Art in the nation curriculum: how can galleries and museums have their say?

[Zoe Johnson]

How should gallery and museum educators prepare for the approaching new national curriculum?

At the 'GREAT educators' conference that Museums & Galleries NSW presented at Albury last week, one of the sessions looked at the new national curriculum.

David Arnold, Education Manager at the National Museum of Australia and President of the Museums Australia Education National Network (ENN) spoke about how the ENN had grouped together to comment on the history and science national curriculum framing papers. The ENN also produced a statement on the value of museums.
The ENN’s advocacy work has paid off, with explicit reference to museums, site visits and artifacts in the History Curriculum Framing Paper.

Earlier this year education ministers from across the country voted to include art in the second stage of the national curriculum. This means that on the horizon is a framing paper for the arts, which - like the history and science papers last year – will be open for comments from stakeholders.

The development of a national curriculum is a valuable opportunity to stress the importance of galleries, museums, and collections to education. It’s also a chance to push forward the issue of how the arts are perceived. In a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald, Steve Dow complains about how the arts are being underprivileged in the hierarchy of school subjects. Galleries are in a significant position to assert that aptitude need not be a limitation to interest or engagement with art.

The ENN is committed to advocating the importance of our cultural institutions in the education process. What is the best strategy for utilizing this existing network, and unifying educators and organisations across the country in one concentrated and considered submission to the ACARA?


Further reading:
To stay abreast of developments in the national curriculum, visit the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority at http://www.acara.edu.au.

Steve Dow “All talk, no action on arts promises” Sydney Morning Herlad, June 15, 2009 http://www.smh.com.au/national/all-talk-no-action-on-arts-promises-...

For interesting reading on education and innovation, check out the transcript of Sir Ken Robinson’s interview with Kerry O’Brien on ABC. http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2009/s2600125.htm

Museums Australia Education National Netowrk: http://www.museumsaustralia.org.au/site/page75.php

[Angelina Russo]

Hi Zoe and thanks for this thoughtful post. I was surprised to see that although there is a great deal of discussion around the value of museums in education - and David is such a fabulous advocate for all of this - a recent paper: The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age http://www.hastac.org/node/1106 makes reference to museums twice!! Given that the report suggests that important cultural material is indeed stored in museums, it is a little surprising that it doesn't go on to suggest how it can become learning materials!