INTRODUCTION
How to use these guidelines
The expressive arts encompass the following four subjects:
Art and Design, Drama, Music and Physical Education.
Art and Design, Drama, Music and Physical Education may usefully
be seen as constituting a generic field in education which places
special emphasis on developing creativity, imagination and personal
response in individual pupils. However, each subject represents
a unique combination of ideas, skills and knowledge and each
should, therefore, be regarded as an important element in the
curriculum in its own right.
The advice in these guidelines is based on existing good practice
in the design, planning and implementation of policies and programmes
for the learning and teaching of the expressive arts in Scottish
schools.
The guidelines will help headteachers of primary and secondary
schools and principal teachers of Art and Design, Drama, Music
and Physical Education to undertake a systematic review of the
provision made in each school or department, and, with the involvement
of class and specialist teachers, to adjust and develop programmes
of work along the lines suggested. This process should help
to ensure that all pupils, regardless of age, aptitude or physical
or social circumstances, enjoy an educational experience in
the expressive arts which is coherent, continuous and challenging.
The starting point for such a review will be the school's or
department's own policies, which will have been developed over
a number of years, taking into account local circumstances,
priorities and resources; and Education Authority guidelines
and advice. These should now be reviewed in the light of the
Rationale (Section 1), which sets out the nature, purpose
and aims of the expressive arts and of each subject; and introduces
the attainment outcomes and strands. While the
rationale is unlikely to represent a radical departure from
existing practice, there may be a difference in emphasis on
particular areas of provision which will need special attention
or development, in order to achieve the kind of breadth and
balance suggested.
Any review and adjustment of policy will mean that programmes
or plans of work will also have to be carefully reviewed. To
help with this process, Section 2 of the guidelines sets out
the main features of progression for each of the four subjects
of the expressive arts. The structure of each subject is outlined
in the rationale by means of three broad attainment outcomes,
common to all four subjects. These attainment outcomes identify
the main kinds of expressive arts activities in which children
should take part. They are: using materials, techniques,
skills and media; expressing feelings, ideas, thoughts
and solutions; evaluating and appreciating.
Within each outcome are listed a number of strands or
aspects of learning which pupils should experience; most strands
have attached to them attainment targets at five levels
of attainment (although some strands are described at fewer
than five levels, or in a more general way).
These targets represent a progression in attainment within
the strand, each target demanding more complex or sophisticated
knowledge, understanding or skills than the previous one. A
careful audit of existing programmes against this framework
will help to ensure that all the important aspects of each of
the subjects of the expressive arts are covered; that programmes
from one stage to the next represent a reasonable progression
for pupils; and that work is properly differentiated so that
all pupils are presented with work which is both appropriate
to their abilities and sufficiently challenging.
This process of adaptation and development will be informed
by the programmes of study immediately following the
set of attainment targets for each subject. The programmes of
study show
some of the ways in which learning and teaching activities outlined
in Section 2 can be planned in relation to the attainment targets
for each subject. Again, much of what is already offered in schools
will probably continue to be suitable; but the suggestions in
this section will inform extensions and amendments to current
practice.
The advice given in Section 3, Catering for the Needs of
Individual Pupils, will help teachers to adapt their programmes
to the needs of each individual pupil and particular groups
of pupils. Advice is included here about learning and teaching
for pupils with learning difficulties, and for pupils who need
challenges beyond those offered at Level E, which is the most
advanced level of attainment described in this document.
The national guidelines Assessment 5-14 explain how
assessment should be developed as an integral part of classroom
learning and teaching, and will be the main source of advice
and support to schools about how to develop their own assessment
policies to complement developments in the curriculum for pupils
aged 5-14. Section 4 of these guidelines offers additional advice
relevant to assessment and recording in the expressive
arts. Together with the separate guidelines on assessment, this
advice should help schools and departments to review and develop
existing assessment policies and build assessment procedures
into classroom programmes, so that they support learning and
inform teaching.
Section 5 of the guidelines addresses several specific issues
relating to the content and scope of the expressive arts in
the curriculum, about which teachers often express uncertainty.
The advice and ideas in this section should help to answer teachers'
questions and increase confidence in addressing these issues.
These guidelines for the expressive arts offer advice about
matters as they relate specifically to this part of the curriculum.
Some of these matters, and other important issues such as equal
opportunities, which should be considered in developing whole-school
policies in cross-curricular contexts, will be developed and discussed
in later materials.