Why have an Expressive Arts specific AoLE?
Learning in expressive arts provides opportunities to explore, refine, and communicate ideas, engaging thinking, imagination and senses creatively in a world where anything is possible. Engagement with the expressive arts requires application, persistence and close attention to detail; capabilities that have benefits across learning. These are higher-order skills, much in demand by employers and essential for learners to become active twenty-first century citizens. Through the Expressive Arts area of learning and experience, learners will gain the confidence to grow their artistic voices and their unique identity and will explore ways to connect and communicate with others. This area of learning and experience provides opportunities to develop lifelong appreciation and enjoyment of, and participation in, expressive arts and cultural activities.
Response and Reflection
Through rich, authentic contexts - enhanced by working across areas of learning and experience - learners will enjoy numerous and diverse opportunities to create, explore and respond to the arts within their own and other cultures and experience enjoyment and enrichment in their lives whilst developing competencies and values which wil enable learners to embody the four purposes.
What competencies and values could the expressive arts develop in our learners?
Competencies - are things you've learnt through work, training or education, e.g. pirouette, photo editing
Values - are attributes which you might have and have used to benefit you in life and work, e.g. independence, determination
How will you plan to develop your school curriculum to ensure that these competencies and values are reflected in provision for all learners?
The activity can be undertaken independently or shared with others to discuss collaboratively by clicking on this link:
How can the Expressive Arts area of learning and experience support health and wellbeing?
The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that life has changed beyond all recognition often feeling strange, confusing and overwhelming. Looking after our health and wellbeing has never been so important. It is vital for everyone’s mental wellbeing to have an outlet to express emotions and many do this through the arts. Planning and developing a rich expressive arts curriculum provides a platform for supporting wellbeing for all learners.
"Mae'r Celfyddydau'n helpu pobl i ymdopi mewn amseroedd tywyll ... hyd yn oed yn ystod pandemig."
"The Arts help people cope in dark times...even during a pandemic."
Barbara Stcherbatcheff (World Economic Forum 2020)
Having already thought about, and possibly shared ideas with others about the lifelong competencies and values that the expressive arts develop, what about the wellbeing aspect of developing the arts within schools?
Response and Reflection
Think about the learners in your school. What positive impact could developing the Expressive Arts area of learning and experience have on their wellbeing?
The vision for the Expressive Arts
Curriculum for Wales gives Expressive Arts equitable status with all other curriculum areas.
The Expressive Arts will provide rich and authentic contexts for learners to realise the four purposes.
The dynamic and inclusive nature of the Expressive Arts develops learners’ motivation and self-confidence and their artistic, creative and performance skills.
The Expressive Arts will foster a pipeline of talent to sustain and develop the diverse opportunities within the creative industries.
This Area fosters transferable skills including, creativity and critical thinking.
What are the expressive arts?
This area of learning and experience spans the five disciplines of art, dance, drama, film and digital media, and music, and each discipline has its own discrete body of skills and knowledge. It is important that schools provide broad and balanced opportunities that enable their learners to progress towards the four purposes through each of the disciplines.
ART - includes the experimentation and development of an almost limitless range of resources, materials, techniques and processes across all types of art, craft and design.
DANCE - includes performing, choreography and appreciation across a range of styles.
DRAMA - includes acting, directing, design, technical theatre and arts administration.
FILM AND DIGITAL MEDIA - includes television, film, radio, games design, photography, live events and theatrical production skills, print media, social media, sound and audio production.
MUSIC - includes performing, improvising and composing, listening and appreciation.
These five disciplines are interconnected by the creative process of exploring, responding and creating. The characteristics work together and very rarely work alone.
The creative process within the expressive arts will provide learners with a platform for exploring creative and expressive possibilities. The process can help learners to better understand and transfer this understanding of the nature of boundaries and risk-taking, as well as how to respond productively to their mistakes.
The Expressive Arts and the four purposes
As Curriculum for Wales is a purpose-driven curriculum, it is essential to understand the relationship between the Expressive Arts and the four purposes and consider ways in which the AoLE offers opportunities for learners to progress towards them. Careful consideration and comprehension of the rationale for the AoLE is needed in order to identify how the holistic nature of the expressive arts enables your learners to develop towards the four purposes.
Learning experiences in all Areas should provide opportunities for learners to progress towards the four purposes.
Response and Reflection
What is the relationship between the Expressive Arts and the four purposes?
The cards below represent aspects taken from the 'Introduction to the Expressive Arts' guidance. How does each statement meet the four purposes? Which of the four purposes do they align with? How does this alignment support the interconnected nature of this curriculum? How will the four purposes therefore drive a vision for this Area in your school or setting?
Use the sticky notes options on the Slides in order to work collaboratively with other staff members. Please click on the image to open the document and ensure that you download a copy to collaborate on.
Consideration of the characteristics which lie beneath the headings of the four purposes will lead to an in-depth understanding of the vision of Curriculum for Wales. This discussion must take place within each Area.
Response and Reflection
Using the resource on the right, explore ways in which learning and experiences within the Expressive Arts will support the development of each of the characteristics.
What matters in the Expressive Arts?
It is essential to reflect on the statements of what matters and the rationale that underpins each. Engaging with the statements of what matters and appreciating their importance in realising the four purposes is crucial.
What matters in this Area has been expressed in three statements, which support and complement one another and should not be viewed in isolation. The interrelated statements enable learners to engage fully with the creative process within each of the disciplines.
The statements of what matters provide the key concepts within this Area and all learning must link back to them.
Statements of what matters
Exploring the expressive arts is essential to developing artistic skills and knowledge and it enables learners to become curious and creative individuals.
Responding and reflecting, both as artist and audience, is a fundamental part of learning in the expressive arts.
Creating combines skills and knowledge, drawing on the senses, inspiration and imagination.
Response and Reflection
What matters in the statements of what matters?
Having read the rationale for each statement of what matters, it can be helpful at this stage to create a visual representation to consolidate your individual or collective understanding of the learning required across the five disciplines, their interconnected nature and the creative process that runs throughout them.
Creating a vision for the Expressive Arts
This vision workshop for the Expressive Arts AoLE has previously been offered as online training, a recording of which is available opposite.
What next?
You may wish as a next step to start creating a shared vision for Expressive Arts in your school or setting. This could be presented as a statement which will express your ambitions and aspirations for your learners in your school/setting.
Using your understanding of the vision of this Area and your reflections from the activities above, start putting some ideas together as a basis for discussion with your colleagues as you build your vision.
Response and Reflection:
Discuss/Consider what really matters for your learners in your context. What are their needs and how can the Expressive Arts AoLE support them?
What do you want your learners to remember about the Expressive Arts AoLE in their future lives? Collate ideas to use when you create the vision for your AoLE.
Who do you now need to collaborate with?