literate? International Journal of Education & the Arts.

Burnard, P., Colucci-Gray, L., & Sinha, P. (2021). Transdisciplinarity: Letting arts and science teach together. Curriculum Perspectives, 41(1), 113-118.

Chapman, S. N., & O’Gorman, L. (2022). Transforming learning environments in early childhood contexts through the arts: Responding to the United Nations sustainable development goals. International Journal of Early Childhood, 54(1), 33-50.

Corser, K., Dezuanni, M., & Notley, T. (2022). How news media literacy is taught in Australian classrooms. The Australian Educational Researcher, 49(4), 761-777.

Davis, S. (2018). The engagement tree: Arts-based pedagogies for environmental learning. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 19(8).

De Bruin, L. R., & Harris, A. (2017). Fostering creative ecologies in Australasian secondary schools. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 42(9), 23-43.

Dezuanni, M. (2021). Re-visiting the Australian Media Arts curriculum for digital media literacy education. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48(5), 873-887.

Garrett, R., Dawson, K., Meiners, J., & Wrench, A. (2018). Creative and body-based learning: Redesigning pedagogies in mathematics. Journal for Learning through the Arts, 14(1).

Gibson, R., & Ewing, R. (2020). Transforming the curriculum through the arts. Springer.

Hradsky, D., & Forgasz, R. (2023). Possibilities and problems of using drama to engage with First Nations content and concepts in education: A systematic review. The Australian Educational Researcher, 50(3), 965-989.

Harris, A., & Carter, M. R. (2021). Applied creativity and the arts. Curriculum Perspectives, 41(1), 107-112.

MacDonald, A., Wise, K., Tregloan, K., Fountain, W., Wallis, L., & Holmstrom, N. (2020). Designing STEAM education: Fostering relationality through design‐led disruption. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 39(1), 227-241.

National Advocates for Arts Education (2019). More than words can say: A view of literacy through the Arts (Second Edition)

Rigney, L., Garrett, R., Curry, M., & MacGill, B. (2020). Culturally responsive pedagogy and mathematics through creative and body-based learning: Urban Aboriginal schooling. Education and Urban Society, 52(8), 1159-1180.

Riley, L. (2021). The use of Aboriginal cultural traditions in art. Curriculum Perspectives, 41(1), 85-92.

Rowlands, K. (2022). Investigating teachers’ experiences implementing the Australian dance curriculum in a primary school. In D. Price, J. Meiners & A. Kipling Brown (Eds.), Proceedings of Panpapanpalya 2018, the 2nd Joint Congress of Dance and the Child International and World Dance Alliance Global Education and Training Network. Adelaide, Australia, 8 –13 July 2018. pp. 206-216.  http://ausdance.org

Rowlands, K., MacGill, B., & Meiners, J. (2022). First Nations Dance in the School Curriculum: Perspectives from an Australian University. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 23(1).1-23. 

Winston, J., & Stinson, M. (Eds.). (2016). Drama education and second language learning. Routledge.

White, P. J., Raphael, J., & Van Cuylenburg, K. (Eds.). (2021). Science and drama: Contemporary and creative approaches to teaching and learning. Springer.

Arts teacher education and professional learning

Arts educators benefit from high quality initial teacher education programs and sustained arts specific professional learning opportunities at every career stage. However, research indicates there are issues related to maintaining arts teacher education programs and professional learning in Australia.

The National Cultural Policy Revive describes how training assists the capacity of creative and cultural industries through the development of future audiences for arts and cultural experiences. The same can be said for arts educators. A range of research has scoped the nature of effective training and professional learning programs for arts educators. 

Barton, G., Baguley, M., & MacDonald, A. (2013). Seeing the bigger picture: investigating the state of the arts in teacher education programs in Australia. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(7), 75-90.

Bautista, A., Yeung, J., Mclaren, M. L., & Ilari, B. (2022). Music in early childhood teacher education: Raising awareness of a worrisome reality and proposing strategies to move forward. Arts Education Policy Review, 1-11.

Burke, K., Baker, W., & Hobdell, G. (2023). Getting hands-on: Praxis-focused assessment to enhance online arts teacher education. Distance Education, 44(2), 213-229.

Cutcher, A., & Cook, P. (2016). One must also be an artist: Online delivery of teacher education. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 17(13).

Davis, S. (2017). Drama and arts-based professional learning: Exploring face-to-face, online and transmedia models. Teaching Education, 28(4), 333-348.

Garvis, S., Twigg, D., & Pendergast, D. (2011). Breaking the negative cycle: The formation of self-efficacy beliefs in the arts. A focus on professional experience in pre-service teacher education. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(2), 36-41.

Harris, A., & de Bruin, L. R. (2018). Training teachers for twenty-first century creative and critical thinking: Australian implications from an international study. Teaching Education, 29(3), 234-250.

Herro, D., & Quigley, C. (2017). Exploring teachers’ perceptions of STEAM teaching through professional development: Implications for teacher educators. Professional Development in Education, 43(3), 416-438.

Hunter, M. A., Baker, W., & Nailon, D. (2014). Generating cultural capital? Impacts of artists-in-residence on teacher professional learning. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(6), 75-88.

Oreck, B. (2004). The artistic and professional development of teachers: A study of teachers’ attitudes toward and use of the arts in teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 55(1), 55-69.

Selkrig, M., Wright, S., Hannigan, S., Burke, G., & Grenfell, J. (2022). Art educators’ professional learning: Reflecting together to consider ontologies of quality in our praxis. Teaching in Higher Education, 27(5), 663-677.

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