Introduction and Context
› The social, economic, cultural and educational context of the 21st Century clearly demands new ways of thinking about the arts, culture and creativity.
› This initiative is a direct response to the lack of quality arts and culture educators and comprehensive education in the majority of the public schools in the country.
› The A.I.S initiative is predicated on the idea that arts practitioners have the potential to serve as a valuable vehicle in the implementation of the arts and culture subject in the public schools, as well as making a contribution to the professional development of educators.
› The purpose of the A.I.S program is to develop and improve the art’s practitioners’ pedagogical capabilities and skills needed to collaborate with arts and culture learning area educators in schools and more directly communicate and interact effectively with the learners.
› Very importantly, this project further seeks to improve the quality of the delivery of arts, culture and heritage education and training in the public schools.
› Unleash the creative capacities of the young people to thrive and compete in the knowledge economy of the 21st century;
› Capacitate the young people to become not only consumers of cultural products but also active participants and producers in the overall value chain of the creative and cultural industry;
› Improve the quality of basic education through rich arts, culture and heritage programs;
› Foster social cohesion and national identity among the learners
› Forge a closer partnership and working relations between the communities and schools;
› Create sustainable job opportunities for the arts practitioners in the formal educational sector, thereby contributing to the economic development of the country;
› Develop sustainable audiences and markets for the arts, culture, programs and products in the communities;
› Acknowledge and celebrate cultural diversities among the learners, thereby removing the xenophobic and racist tendencies that tend to disrupt social cohesion in the schools and communities.
Approaches to Arts Education: Integrating arts into the curriculum often involves three distinct approaches – learning in the arts through the teaching of skills and techniques, learning through the arts when the arts are used to teach other subjects and concepts, and learning about the arts through contact with artists’ works and performances.
”Effective partnerships are also fruitful for teachers. By inviting artists, with their experience and expertise in movement, words, sound and rhythm, images, to develop a project, on a partnership basis, in in-school and extra-curricula programs, teachers can benefit from new experiences which can enrich their teaching methods. In-school projects might involve collaboration between the artist, the teacher, and the school, and are designed to match the age of the participants, the teaching methods, and the duration of the classroom activity”.
Malaysian education CONTEXT
Why it is needed: This decision was made in the context of rising international education standards, the Government’s aspiration of better preparing Malaysia’s children for the needs of the 21st century but unfortunately, the gap between Malaysia’s system and other countries, the outcomes have been uneven.
The priority is thus to shift from “school learning” to “system learning” by engaging parents, the community, as well as the private and social sectors as partners in supporting student learning. Critically, international evidence is clear that some forms of involvement make more of a difference.