Art & Design In Education

Extract from a report, May 2011

Art matters a great deal in both the creative and broader education of children and adults, as it fosters new talent that can contribute to an expanding industry of creative arts to the national economy. So art and design in education is equally important on an individual and on a national scale.

Art and design works equally as a stand-alone subject and with cross-curricular subjects. Art studies - acquiring the skills and understanding of line, shade, light, perspective, colour, texture, materials and surfaces - enables learners to understand their physical surroundings. And the experience of the application of printmaking, photography, sculpture, textiles, architecture and ICT teaches students how to think through art whilst doing it. The more the hand is used the more the mind follows through with thinking whilst doing.

Additionally, employing the use of art and design within other curriculum areas of education brings a subject to life where previously that subject had failed in an effective outcome. For example art can be used in:

. Maths - where art can help the learner better understand how numbers multiply and form patters that are beautiful and mathematical - found in fractals for example - a unique art form that offers a valuable tool for the study of patterns and repeats. . Computers - in the art class enable learners go beyond learning how to use the computer but to using the computer as an art medium for example in manipulating photography and printmaking. New media has a lot to offer and is sometimes under exploited by art educators. . English literature - art with text became popular in Victorian England with the upsurge of book illustration. Famously the illustrations by John Tenniel in `Alice`s Adventures in Wonderland` have rooted these images in the popular imagination.

Finally, art and design in education can help the learner improve functional skills in literacy, numeracy, ICT and communication - as illustrated in the aforementioned subjects.