The Power of Words: Students Write to Save the Arts Curriculum
Photograph by Emily Raftery
“Christopher Luxon states that the Arts Curriculum will be deferred for 2025 to focus on improving literacy and numeracy levels across Aotearoa. Do you agree?”
This is the question, derived from the Breakfast Facebook page, I posed to my Year 5/6 class early in Term 3 as a writing provocation for persuasive writing. The students’ initial responses were ones of injustice, confusion and many, many questions. “Who is Christopher Luxon?” “Why are our literacy and numeracy levels so low?” “Why does he want to take away the arts?” “Do they want us to be miserable at school?” “What about Kapahaka?” “And creativity?”
The passion during this particular class discussion is difficult to describe, passion that grew as we strove to find evidence to support our well-balanced arguments. Firstly, ākonga were given a choice - did they agree or disagree with this statement? We started our persuasive writing unit with group brainstorms depending on whether you were for or against this provocative statement. This led to co-constructed paragraphs, buddy research and finally into independent persuasive pieces focused on including supporting evidence for each of their points.
The key themes were overwhelming and so powerful they confirmed my belief in the importance of student voice. Four key themes emerged from class discussions and student research about the suspension of the arts curriculum, including the potential impact on attendance levels, creativity, stress levels and aspects of Te Ao Māori.
Attendance levels
During our first interaction with the question about deferring the arts, I observed students whispering about how they would not want to come to school without drama, visual arts, music, dance and kapahaka. Rubi, a Year 5 student, expressed this clearly in her writing by stating:
“In my opinion we need the arts and music because if we don’t, the attendance levels will drop because people won’t want to come to school. Research indicates that involvement in the arts increase student engagement and encourages consistency, and that drop out rates correlate with student levels of involvement in the arts. This means if we don’t have the arts and music less and less children will be coming to school. If the attendance levels drop then children won’t be getting the education that they need all because of there being no art and music.”
Chloe, a Year 6 student, expressed similar concerns, explaining that such an approach to curriculum will negatively impact student attendance due to a lack of enjoyment and engagement with school activities. She claims:
“Doing less arts at school makes school less enjoyable which will impact attendance levels. Students may stop wanting to come to school because it is less enjoyable. For students receiving arts programming, a study found that school attendance increased by roughly ⅓ (one third) of a day over the course of the school year compared with students not doing art in school. This means that students not doing art in schools and not receiving arts programming means that there is less attendance in schools and people will not want to come to school because school is boring and not enjoyable. So as you can see, school without art and music is a REALLY bad idea and you must NOT get rid of the arts and music!”
Both Rubi and Chloe express the issue of declining attendance levels without a rich arts curriculum being taught in schools. School has the potential to become boring, repetitive and mundane without the engagement and creativity that the arts curriculum affords.
Creativity
Creativity was at the forefront of discussions and writing in class. Chloe (Year 6) uncovered that there is a link between creative skills and resilience levels. Her powerful words state:
“Without the arts people will have less and less creativity. People without creativity are more likely to give up and have less resilience when facing a challenge. It is scientifically proven that there is a link between creativity and resilience because both creativity and resilience both require mental flexibility, also resilience involves adapting to new circumstances. Reframing challenges as opportunities, and finding new solutions when old ones fail. This mental flexibility is supported by cognitive processes common to both creativity and resilience. Without the arts and creativity people will have less and less resilience. This means that if you get rid of the arts people will be giving up on all sorts of things including educational activities, big opportunities like well paying jobs and more.”
With a neurodiversity lens, Caspar thought deeply about this particular issue of creativity. Through a verbal discussion, he explained that: “without the arts curriculum, there will be less creativity. This will mean that we have a reduced lifespan as humans.” When I asked him what he meant by this comment, he explained that “scientists need creativity to form new research questions and think about problems in a different way. If they don’t have creativity, they will be less likely to solve medical dilemmas related to life-threatening diseases, therefore, we will have shorter life spans.” This type of thinking blew me away.
Stress Levels
Next on the class's radar was the implication this change would have on stress levels for students and in turn, the impact on their mental health. Violet (Year 5) unpacks this in her writing by saying that:
“The arts can help to make people calm and lower stress levels. Many studies suggest that engaging in art and creative activities can have physiological effects that reduce stress and promote well-being. Stress can make students have less concentration which will not help with their learning”
This sophisticated response from Violet showcases her ability to research and understand the implications this political decision to defer the arts will have on the stress levels of our tamariki. She is thinking about the bigger picture and the long term effects of stress on the body and how this will ultimately impact student learning and well-being.
Te Ao Māori
The next theme that became prevalent throughout this unit was the potential loss of kapahaka and Māori culture. My class loves to sing waiata every morning and sing with mana every time. Eight of those students perform in the senior kapahaka roopu and are often heard singing in the playground and while they are completing their mahi in class. Jeremiah, a Year 5 student in my class who moved from South Africa less than a year ago understands the importance of Kapahaka and Māori language in Aotearoa. He writes:
“If you take away music from the whole of New Zealand, Māori culture could be lost. You see, I am from South Africa and I came to New Zealand. I have seen how important Māori culture is and it is beautiful. I love it and if you take away music and kapahaka less people will want to be in New Zealand.”
What a powerful message to consider when making decisions for what is best for our children and their education. The importance of student voice is woven throughout this narrative. The powerful words from a small group of New Zealand students highlight the significance of listening to what our children need as part of a rich, varied curriculum that engages their interests and hooks them into learning. There are more than 400,000 children in New Zealand primary schools (from Education Counts website)- these children not only need the arts, they deserve the arts, they deserve better from the government.
Sarah Carpendale has been a primary classroom teacher since 2012 and is currently a kaiako in the Manawatu region with an awesome class of Year 5 and 6 students. She enjoys giving her students a platform to exercise their student voice, which means that learning topics are often authentic and set in a real-world context. Sarah notes “I have two wonderful children and a supportive husband - they are my world.”
Student voice used with consent of children and whānau - pseudonyms used when requested.