The Arts Education Curriculum states that the Arts education enables the child to explore alternative ways of communicating with others. It encourages ideas that are personal and inventive and makes a vital contribution to the development of a range of intelligences
The aims of arts education are:
• To enable the child to explore, clarify and express ideas, feelings and experiences through a range of arts activities
• To provide for aesthetic experiences and to develop aesthetic awareness in the visual arts, in music, in drama, in dance and in literature
• To develop the child’s awareness of, sensitivity to and enjoyment of visual, aural, tactile and spatial environments
• To enable the child to develop natural abilities and potential to acquire techniques, and to practise the skills necessary for creative expression and for joyful participation in different art forms
• To enable the child to see and to solve problems creatively through imaginative thinking and so encourage individuality and enterprise
• To value the child’s confidence and self-esteem through valuing self expression
• To foster a sense of excellence in and appreciation of the arts in local, regional, national and global contexts, both past and present
• To foster a critical appreciation of the arts for personal fulfilment and enjoyment