LODE VERMEERSCH (VUB & HIVA-KULEUVEN) & ANKELIEN KINDEKENS (VUB)AND KATRIEN VAN ISEGHEM

This document contains all three presentations of Belgium

2

Belgium (Flemish Community)

CIDREE conference'Arts and Culture Education contents and outcomes'

Utrecht, 17-18 September 2013 – CIDREE ConferenceLode Vermeersch (VUB & HIVA-Kuleuven) & Ankelien Kindekens (VUB)

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Presentation

1. Context: Belgium > Flemish Community (Flanders)

2. Used definitions

3. The intended curriculum on a central level (Flanders)

4. The implemented curriculum at school level

5. The teachers and teacher training

6. Quantity and quality

7. ‘Culture in the mirror’ research project

8. Effects and impact

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  1. Context

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1count

ry

3 policy

levels

responsibl

e for

person-

related

issues like

cultural

matters

and education

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Pre-primar

y

Primar

y

Second

ary

Tertiar

y

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Schools & pupils

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Educational networks (1)

The constitutional freedom of education

  Education can be organized by• authorities such as the communities, provinces and

municipalities • private persons (private persons, private associations or

non-profit organizations)

  Schools are organized by different organizing bodies, on the basis of their legal status. so-called educational networks (“onderwijsnetten” “koepels”)

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Educational networks (2)

1. Flemish Community Educationeducation of the Flemish Community organized by Community Education (GO!)

2. Subsidized private educationmainly comprises private subsidized Catholic education, but also: Protestant education, Jewish education, nondenominational education, independent alternative schools

3. Subsidized public educationorganized by cities, municipalities and provinces, intermunicipal companies

Distribution of school population accros the educational networks

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  2. Definitions

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Arts and cultural education: key elements

Arts education Cultural education

Arts = means and goal

personal + social

interpretation, transformation, creation

many cases: cultural innovation

Culture = broad

some kind of medium

personal + social

awareness + development

leading to: participation, engagement,

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  3. Intended curriculum

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Who is responsible?

Lower

secondary

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Core curriculum: compulsory education

• Development goals: act as a directive for pre-primary and special education which the government considers as minimum goals of knowledge, insight, skills and attitudes desirable for a certain pupil population. They are classified within structurally embedded fields such as “the expressive arts”

• Attainment targets: act as a directive for primary and secondary education which the government considers as minimum goals of knowledge, insight, skills and attitudes necessary and achievable for a certain pupil population. The targets have been developed for the end of primary school and for each stage and education level in secondary education.

• Cross-curricular attainment targets: have been developed for secondary education and act as a directive which the government considers being minimum goals of knowledge, insight, skills and attitudes desirable for a certain pupil population (effort commitment)

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Core curriculum: pre-primary and primary education

Five areas of learning Five domainsPhysical education visual arts

Expressive arts (“muzische vorming”)

music

Dutch drama

World Studies dance

Mathematical initiation media

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Core curriculum: primary and secondary education

Lower

secondar

y

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Core curriculum: secondary education (1)

Lower secondary education (1st and 2nd year)

Attainment targets: - Visual arts: perception, design, articulation - Music: perception, making music- plus: attitudes!

Cross-curricular attainment targets

Upper secondary education No attainment targets

Cross-curricular attainment targets

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Core curriculum: secondary education (2)

Common trunk Separate contexts

• Communication abilities• Creativity • Perseverance • Empathy • Aesthetic skills • Exploring • Flexibility • Initiative• Critical mind-set • Media knowledge (media literacy)• Open and constructive attitude • Respect• Cooperation• Responsibility • Self-image• Self-sufficiency• Accuracy • Care

• Physical health and safety • Mental health• Social relational development • Environment and sustainable development• Political legal society• Socio-economic society• Social cultural society

Cross-curricular

attainment

targets! Where

are art &

culture?

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Core curriculum: secondary education (3)

Common trunk Attainment targets related to arts and cultural education (some examples)

Creativity Pupils can develop and implement original ideas and solutions.

Aesthetic skill Pupils can experience beauty. Pupils can create beauty.

Media knowledge Pupils are alert when dealing with the media. Pupils consciously participate in the public space via the media.

Mental health Pupils know how to use images, music, physical movement, drama or media to express themselves.

Social relational development

In consultation with others, pupils are able to substantiate the dynamics of their preference for certain expressions of art and culture.

Environment and sustainable development

Pupils show an interest in and express their appreciation for nature, landscape and cultural heritage.

Social cultural society Pupils actively interact with their cultural and artistic environment.

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Core curriculum: secondary education (4)

(Cross-curricular) attainment targets in secondary education:

Decision by the Flemish parliament

+ 20 years old, often debated, renewed

Two weaknesses:

- (cross-curricular) attainment targets = no real learning line (sequential & coherent)

- upper secondary: no real compulsory subjects on arts and culture, some compulsory subjects do touch on a arts and cultural education

-

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  4. Implemented curriculum

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Making arts and cultural education

Publishers, internet, …

School meetings

Teaching and learning methods

Guidelines by educational networks

Development goals and attainment targets

Arts, cultural

and youth

organizations

+ Inspectorate+ teachers’ training+ participation + personal interests of the teacher

Checked by

the minister

of

education!

Made by the

Parliament

23

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  5. The teachers

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Teacher training (1)

• Teachers active in (pre-)primary and secondary education must have successfully completed a teacher training course

• The Flemish government has described what is expected of teaching staff in secondary education:

• Occupational profile

• List of basic competencies

Teacher is a content expert

Teacher is a cultural participant

… (10 roles in total)

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Teacher training (2)

Teacher training institutions also offers:

• Apprenticeships• Excursions (to musea, etc.)• Postgraduate courses• …

+ further education

for teachers at th

e

initiative of schools

or educational

networks

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Teacher card

• Every school year, the Ministry of Education and Training provides a personal teacher card to all teachers in Flanders. It offers teachers free admission or a discount to museums, exhibitions, events and the like, and discounts on books, teaching material, software and hardware.

• The government distributes the teacher cards because it helps teachers to fulfill their educational mission.

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Teacher training (3)

Evaluating the teachers and teacher training

• Teachers and students in teacher training often lack artistic skills and expertise. Professionalization with regard to arts and cultural education is necessary

• There is no media education expertise in teacher training courses. Most teacher training courses pay limited attention to heritage education

• Further education is usually not accessible to teachers in full-time positions

• Schools have little budget for further education of teaching staff.

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  6. Quantity & Quality

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Wat is

(on)voldoe

nde?

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Quality

• …depends on the expertise present in the school;

• Teachers often lack substantial arts training

• Lack of coordination and consultation between education and the cultural sector.

• In later years (2nd and 3rd stage) of secondary education = lack of dedicated time for arts and cultural education

• No continuous individual study programme / learning path from the start of pre-primary education to the end of secondary education

• Overly rigid education structures (50-minute classes) and traditional cognitive and product-oriented evaluation systems (written exams, essays or thesis as final result)

• There is hardly ever any focus on the visual language itself

Curriculu

m issues

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  7. Culture in the mirror

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Theory-based research (1)

= Theory-based and policy- en pratice-oriented research on cultural education

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Theory-based research (2)

Theory-driven? Practice & policy-oriented?

• Very little theory on cultural education

• ‘Cultural in the Mirror’ (CIM) theory (prof. van heusden)

• A conceptual theory on culture (and cultural education)

• Based on cognitive sciences: four cognitive skills based on our memory… and the fact that we can reflect on them makes them cultural skills

• Policy: “translating” this theory into a framework for practice and policy (curriculum matrix)

• Policy: analyze the intended curriculum using the CIM framework

• In schools: do teachers stimulate all cultural skills (in the same amount)? Why and how?

• In schools: does the CIM-framework help teachers to reflect on their practice (“reflective practioner”) and make/implement curricula in an effective way

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Aim of the CIM research

• Policy and practice:• Create clarity on the concept and content of cultural education• Showing the coherence between different types of cultural education

• Intendend curriculum: • make policy recommendations in terms of …current development

goals / attainment targets• … analyze how the (ideal) curriculum could enhance all cultural skills

more (continuously): no time-based / subject-based but an integrated skill-based curriculum?

• Practice (teachers):• Enhancing the teacher to be a reflective practitioner (on e.g.

effectiveness of classroom practice) (+ classroom examples)• Giving insight in the development of children and adolescents in terms

of cultural self-consciousness (“development trajectory”)

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Up to now…

• Interviews and focus groups• Teachers, inspectorate, cultural organizations, teacher training

institutions, …

• Analysis: some preliminary results…• What is the problem?

• The fragile status of cultural education / advocacy• Why cultural education?

• Practice in need for theory but…• What type of theory is needed (conceptual theory, development of

the child, didactics of the teacher, etc.?)• A “small T” translated in a coherent framework

• Support for the idea of a curriculum for cultural education: consecutive levels / continuous attention for culture … but still some remarks

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  8. Impact & effects

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Little is known…

Too little to have effect?

Not much research on effect/impact on personal level, implementation strategies / systematic policy implementation

A lot of measures / funding schemes have a lot of success!

Also out-of-school arts education attracts a bigger population than ever before

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  Thank you!

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CIDREE conference Utrecht

-17/09/2013-

Government of Flanders

Ministery of Education and Training

Agency of educational communication

CANON Cultuurcel

1. the Impact of learning Expressive Arts

“Arts and culture education as an essential part of the personal and social development of all children”

Policy Agenda Education 2009-2014

OESO research ‘arts for arts sake’

1. the Impact of learning Expressive Arts

1. the Impact of learning Expressive Arts

2. How do schools in European countries choose their content for their arts and culture education

INSPIRING with

- good practices

‘How to grow in culture’

Minister of culture, sports, youth

And media

Minister of education and training

Januari 2012

2. How do schools in European countries choose their content for their arts and culture education

• INSPIRING with:

- Events

2. How do schools in European countries choose their content for their arts and culture education

• INSPIRING with:

- websites

2. How do schools in European countries choose their content for their arts and culture education

• INSPIRING with:

- publications

3. on what basis choices of content and how to ensure quality in the curriculum

• multiple theories and methods• in the curriculum of secondary schools:

music and visual arts• need for a continuous cultural-

education curriculum, taking into account the childs development and goals

4. What could be the definition of art education, what of culture education and what of creativity?

4. What could be the definition of art education, what of culture education and what of creativity?

culture in the mirror

• The Netherlands: University of Groningen• Flanders: Universities of Brussels and Leuven

July 2012- february 2016

Agreement to exchange research results since 2010

4. What could be the definition of art education, what of culture education and what of creativity?

• Curricual discontinuity(Bamford)

• Many questions about the content of culture education– Art– Heritage– Media– Literature

• How to relate these contents and how to integrate in the curriculum

• How to relate to child development, background, sexuality, cultural and changing environmentals circumstances

5. Why do teachers teach what they teach?

• Bringing about change in a complex system with 50+ stakeholders, dialogue

5. Why do teachers teach what they teach?

• network of teachers teachers