How could expressive arts sessions relate to the four purposes of the curriculum (Donaldson, 2015)?

Donaldson, (2015) state four main purposes of the curriculum, and these are that children and young people develop as:

› ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives

› enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work

› ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world

› healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of     society.

Expressive arts are one of Donaldson’s six areas of learning and experience. “The expressive arts provide opportunities to explore thinking, refine, and communicate ideas, engaging thinking, imagination and senses creatively” (Donaldson, 2015) p45.

Expressive arts sessions are extremely important for children at the primary education phase, as they can express themselves in a constructive approach, According to King and Schwabenlender (1994) p13 “allowing children to be expressive provides them with a sense of empowerment [because children] are encouraged to express their emotions constructively”.

Expressive arts sessions can relate the FOUR PURPOSES OF THE CURRICULUM that I have stated above, for example:

› ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives

Donaldson, (2015) can contribute to this purpose of the curriculum by “encouraging them to explore new and challenging areas of experience and to strive to improve their performance”.

By providing children with expressive arts sessions, this helps children to be ready to learn throughout their lives. Similarly, Bamford (2006) states that arts education can provide positive learning outcomes, such as creating positive attitudes to learning, developing a greater sense of personal and cultural identity and fostering more creative and imaginative ways of thinking in young children. This is extremely important for children, as children are used to working hard throughout school, but by providing children with expressive arts session will provide children with a more fun and engaging way to expressively learn through creativity.

› enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work

Expressive arts in my opinion would relate mostly to this purpose of the curriculum. Because expressive arts provide children to be creative contributors in many different contexts. DFES, (1999) states that expressive arts, stimulates creativity and imagination, which provides visual tactile and sensory experiences and a unique way of understanding the world. Therefore, children will have a better understanding of the world. An approach that could be taken here would be through drama, giving children an opportunity to take part in role play work environments, for example dentist, teaching, doctor/nurse, and give them a chance to act out these positions. This would provide children with an expressive form of learning that would provide children with a sense of the outside work life. 

› ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world

By implementing expressive arts programs, educators would be able to more effectively engage and enable students while growing their interests in a variety of subjects because the arts allow children to develop their self-efficacy and self-worth, which are important attributes that will follow children into their future. Donaldson, (2015) states through expressive arts children are provided with an opportunity to understand their own cultural identity and those of societies.

› healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

Expressive arts can provide children with an opportunity to take part in independent learning which will increase a child’s confidence. Donaldson, (2015) states that expressive arts relates to this purpose by “helping them to develop resilience and feel more confident as they gain enjoyment and personal satisfaction from creative expression; contributing directly to enriching the quality of their lives”. Bloomfield, (2000) states that expressive arts has the impact of motivating children, sustaining their interest and improving their self-esteem. It provides in-depth study and develops all round skills. Therefore providing children with expressive arts sessions can improve a child's confidence, for example in drama they will have opportunities to take part in plays and theatre shows which would immediately build a child's confidence. Krahe and Knappert (2009) found that children who participated in a theatre-based arts project had better performance in self-protective skills (distinguishing good/bad touch, secrets, getting help, and rejecting unwanted touch) than the control group who did not participate.

Looking at theory and evidence through research there are many benefits to expressive arts within the curriculum, Fleming et al. (2004) found that primary school students who participated in the national theatre's three year drama project performed better at numeracy and reading than a comparable group of students who did not participate. Similarly, Cooper, et al. (2011) states that young people who has taken part in creative partnerships made greater progress speaking and listening than pupils who had not participated. 
I have delivered Dance sessions to the children at St Brides major primary school which links into expressive arts, the children thoroughly enjoyed. At the first sessions not many of the children joined in, but towards the third and fourth sessions there were more and more children joining in, which proved that they were gaining confidence to get involved along the way, which would link into the "healthy confident individuals" Donaldson, (2015) curriculum purpose. 

References:

Bamford, A. (2006) THE WOW factors: Global research compendium on the impacg of art education. New York: Waxann Munster

Bloomfield. A. (2000). Teaching Integrated Arts in the Primary School. London:David Fulton Publishers.

Cooper, L.; Benton, T.; and Sharp, C. The Impact of Creative Partnerships on Attainment and Attendance in 2008-9 and 2009-10. Slough: NFER, 2011.

DfES., (1999). The National Curriculum. London:DfES

Donaldson, G. (2015). Successful Futures. [online] Gov.wales. Available at: http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/150225-successful-futures-en.pdf

Fleming, M.; Merrell, C.; Tymms, P., ‘Impact of drama on pupils' language, mathematics, and attitude in two primary schools’, Research in Drama Education 9(2), 2004, pp. 177–197.

King, R. P., & Schwabenlender, S. A. (1994). Supportive therapies for EBD and at-risk students: Rich, varied, and underused. Preventing School Failure, 38(2), 13-18.

Krahe, B., and Knappert, L., ‘A group-randomized evaluation of a theatre-based sexual

abuse prevention programme for primary school children in Germany’, Journal of Community

and Applied Psychology 19(4), 2009, pp. 321–329.