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

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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.