{"id":52703,"date":"2024-03-12T21:17:38","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T17:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magpie.ae\/staging4\/?p=52703"},"modified":"2024-03-12T21:31:54","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T17:31:54","slug":"arts-and-culture-education-just-what-do-we-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magpie.ae\/staging4\/arts-and-culture-education-just-what-do-we-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Arts and culture education: just what do we need?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last month Abu Dhabi hosted the UNESCO World Conference on Culture and Arts Education<\/a>, a three-day beanfeast for around 1,000 culture and education stakeholders from around the world \u2013 including 90 ministers of education and\/or culture and 125 other representatives of UNESCO Member States, along with experts, policymakers and lobbyists from NGOs, UN agencies, academia and the private sector. They were all in town to discuss and then adopt a \u2018Framework on Culture and Arts Education\u2019 that could apply universally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therein lies the problem, of course \u2013 the goals and delivery systems for education in general differ widely from one country to another. So while the final communiqu\u00e9 outlining said framework is pretty anodyne (see below), the real value of conferences like this is to be found in the breakouts and the informal discussions where experience and best practice can be exchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference\u2019s programme did have seven themes which suggests the broad direction of travel, though. \u2018Equitable access to culture and arts education\u2019 was the goes-without-saying biggie, but then several societies (a number UNESCO member states among them) could be accused of not delivering just or even-handed access to many aspects of social and political life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other themes also beg a few questions. \u2018Quality and relevant lifelong and life-wide learning in and through cultural diversity\u2019; \u2018skills to shape resilient, just and sustainable futures\u2019; and \u2018institutionalisation and valorisation of culture and arts education ecosystems’ all seem highly commendable and difficult to deliver, though these are activities amenable to shared best practice. \u2018Culture and arts education through digital technologies and artificial intelligence\u2019 is very specific and should be more attainable; \u2018monitoring, researching and data\u2019 should also be doable without debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last one, \u2018partnerships and financing in support of culture and arts education\u2019, is an elephant in the room \u2013 how to pay for it all. The implication is that the state shouldn\u2019t be the sole supplier of the cash required, which puts the onus on philanthropy, commercial relationships, and other spinoffs from market capitalism. None of this was mentioned in the report that the conference produced, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We may yet see some actual recommendations on policies and creative practices, but there\u2019s no guarantee that all attendees would feel willing or able to sign up to every specific that emerges. So right now we have to make do with that Final Draft of the Framework<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is hard work to read (it could do with a good editor and fewer words) and some of it comes across like ChatGPT trying to shoehorn every possible cultural platitude into a statement that only the barbarous could argue with. Try this, for instance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEducation must be democratized, foster critical views and support the struggle against colonialism and neo-colonialism in all their forms and manifestations, and be free from stereotypes, bias and prejudice, based on the respect for the diversity of learners, and entails countering hierarchy between cultures, cultural practices, arts disciplines or expressions towards more inclusive and pluralist societies \u2026 Education must, therefore, provide diverse, inclusive and flexible, inter-, multi- and transdisciplinary approaches and methods to deliver culture and arts education of quality that contributes to addressing stigma, xenophobia, hate speech, disinformation, misinformation and discrimination. This includes enhancing the knowledge and the appreciation of cultural diversity, human rights, intercultural understanding and respect, social cohesion, conflict prevention, and post-conflict reconciliation and healing through culture and the arts \u2026\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also some evidence of special pleading. This collision of possible competing goals reads like a classic committee compromise: \u201ceducation systems should harness the potential of culture and arts education to strengthen civic engagement and democratic participation, improve other subject learning and develop creativity and the ability to innovate, such as through a Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) approach, reinforcing writing, reading and speaking skills, and nurturing social and emotional skills \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other key takeaways from the Framework report, in brief:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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