Visual Art Education in New Zealand

Mr. Jeff Lockhart

Good morning .  Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you about Visual Art Education in New Zealand.  My background as an Art teacher, as an advisor to schools and, more recently, as the National Advisor to Secondary schools in New Zealand has given me a clear insight into the workings of the curriculum.  I have experienced the curriculum both as an educator and as an advisor with the Ministry of Education.

The New Zealand Education system is guided by seven curriculum documents.

§          Science

§          Health and Physical Wellbeing

§          Mathematics

§          Language and languages

§          Technology

§          Social Sciences

§          The Arts

Each curriculum area is given equal status and importance in the New Zealand Education system.

Each has its own Curriculum document, which is supported by the Ministry of Education to ensure it is delivered effectively and that it is being implemented in every school in the country.

The curriculum area of ‘The Arts’ is divided into the four Arts disciplines of Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Dance. A curriculum statement and philosophy covers general aspects that are shared by all of the Arts, but the document allows for specific, unique Achievement Objectives  to be described for each  of the disciplines of Visual Arts, Music, Dance and Drama.

The curriculum document for ‘The Arts’ states that, ‘The arts develop the artistic and aesthetic dimensions of human experience. They contribute to our intellectual ability and to our social, cultural, and spiritual understandings. They are an essential element of daily living and of lifelong learning.’

The great thing about this statement is that it guides teachers to think holistically about the importance of the Arts, not only in an educational setting, but in relation to a persons approach to life. The impact of an Arts education is more than a vocational possibility, but adds to the richness and diversity of individuals in society. As I will pick up on later, education in the Arts can also have a beneficial effect on an individuals ability to think creatively.  This type of thinking is readily transferable to other  curriculum areas , such as Science, Mathematics, etc. In my opinion it is in the Arts that such thinking can be nurtured and developed more than any other area.

The New Zealand Arts Curriculum reiterates the holistic usefulness of learning in the Arts by stating the following aims.

The Aims of the New Zealand Arts Curriculum are:

§          to enable students to develop literacies in dance, drama, music, and the visual arts;

§          to assist students to participate in and develop a lifelong interest in the arts;

§          to broaden understanding of and involvement in the arts in New Zealand.

Learning within each discipline is approached through four interrelated strands:

§          Developing Practical Knowledge in the Arts (PK)

§          Developing Ideas in the Arts (DI)

§          Communicating and Interpreting in the Arts (CI)

§          Understanding the Arts in Context (UC)

If a student was learning in the Visual Arts, for example, they would not only learn how to make art and to develop ideas, but they would also learn to communicate ideas and learn how to ‘read’ the art of other people, to understand what they are communicating to them.  Along with those three strands a student would develop an understanding of who made the artwork, why it was made, and the context in which it should be viewed and valued. 

Arts in the New Zealand curriculum encourage teachers to provide practical units of work for students to become involved in making art and by doing so have an opportunity to become artists or, for the majority of students, to become lifelong participants in the Arts as supporters and knowledgeable audiences.

Teachers incorporate the four strands into their arts programmes so theory and practice are combined. The strands are not taught in isolation, but are woven into a programme of work as is needed.

Students attend primary and secondary school for a total of 13years before continuing to tertiary education. From Year 1 to year 13 the Arts curriculum is divided into eight levels of complexity, where each of the strands (PK, DI, CI and UC) are covered in a slightly more involved way  as the students progress through their education.

The Ministry of Education in New Zealand supports the implementation of the Arts curriculum in many ways.  It provides written resources  which contain sample units of work and programme planning ideas.  Teachers also have access to posters and videos which can help them with planning and assessment.  A Ministry funded and run website www.tki.org.nz also contains many valuable resources.  Lastly, the Ministry also provides a number of  Advisors, at a National and Regional level (such as myself), who are available to help teachers in schools and who  coordinate the writing  and implementing of support material for teachers in all schools. This last human resource is often the most valuable for teachers as they can phone or email for support from a real person and get instant help.

How is Art taught in New Zealand Schools?

Using the Curriculum document as a guide, teachers are expected to plan and develop their own programmes of work to suit the specific needs of their students. Their planning must reflect the aims of curriculum. Planning must have clear learning outcomes, include a range of experiences and have clear assessment descriptors.  Each teacher in the primary school system is responsible for teaching their students across all curriculum areas, however in the secondary schools teachers with specialist art training will teach the art curriculum.

When planning programmes of Art education teachers are encouraged to keep their lessons as practical as possible. Students get to draw, paint, design, sculpt and print-make. In the senior school they also get to study photography and art history. If teachers don’t have access to a wide range of technology then the type of printmaking, or design, for  example, that they may investigate will be suited to the resources they have access to. Art Advisors and Ministry resources help teachers develop programmes and techniques that best suit the needs of their students.

Students are encouraged to look at established practice when learning about art making. They study the work of adult artists and try to incorporate some of their ideas into their own work. This might be a style of composition, a particular range of colours, or a particular technique for applying the paint. The units of work that teachers prepare for their students develop ideas that are relevant to them. For instance they may look at their students ethnic identity, or things from their life that interest them, for the motivation and source material for their work.

Students are encouraged to use drawing as a thinking process as much as possible. Drawing is a wide and varied thing and may include the use of graphite, collage, notes, sketches, models, computers and other things. The thinking process that drawing involves is related to creative, lateral thinking. Students are encouraged to develop their own ideas and their own solutions to problems, within the boundaries of the programme of work. This could be to compose a painting, or come up with a design solution. Both things would involve working ideas out through a drawing process to refine and resolve their thinking.

The last, but by no means least, important area that teachers consider when planning art programmes is how they will include ideas that value the Maori and Pasifika culture that is integral to New Zealand life. Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand and as such it is recognized that learning about Maori art and culture makes us more understanding and aware of the uniqueness of being a New Zealander in the world.

(At this point of the presentation Jeff showed and discussed a range of student work and work from adult artists that have been used by students as ‘artist models’.)

Assessment

During the last three years of education in New Zealand secondary schools students are encouraged to take part in a range of national examinations called NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement). NCEA  is offered at three levels finishing at level 3, just prior to students leaving to study at tertiary institutes.

The NCEA system provides the opportunity for national moderation and verification of grades. This means that students completing art in any school in New Zealand can be assured that the standard of their qualification is equal to any other students. The system allows for students work to be compared to other students work to decide if the standard is similar for everyone.

Feedback from the National Examiner is shared with all schools so that all teachers benefit form suggestions made. Accompanying the written report are photographs of successful student work. Sharing in this way helps teachers to develop better programmes and ideas for working with their own students.

(Jeff then showed and discussed a number of examples of student work from the NCEA examination)

Arts education is extremely important. It is this area of education, and student development, that builds spirit, that grows cultural awareness, that develops a sense of self and identity, and is a vehicle for personal expression. Art education is not just for future jobs or vocational opportunities.

The Arts are valuable for enhancing all areas of educational development. Education in the Arts will develop individuals, in all walks of life, who are creative thinkers, lateral thinkers and problem solvers.

The future of art education is exciting. We are being encouraged to develop a greater research base to inform teacher practice. We need to discover what makes the biggest difference to student achievement. This will be different for all students and teachers, but international cooperation in helping to discover these things would be beneficial for us all.  We can learn from each other. The Arts, after all provide us with international languages to communicate with.

Thank you.