How could expressive arts sessions relate to the four purposes of the curriculum (Donaldson, 2015)?

Donaldson (2015) introduced Successful Future report as a significant change in Wale’s curriculum. He recommended four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales, stating that all children and young people should be:

1. Ambitious, capable learners who are ready to learn throughout their lives.
2. Enterprising, creative contributors who are ready to play a full part in life and work.
3. Ethical informed citizens who are ready to be citizens of Wales and the world.
4. Healthy, confident individuals who are ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

He designed a new curriculum that meets the four purposes, including cross-curricular focus and organised by 6 areas of learning and experience instead of separately narrow subjects as at present. The six Areas of Learning and Experience are:

·         Expressive Arts

·         Health and Well-being

·         Humanities

·         Languages, Literacy and Communication

·         Mathematics and Numeracy

·         Science and Technology

It can be seen that the expressive arts will be one of six areas of learning and experience that will take the place of traditional subjects as Wales approves a radical overhaul of its curriculum for primary and secondary schools. In the report, Donaldson (2015) described the expressive arts as providing “opportunities to explore thinking, refine, and communicate ideas, engaging thinking, imagination and senses creatively”. This area of the curriculum will span the making, performance, expression and appreciation of art, drama, music, dance, film and digital media. The report anticipates it will provide “many opportunities” for students to visit theatres and galleries, and provide an incentive to bring artists and musicians into the classroom Donaldson (Richens, 2015). In Expressive Arts, it is intended that pupils will develop their creative appreciation and talent, and their artistic and performance skills. They will have opportunities to explore thinking and refine and communicate ideas through creatively using their imagination and senses (Dauncey, 2015)

There is a connection between Expressive Arts with other Areas of Learning and Experience.

Through the Expressive Arts, children and young people can be encouraged to develop their imagination, their creative appreciation and talent, and their artistic and performance skills (Meehan, 2015). As a result, it helps to promote children’s mental health and well-being.  They can have opportunities to communicate not only via verbal language but also their body, their minds, their emotions expressing through pictures, colours, music and dances. Also, they use a lot of modern technologies in arts in a creative way, for example, the lights, the filmmaking apps and digital music, etc. It is believed that all of the outcomes from different areas of learning and experience will support each other, helping the individual become more talent and confident in different aspects. Moreover, achievement in the expressive arts also provides a basis for lifelong participation and can ultimately contribute to a thriving economy and cultural life for Wales.

In illustration, Expressive arts can contribute to all four purposes of the curriculum:

•           It encourages children to explore new and challenging things and to strive to improve their own performance, becoming ambitious, capable learners

•           It develops children’s creativity in a range of forms of expression; providing rich contexts and challenges so that they can work collaboratively, learning from critical appraisal of their work, becoming enterprising and creative contributors

•           It enables children to understand their own cultural identity and those of societies in other places and at other times through a lot of sources from music and history, helps them become ethical, informed citizens

•           It helps children to develop resilience and feel more confident as they gain enjoyment and personal satisfaction from creative expression; contributing directly to enriching the quality of their lives, becoming healthy and confident individuals

Successful Future Report is one of the most exciting issues in education in Wales at the present. Government and educators are in the process of developing a better curriculum that aims to create a successful and exciting future for all the children and young people of Wales.

References

Donaldson, G. (2015) Successful Futures: Independent Review of Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements in Wales.

Richens, F. (2015) Wales to put arts at the heart of the curriculum. Available at: https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/wales-put-arts-heart-curriculum (Accessed: 17/4/2018)

Dauncey, M. (2015) Donaldson Review: The ‘purposes’ and content of a Curriculum for Wales. Available at: https://seneddresearch.blog/2015/03/17/donaldson-review-the-purposes-and-content-of-a-curriculum-for-wales/ (Accessed: 17/4/2018)

Meehan, J. (2015) The Expressive Arts are proposed as one of six areas of ‘learning and experience’ in Professor Donaldson’s Review of the Education Curriculum in Wales. Available at: https://www.conwyartsandmusic.org.uk/en/updates/2015-03-03-the-expressive-arts-are-proposed-as-one-of-six-areas-of-learning-and-experience-in-professor-donaldsons-review-of-the-education-curriculum-in-wales (Accessed: 17/4/2018)

What is the value of the Welsh language in primary education?

Welsh language

Being spoken in some form for 4,000 years and a resurgence in the last century, today the Welsh language is in decline once more. There are some reports stated that the world will lose 90% of world languages and dialects by 2100, with a shrinking world and more connectivity at the beginning of the 21st Century, this may not be liked but understandable. By 2017, in Wales, there is 11% of people who say they can speak Welsh fluently, that is 310,600 people; 23% people who say they can speak some Welsh, including a big increase in the number of younger people saying this. The number of Welsh-medium primary schools in Wales is 420. There are also 49 Welsh-medium secondary schools. They teach 100,000 pupils. In Cardiff, three new primary schools are being built to cope with the growing demand for Welsh medium education. There is also a big debate about Welsh language, 52% of people agree that “more should be done to preserve Welsh as a living language” while 20% disagree, including 16% of people think “Welsh is a nuisance and Wales would be better off without it” (Wales Online, 2017). Meredydd Evans, professor of philosophy, writer, and performer has long been an advocate for the Welsh language.

In this 2008 interview, he discusses how language is an inseparable part of cultural identity, he said “"You make sense of your life in the terms of your language and your cultural identity"

Welsh language in primary education

According to the 2007 guidance, primary schools fall into the following categories: Welsh-medium; Dual stream; Transitional: Welsh-medium with significant use of English; Predominantly English-medium, with significant use of Welsh; English-medium. Recently, the Welsh Government set a target of increasing the number of Welsh speakers to 1 million by 2050 (Jones, 2017). The Welsh Government considers Welsh-medium education to be central in achieving this target. At the moment, in South-East Wales, parents choose whether to send their children to a Welsh-medium or an English-medium school. Existing studies have shown how perceptions regarding the cultural, educational and economic value of the Welsh language influence parents when making this decision. Parents who choose Welsh-medium education consider that the Welsh language will be beneficial to their children, while parents opting for English-medium education may have concerns regarding Welsh-medium education and/or may have less positive perceptions about the value of the Welsh language. It is said that parents tend to send their children to schools where their children will have classmates from similar social backgrounds (Packer and Campbell, 2000) and that parents are discouraged from sending their children to Welsh-medium schools because they fear their children will be ostracised for attending a school that is different to the school that most of the children in their neighbourhood attend. On the other hand, parents, from higher socio-economic backgrounds, may choose to send their children to schools which they believe have middle-class intakes because they believe it will beneficial for their children’s education and will prevent their children from ending up in the ‘wrong groups’ (Gewirtz et al, 1995).

In 2013, John Osmond opens up a debate on the teaching of the language in English-medium schools. He stated “We bring up our children to speak Welsh, not for the sake of the language, but for the sake of our children. And not in the main for them to enjoy literature – however unreasonably superb that literature may be, considering we are such a small tribe. To many of us, the Welsh language has become a symbol of things more important than language even, and that may be our salvation. Welsh has come to symbolize neighbourliness, brotherhood and equality. More fundamentally, every minority language symbolizes the right to think in a different way, to express that difference and to be different and free – to use a phrase of Ivan Illich, ‘a domain on which a certain kind of power cannot trespass”. The report’s main recommendation, that Welsh should have the same status as other core subjects like Maths and English, has already proved controversial.

Future of Welsh language

The Welsh government has been done a lot of strategy in order to promote and facilitate the use of Welsh language in everyday life. For example, although A living language: a language for living - Welsh language strategy was due to come to an end on 31 March 2017, on 6 April 2017, Alun Davies, Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language, informed Assembly Members that the work of drafting a long-term Welsh language strategy was ongoing and that the intention was to publish it in the summer of 2017. The new draft strategy sets out the long-term vision which spans over a period between 2017 and 2050 with the ambition to reach a million Welsh speakers by 2050. The vision is to see the Welsh language thriving in Wales. To achieve that, the strategy aims to see an increase in the number of people who both speak and use the language in daily life (Welsh Government, 2017). Also, Donaldson (2015) in his Successful Future report, emphasised the importance of Welsh language, that pupils should see it as a modern way to communicate not just something to study. Following the Education Reform Act 1988, Welsh became compulsory for every pupil at Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 in 1990. From September 1999, compulsion was extended to Key Stage 4. Recently, The Welsh Language Development Area of Learning in the Foundation Phase for 3 to 7-year-olds has also meant that children in English-medium settings and schools start to learn the Welsh language from the age of three. More recently, “the Welsh Government has shown its commitment to developing Wales as a bilingual nation through its Welsh Language Strategy” (Donaldson, 2015, p. 58)

Conclusion

Though the Welsh language has not seen much growth in recent years, the conditions are in place to allow for greater use in the coming years and decades (Click on Wales, 2016). There is support for the language amongst the public and Governments. There is legislation and infrastructure to support the use of Welsh. With robust measures, careful planning, proper investment and effective implementation, there is no reason why the Welsh language should not flourish and become a completely natural part of everyday life, in all parts of the country.

References

Wales Online (2017) The Welsh language is a living, breathing, beautiful thing - not fodder for an ugly and tedious debate. Available at: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-language-living-breathing-beautiful-13574718 (Accessed: 17/4/2018)

Jones, S. L. (2017) Welsh or English-medium schooling - how parents make their choice in South-East Wales. Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods. Available at: https://wiserd.ac.uk/news/welsh-or-english-medium-schooling-how-parents-make-their-choice-south-east-wales (Accessed: 17/4/2018)

Click on Wales (2013) Teaching Welsh for the sake of our children. Available at: http://www.iwa.wales/click/2013/10/teaching-welsh-for-the-sake-of-our-children/ (Accessed: 17/4/2018)

Click on Wales (2016) The position of the Welsh language – challenges and opportunities. Available at: http://www.iwa.wales/click/2016/09/position-welsh-language-challenges-opportunities/ (Accessed: 17/4/2018)

Welsh Government (2017) A living language: a language for living - Welsh language strategy 2012 to 2017. Available at: http://gov.wales/topics/welshlanguage/welsh-language-strategy-and-policies/welsh-language-policies-upto-2017/a-living-language-a-language-for-living-strategy-2012-2017/?lang=en (Accessed: 17/4/2018)

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How could expressive arts sessions relate to the four purposes of the curriculum?

This blog post will be exploring how expressive arts sessions relate to the four purposes of the new curriculum, as proposed by Professor Donaldson which will be fully implemented in Wales by 2020. This blog will aim to explore what expressive arts and creativity are, and how this new Area of Learning and Experience will contribute to all of the purposes of the curriculum. 

To begin, expressive arts could be “taken to include the making, performance, expression or appreciation of one or more of the following art forms: music; drama; dance; film and digital media; visual arts and design; literature and creative writing” (Smith, 2013, p. 5). “Learners should be able to use and appreciate various forms of expressive arts so that they can communicate their ideas and feelings, which enrich their lives through developing self-expression and empathy with and for others” (Welsh Government, 2018, p.4). Expressive arts can provide opportunities to explore thinking, refine, and communicate ideas, engaging thinking, imagination and senses creatively. They also promote exploration of issues of personal and cultural identity (Donaldson, 2015, p.43). The expressive arts provide inspiration and motivation as they bring children and young people into contact with the creative processes, performances and products of others and stimulate their own experimentation and creativity. 

Expressive arts can provide many opportunities for experiences such as visits to theatres and galleries and for bringing the specialist expertise of, for example, artists and musicians into the classroom (Donaldson, 2015, p.43). Furthermore, in a 2012 report, Estyn suggested that “effective schools organise trips to places and events to which learners might not otherwise go, such as museums, and orchestral and theatrical performances. Many of these successful schools invite a variety of visitors to school, including artists, poets and authors, to enhance learners’ learning experiences. These experiences raise learners’ self-esteem by developing their ability to express their ideas and feelings. This has had a positive impact on learners’ academic outcomes” (Estyn 2012, p.23).

Achievement in the expressive arts provides a basis for lifelong participation and can ultimately contribute to a thriving economy and cultural life for Wales (Donaldson, 2015, p. 44). Similarly to this, creativity has been described as “essential to the success and fulfilment of young people, to the vitality of our communities and to the long-term health of the economy” (Smith, 2013, p.12). Sir Ken Robinson in 2013 suggested that everyone has creative capacities; creativity is possible in whatever you do, and it can require great discipline and many different skills. “Primary education in the UK has long been regarded as notable for its creative elements” (Wise and Ferrari, 2015. p.31). And in this twenty-first century, schooling will increasingly become the basis of a creative society, of a creative economy and a creative culture. Creativity, or being open to the acquisition of new knowledge and innovative skills, will shape our world like no other force imaginable. It is, in essence, the basis of life-long learning, and that begins in our schools (Smith, 2013, p.6). As a result of this, expressive arts is becoming increasingly important and will be a major part of the new Welsh curriculum, as it is one of the six Areas of Learning and Experience. From this, schools and teachers can encourage children and young people to develop their creative appreciation and talent and their artistic and performance skills.

Professor Donaldson introduced four purposes of the new Welsh curriculum, which should be that children and young people develop as:

• ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives, 
• enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
• ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world
• healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society (Donaldson, 2015, p. 29). 

The Expressive arts Area of Learning and Experience can contribute to all four purposes of the curriculum. To begin, expressive arts will encourage pupils to explore new and challenging areas of experience and to strive to improve their performance. Also, “by communicating effectively in different forms and settings, fostering curiosity and challenging themselves to take creative risks and critically evaluate, learners will develop resilience and gain confidence to make connections and apply skills and knowledge in different contexts to become ambitious capable learners who are ready to learn throughout their lives” (Welsh Government, 2018, p.3).

In addition, for children to become enterprising, creative contributors, expressive arts will allow them to develop their creativity in a range of forms of expression; providing rich contexts and challenges within which they can work collaboratively, learning from critical appraisal of their work. Expressive arts will allow children to “empower themselves to take measured risks and grasp opportunities so that they are ready to play a full part in life and work” (Welsh Government, 2018, p.3). To provide further illustration on this, during a university seminar I had the opportunity to facilitate year five pupil’s in an activity which involved the ‘Spring Equinox’, which marks the start of spring and a time for new beginnings, birth and fresh starts. Our activity consisted of providing the pupils with words in relation to this topic, such as ‘spring, seasons, celebration, beginning and Earth’, and it was their role to get into groups and decide their own meanings of the words and express themselves by putting together a sequence of movements and sounds to perform to the rest of the group. The pupils’ response was excellent and they were very creative and each group thought of different ideas. This activity also provided some pupils with a confidence boost, as they did not originally want to perform infront of their class, however, with some encouragement from their peers, they felt a sense of achievement after they had performed. 

During these activities, the children were also able to relate to another purpose of the curriculum by being “ethical, informed citizens, who are ready to be citizens of Wales and the world” (Donaldson, 2015, p.29), they achieved this by “understanding and respecting the responses and interpretations of others” as they openly shared their ideas with each other and also by "appreciating the impact of their own interactions” (Welsh Government, 2018).

This specific activity also relates to another purpose of the curriculum, through understanding and respecting the responses and interpretations of others, learners will appreciate the impact of their own interactions, becoming ethical, informed citizens who are ready to be citizens of Wales and the world (Welsh Government, 2018, p.4). Pupils also engage with a range of art forms that span time, place and culture. 

Finally, children will be healthy, confident individuals ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society by using expressive arts to help them to develop resilience and feel more confident as they gain enjoyment and personal satisfaction from creative expression; contributing directly to enriching the quality of their lives (Donaldson, 2015, p. 44). 

To conclude, this blog post has explored how expressive arts sessions can relate to the four purposes of the new Welsh curriculum by defining expressive arts and providing discussion on the benefits of this new Area of Learning and Experience. It has also discussed the increasing importance of expression and creativity within primary education and in everyday life. And finally, the expressive arts area of learning and experience has been directly linked with the four purposes of the curriculum. 

References

Donaldson, G. (2015) Successful Futures: Independent Review of Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements in Wales.

Estyn (2012) Effective practice in tackling poverty and disadvantage in schools.

Smith, D (2013) An independent report for the Welsh Government into Arts in Education in the Schools of Wales Arts Council of Wales. 

Welsh Government (2018) Expressive Arts AoLE. Available at: http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/180131-expressive-arts-en.pdf. Accessed: 16/04/18.

Wise, D. & Ferrari, A. (2015) British Educational Research Journal ‘Creativity and education: comparing the national curricula of the states of the European Union and the United Kingdom’ DOI: 10.1002. 

How can science and technology activities be made engaging and relevant in primary education?

How Technology enhances teaching and learning science?

“Science teaching is such a complex, dynamic profession that it is difficult for a teacher to stay up-to-date. For a teacher to grow professionally and become better as a teacher of science, a special, continuous effort is required” (Showalter, 1984, p. 21). Teaching science has been emphasized in a lot of documents from worldwide organisations such as American Association for the Advancement of Science (1993), National Research Council (1996, 2000). Also, The National Science Education Standards (NSES) encouraged teachers to apply “a variety of technologies, such as hand tools, measuring instruments, and calculators [as] an integral component of scientific investigations” to support student inquiry. The use of technology tools in science classrooms allows students to work as scientists (Novak & Krajick, 2006).  However, it is not easy. Science teachers experience various constraints, such as lack of time, equipment, pedagogical content knowledge, and pedagogical skills in implementing reform-based teaching strategies (Crawford, 1999, 2000; Roehrig & Luft, 2004, 2006). In the 21^st century, educational technology tools such as computers, tablets, data collection and analysis software, digital microscopes, student response systems, and interactive whiteboards can support teachers a lot in effective teaching, also helping students actively engage in the acquisition of scientific knowledge. When educational technology tools are used appropriately and effectively in science classrooms, students actively engage in their knowledge construction and improve their thinking and problem-solving skills (Trowbridge, Bybee, & Powell, 2008). Moreover, the use of technology helps students transfer their existing knowledge to new situations by strengthening the connection among the independent piles of knowledge in their minds, and includes them in the teaching process (Novak and Krajick, 2006)

Organisation in class 

This video considers different organisational strategies for teaching science in the primary classroom.  These include managing whole class introductions and practical investigations as well as different types of group work.  Advantages and disadvantages of each organisation are presented.  Practitioners are encouraged to think about how to choose the most appropriate strategy. Also, the video particularly focuses on the need for organisation before a lesson and how the teacher might optimise the learning and assessment of the children during the activities.  Especially, the video is illustrated with a variety of classroom examples.

There are two main types of organisation

1: Whole Class - Introduction, practical activity, sharing science books, demonstration, drawing the lesson together

2: Group Work - Groups doing different practical activities, one group only doing one science activity

In general, practitioners should think about how to make the lesson relevant and stimulating. It is necessary to ask these questions “What needs to be done before the lesson?”, “What equipment is available?”, “How can it be organised?” and “What will you do in the lesson?”. To choose the organisation, it depends on what teachers want the children to learn, what experience that the class already have, how much time will be spent, what equipment and materials available

Technology and Science activities

Teachers now can explain a scientific issue by presenting image and video on screen. By doing that, students can easily understand what it is and how it works and can remember that knowledge for a long time without forcing them to learn. Moreover, it is necessary to let children do their own experiments by providing them basic tools and materials to do that. Some teachers may think it is not good for children to just stare at a screen for hours. There are some activities for primary children that allow them to use technology, but in a safer way. For example, make a stop action film: Children can make a plan together, taking photos, and making a movie about a circle life of a plan or an animal or printing out QR Codes to scan and get clues to find out the hidden objects.

Also, teachers can work together, sharing their experiences in order to get a better teaching. A lot of interesting science activities can be found on the internet, from a scientific website or educational organisations. It can help teachers a lot on creating ideas inthe teaching career.

Conclusion

Technology and Science area “capitalises on children and young people’s curiosity about our natural, physical world and universe though investigating, understanding, and explaining. They learn to generate and test ideas, gather evidence, make observations, carry out practical investigations, and communicate with others. They also learn how through computer science, the horizons of what is possible can be extended beyond our current imagination” (Donaldson, 2015, p.50). “Children and young people will also have opportunities to learn how technology is used to design products that improve the quality of human life and to apply their scientific and other knowledge to practical purposes and challenges. For schools, this means providing children and young people with rich opportunities to develop technological skills, knowledge, understanding and attributes through designing and developing products and systems. They will be able to explore the impact of technology on society and the environment” (Donaldson, 2015, p.50)

References

Novak, A. M., and Krajick, J. S. (2006) Scientific Inquiry and Nature of Science. Implications for Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education. Science & Technology Education Library, 25.

American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993). Benchmarks for scientific literacy. New York: Oxford University Press.

Showalter, V. M. (Eds.). (1984). Conditions for good science teaching. Washington, DC: National Science Teachers Association.

National Research Council. (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

National Research Council. (2000). Inquiry and the national science education standards.   Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Crawford, B. A. (1999). Is it realistic to expect a preservice teacher to create an inquiry-based classroom? Journal of Science Teacher Education, 10, 175-194.

Crawford, B. A. (2000). Embracing the essence of inquiry: New roles for science teachers. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37(9), 916-937.

Roehrig, G., & Luft, J. A. (2004). Constraints experienced by beginning secondary science teachers in implementing scientific inquiry lessons. International Journal of Science  Education, 23, 3-24.

Roehrig, G., & Luft, J. A. (2006). Does one size fit all?: The induction experience of beginning science teachers from different teacher preparation programs. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 43(9), 963-985.

Trowbridge, L. W., Bybee, R. W., & Powell, J. C. (2008). Teaching secondary school science: Strategies for developing scientific literacy (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

How can physical education be used to promote well-being in primary education?

Over the last decade, the issue of children’s well-being has been discussed a lot among educators and governments all over the world. In the UK, legislation such as Every Child Matters (DfES, 2004) and The Children’s Plan (DCSF, 2007) have aimed to improve outcomes for children’s well-being and to make this country become the best place for children and young people to grow up. Well-being is a complex concept and somehow hard to define (Morton, 2014). However, there is a broad agreement that well-being refers to the quality of people’s lives (Deiner, 2009; Statham and Chase, 2010).  It is about how well we are, and how our lives are going.

In a rapidly changing world, people are neglecting their health, their communication skills, their capacity to concentrate, their commitments and their general apathy towards global issues. Therefore, promoting children’s well-being is a core concern, not only for parents and practitioners but also for everyone. According to Young Minds (2017), there is 1 in 10 children have a diagnosable mental health disorder – that’s roughly 3 children in every classroom; 1 in 5 young adults have a diagnosable mental health disorder; Half of all mental health problems manifest by the age of 14, with 75% by age 24; Almost 1 in 4 children and young people show some evidence of mental ill health (including anxiety and depression); Suicide is the most common cause of death for boys aged between 5-19 years, and the second most common for girls of this age; 1 in 12 young people self-harm at some point in their lives, though there is evidence that this could be a lot higher. Girls are more likely to self-harm than boys.

In order to promote well-being in children, especially children from primary school sector, it is necessary to pay attention to Physical Education (PE). There are several reasons explaining why quality primary PE is critical (UKEdChat, 2015). Firstly, PE provides children with opportunities to improve fitness and be active to counter societal trends towards obesity and increased sedentary behaviours. Secondly, PE impacts positively on learning and behaviour in the classroom. Thirdly, PE helps children to improve social skills and allows some children an opportunity to experience success in a unique learning environment. The teachers in a study (Morgan and Hansen, 2008) believed their programmes were only somewhat successful in achieving outcomes relating to physical activity, self-esteem, motor skills and fitness.

Although PE has a lot of benefits, especially for children’s well-being, PE seem still treated as an optional subject (The Guardian, 2018). For example, in one London borough, primary schools reeling from the effects of savage cuts and under pressure to achieve exam results cut PE lessons for two whole terms so that pupils could focus on preparing for their SATs. In 2013, Ofsted publishes 'Beyond 2012 – outstanding physical education for all' report, showing that one fifth of primary schools did not ensure that all pupils could swim before they left school; only a minority of schools play competitive sport to a high level; outstanding PE was found in twice as many secondary schools as primary; many primary school teachers lacked specialist knowledge of the teaching of PE; and most schools provided at least two hours of PE each week for pupils between the ages of 5 to 14. Also, the report suggested some steps in order to use PE in a better effective way. Firstly, The Department for Education should build on the improvements made to PE and harness the interest and momentum generated by the 2012 London Games by devising and implementing a new national strategy for PE and school sport. Secondly, the Department for Education should ensure that those responsible for the initial training of primary teachers should provide them with sufficient subject knowledge to enable them to teach PE well. Thirdly, teachers should improve pupils’ fitness by keeping them physically active throughout all lessons and engaging them in regular, high-intensity vigorous activity or sustained periods of time. Finally, teachers should raise their expectations of where more able pupils are capable of achieving and provide them with challenging, competitive activities that lead to high standards of performance.

In this film researchers from the University of Southern Denmark discussed how to help school children who are insecure about sports and their own body. Researchers emphasised the importance of PE in children’s development as well as their well-being. They figured out that there were a small group of children who did not do much exercise and tried to find out how to make them exercise more, helping them to be not insecure about physical activities as well as anything in the world.

Evans and Rich (2011, p. 375) stated “How school-based body pedagogies mediate, categorise and select on the basis of health discourse which has its referent a normative vision of the ideal body (its shape, acceptable physical activity and healthy eating) should, therefore, become more than just our passing concern”. It is believed that PE and schools, in general, are responsible for the selection and transmission of health messages. Also, Donaldson (2015) suggested in his report that Health and Well-being should be one of the six areas of learning. This Area of Learning and Experience draws on subjects and themes from PE, mental, physical and emotional well-being, sex and relationships, parenting, healthy eating and cooking, substance misuse, work-related learning and experience, and learning for life. It is also concerned with how the school environment supports children and young people’s social, emotional, spiritual and physical health and well-being through, for example, its climate and relationships, the food it provides, its joint working with other relevant services such as health and social work, and the access it provides to physical activity (Donaldson, 2015, p. 45). It is believed that by 2021, PE in the future will be paid more attention and. Students will be given more opportunities to take part in competitive sports. Children and young people will engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity 60 minutes per day and 5 times a week instead of 2 hours a week as current curriculum.

Children should be as active as possible, and, adults should encourage them to become more involved in sport and PE classes (interview, cited in Green and Thurston, 2002). Early childhood practice needs to understand and acknowledge the primacy of movement and physical activity for children’s well-being and to consider that there are very real risks to children’s emotional, social and cognitive development if PE classes are disregarded.

References

Diener, E. (2009) Subjective well-being. The Science of Well-being, 11-58.

Statham, J. and Chase, E. (2010) Childhood Wellbeing: A Brief Overview. Briefing Paper One.  Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre

UKEdChat (2015) 5 Reasons why PE is so important within primary schools by @Trainingtoteach. Available at: https://ukedchat.com/2015/11/29/5-reasons-why-pe-is-so-important-within-primary-schools-by-trainingtoteach/ (Accessed: 17/04/2018)

The Guardian (2018) Cutting PE lessons to boost exam results is madness – especially as we now know physical activity aids academic performance. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/22/exercise-schools-pe-lessons-exams (Accessed: 17/04/2018)

Morgan, P. J. and Hansen, V. (2008) Physical education in primary schools: Classroom teachers' perceptions of benefits and outcomes. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0017896908094637 (Accessed: 17/04/2018)

Ofsted (2013) Not enough physical in physical education. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/not-enough-physical-in-physical-education (Accessed: 17/04/2018)

Evans, J. and Rich, E. (2011) Body policies and body pedagogies: every child matters in totally pedagogies schools? Journal of Education Policy, 26(3), 361-379.

Green, K. and Thurston, M. (2002) Physical Education and Health Promotion: A Quantitative Study of Teacher’s Perceptions, Health Education, 102(3), 113-123.

Donaldson, G. (2015) Successful Futures: Independent review of curriculum and assessment

arrangements in Wales, retrieved:http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/150225-successful-Futures-en.pdf

How could expressive arts relate to the four purposes of the curriculum (Donaldson, 2015)?

During this blog post I will be explaining how expressive arts sessions can achieve Donaldson’s four purposes of the curriculum (Donaldson, 2015), whilst enriching children’s experiences, facilitating their learning and allowing them to lead their own activities. Examples of my own practical experiences will be used throughout, to demonstrate how being creative and imaginative promotes a deeper understanding. During my time in primary education, expression was a rare matter that would be overlooked due to ‘more important’ subjects however, during my time at university I have realised that expressive arts is more than having fun, it can help children express themselves through being imaginative and creative, whilst improving their physical fine motor skills, as well as their social, emotional and intellectual development (Welsh Government, 2018), which are essential for a child to flourish.

According to Lev-Wiesel (2015), ‘expressive arts’ aims to integrate the body and the mind whilst engaging “physiological sensations, emotions, and cognitions; verbal and non-verbal narration and expressions, for improving people's psychological and social well-being” (Lusebrink, Mārtinsone and Dzilna-Šilova, 2012). Expressive arts can consist of creating, observing, reflecting and producing meaning of our experiences (Malchiodi, 2005; Sowden et al., 2015), it is important that children recognise their feelings and emotions and the triggers that activate them as expression is “imperative” and  “life is rarely limited to a specific mode of expression” (McNiff, 1981). “An implicit assumption appears to be that knowledge should come before creativity” (Sowden et al., 2015) and therefore in recent years it has unfortunately been “neglected in reading and writing as part of the language group of subjects” (Wyse and Ferrari, 2015) however, the importance of creativity as part of primary education is being increasingly recognised due to the benefits of “experiential learning through the use of the expressive arts” (Wyse and Ferrari, 2015) including; improving self-awareness (Turry, 2001), self-care and stress reduction (Deaver and Shiflett, 2011).

With regards to Donaldson’s ‘Successful Futures’ report, ‘Expressive Arts’ has been introduced as one of the areas of learning and experience four purposes of the national curriculum and creativity is a necessary skill in expressive arts to develop for connections to be made between old and new ideas, then utilising those ideas and turning them into something practical and valuable. This idea resonates with National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education report (1999, p. 30), as they express creativity as “imaginative activity, fashioned to produce outcomes that are both original and of value”. Although Duffy (2006, p.16) suggests that defining creativity can “restrict creativity to being only related to the arts e.g. painting, music.”, Duffy also proposes that some definitions of ‘creativity’ may “include stereotypical ideas…that certain groups of people are naturally creative” (2006, p.16) but Schrift (2014) wants to break the stigma and proposes that “if you train yourself, and there are different methods for doing this, you can become more creative”. By contributing creatively within education, “learners will express ideas and emotions through different media in order to improve the everyday lives of themselves and others; develop the confidence and understanding in their own learning” (Welsh Government, 2018), “so that they are ready to play a full part in life and work” (Donaldson, 2015), which relates back to one of the four purposes of the curriculum.  

The second purpose of the curriculum is “to become healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society” (Donaldson, 2015, p.29) and this can be achieved through “participating in various expressive arts performances and experiences, developing technical skills and personal competences including self-awareness and collaboration which foster fun and enjoyment”. During a university seminar, we had the opportunity to facilitate year five pupil’s in an activity which involved the ‘Spring Equinox’, to teach the children about what the ‘Spring Equinox’ entailed, we gave them key words and concepts regarding it. The children then had to get into groups and decide what each of the words meant to them, they then had to express themselves through the art of movements, sounds and perform sequences that best described the words that they chose. The children really engaged with this activity and came up with excellent ideas and interpretations, they also gained confidence as some of the children did not want to perform however, once they did, they felt a sense of pride and achievement and that is an important trait in children who will grow up to be “valued members of society” (Donaldson, 2015, p.29). During these activities, the children were also able to relate to another purpose of the curriculum by being “ethical, informed citizens, who are ready to be citizens of Wales and the world” (Donaldson, 2015, p.29), they achieved this by “understanding and respecting the responses and interpretations of others” as they openly shared their ideas with each other and also by "appreciating the impact of their own interactions” (Welsh Government, 2018).

Mindfulness-based activities are also excellent ways to allow children to express themselves, mindfulness is essentially “a potential tool for self-development” (Mars and Oliver, 2016), which focuses on the “here and now” and being “aware of ourselves, our capacity for gratitude” and “how we interact with others” (Mars and Oliver, 2016), it is also a way of staying open-minded and “paying attention: on purpose, in the present moment and non‐judgementally to whatever arises in the field of your experience” (Ward, 2015). For children to develop the skills that are transferable to real-life situations, they need to by mindful or their own learning and emotions and communicate “effectively in different forms and settings, fostering curiosity and challenging themselves to take creative risks and critically evaluate” (Welsh Government, 2018). They will also develop the ability to think critically about the world around them, to allow them to solve problems (Grabinger and Dunlap, 1995), as their “learning experiences should mirror the complexities and ambiguities of real life” (Pearce, 2016) and in turn, students’ will “gain confidence to make connections and apply skills and knowledge in different contexts” (Welsh Government, 2018) and become “ambitious, capable learners, who are ready to learn throughout their lives” (Donaldson, 2015, p.29).

In conclusion, the learners develop many skills through the art of expression such as; self-awareness, confidence, resilience, reflection and exploration. They achieve these through leading their own learning and following their own interests and ideas whilst taking other ideas into consideration, being respectful and mindful of the world around them and participating in activities which challenge them, yet gain a sense of fun, pride and fulfilment. All four purposes of Donaldson’s (2015) curriculum are met through engaging activities like mindfulness, expressive sequences and understanding and interpreting key concepts, all involving developmental skills which will enable the children to become ambitious, confident, ethical and creative individuals (Donaldson, 2015, p.29).  

Discussing with the pupils how they would like to
interpret the key words from the 'Spring Equinox' activity.

Observing the children working together and listening
to each others ideas and interpretations. 

This video demonstrates the fun and engagement from the year 5's performance and the support that was given from their peers.

References

Deaver, S.P. and Shiflett, C., (2011). Art-based supervision techniques. The Clinical Supervisor, 30(2), pp.257-276.

Donaldson, G., (2015). Successful futures: Independent review of curriculum and assessment arrangements in Wales. Welsh Government.

Duffy, B (2006) Supporting creativity and imagination in the early years. 2nd Edn. Berkshire: Open University Press.

Grabinger, R.S. and Dunlap, J.C., (1995). Rich environments for active learning: A definition. ALT-J, 3(2), pp.5-34.

Lev-Wiesel, R. and Binson, B., (2017). Promoting personal growth through experiential learning: The case of Expressive Arts Therapy for Lecturers in Thailand. Frontiers in psychology, 8, p.2276.

Lev-Wiesel, R., (2015). Childhood sexual abuse: From conceptualization to treatment. Journal of Trauma & Treatment, 4(4), pp.2167-1222.

Lusebrink, V.B., Mārtinsone, K. and Dzilna-Šilova, I., (2013). The expressive therapies continuum (ETC): Interdisciplinary bases of the ETC. International Journal of Art Therapy, 18(2), pp.75-85.

Malchiodi, C. A. (2005). Expressive Therapies History, Theory, and Practice. Springfield, OH: Guilford Publications.

Mars, M. and Oliver, M., (2016). Mindfulness is more than a buzz word: Towards a sustainable model of health care. Journal of the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society, 22(1), p.7.

McNiff, S. (1981). The Arts and Psychotherapy. Springfield, IL: Thomas.

N.A.C.C.C.E. (1999). All our futures: creativity, culture and education. London: DfEE.

Pearce, S. (2016) 'e-Teaching-Management Strategies for the Classroom', Authentic 

Learning: What, Why and How?, Available at: http://www.acel.org.au/acel/ACEL_docs/Publications/e-Teaching/2016/e-Teaching_2016_10.pdf (Accessed: 16/04/2018).

Schrift, R. (2014) Can Creativity be taught?. Available at: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/can-creativity-be-taught/ (Accessed: 16/04/2018).

Sowden, P.T., Clements, L., Redlich, C. and Lewis, C., (2015). Improvisation facilitates divergent thinking and creativity: Realizing a benefit of primary school arts education. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 9(2), p.128.

Turry, A. (2001). “Supervision in Nordoff-Robbins music therapy training program,” in Music Therapy Supervision, ed M. Forinash (Gilsum, NH: Barcelona), 351–378.

Ward, S., (2015). What is Mindfulness?. TraderMind: Get a Mindful Edge in the Markets, pp.1-21.

Welsh Government (2018). Expressive Arts Aole. Available at: http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/schoolshome/curriculuminwales/curriculum-for-wales-curriculum-for-life/?lang=en (Accessed: 16/04/2018).

Wyse, D. and Ferrari, A., (2015). Creativity and education: Comparing the national curricula of the states of the European Union and the United Kingdom. British Educational Research Journal, 41(1), pp.30-47.