Why music?

My inquiry is looking into how the arts manifest in education at primary level.

Findings show: drama is part of Literacy, dance is part of PE and music stands alone as a foundation subject. This has got me question why?

Why does music get its own subject specific lesson in comparison to other art forms? what benefits does music offer that the others don't? Should art subjects be categorised differently?

In a bid to help expand my thinking on this I have outsourced this piece literature:

The importance of music: A national plan for music education

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/180973/DFE-00086-2011.pdf

If anyone has any thoughts on this topic please comment.

Multiple perspectives

Tonights group discussion gave the opportunity to discuss ideas and make connections. The mix of modules gave the opportunity to refresh prior learning (journals, developing lines of inquiry) it helped to share experiences and make links between modules and reminded me to trust in the process of learning. Alongside the notion of 'discussion' and how using others helps to aid discussion, gain multiple perspectives, give alternative views, expand thinking, open further discussion points and ideas. Module 3 students have been questioning on should you actively seek literature on an 'opposing argument' instead of opposing we should view this as 'alternative'. In doing so this should allow you to view the topic from a different perspective to get a better understanding. Using multiple perspectives helps create a deeper understanding.

Literature source

Good source to find literature for arts in education: 

http://www.artsedsearch.org

Happy reading! 

Analysing Data

Recently within my practice we have had to fill out a staff questionnaire covering a wide range of  school issues including current curriculum, staff well being, leadership, professional development,, future goals.  Once all data had been correlated our Head teacher shared this with us and and asked for our views and opinions as a way to help analyse the data.

This was an interesting process and very much related to what we are doing in the course. It was interesting to hear others ideas on how they answered the questionnaire and how they felt others may have answered.

Something things that came up where interpretation, language/terminology, subjectivity, context, not relating to or having experience to the area asking about, having a bad day when answering the questionnaire, different working teams so have a different experience.

These are all things that I will take into consideration when analysing my data.

Buzzing Brain

This quote from my literature is becoming more and more relevant:

"You approach from one side and know your way about; you approach the same place from another side and no longer know your way about" (Fleming, 2012) 

Having started looking at arts in a different context and looking at them from a different side I am left feeling a bit like this

Some questions that have occurred and have got me asking further questions and wanting find out more are:

What should come under the term arts?
Should the arts be grouped together within education? or seen as separate art forms?
Is it necessary for children to be taught art forms in primary education?
How do you develop a child's creativity?
Is Dance loosing recognition as a creative opportunity as a result of being on the PE curriculum?
Should dance be taught by a specialist instructor?
Is it because teachers don't have the confidence and skills to deliver the subjects that they are getting dismissed?
Is enough being done to educate teachers on how to deliver arts subjects?
Should arts just be extra circular subjects?
How important is that children appreciate art?

If anyone has an ideas or wishes to discuss these topics please comment.

References
Flaming, M. (2012) The Arts in Education. Oxon, Routledge.