The government has been urged by a major international NGO to consider the detrimental effects the absence of arts in children’s education can have on their social, emotional and cultural development.
In an open letter to the education minister, and uploaded on its website, it referred to the fact that pupils are still not being offered art lessons in primary schools due to COVID-19.
The International Society for Education through Art, InSEA, insisted that, “in times like these, it is imperative that the arts and culture continue to support learners’ well-being and social-emotional learning”.
During the pandemic, teachers of these subjects have continued to serve as substitute tutors after the number of classes had to be increased due to COVID-19 health protocols.
The government and the Malta Union of Teachers had agreed to bring in peripatetic teachers to fill in the gaps and discussions on the issue are under way, with fingers being pointed at the “exceptional” year that required changes to avoid children being sent home because they did not have a teacher.
This has meant, however, that, over a month since the start of the new scholastic year, pupils were still only focusing on the core subjects, sparking outrage among the arts community.
Described as the largest society worldwide that is dedicated to research and advocacy in the field of visual arts education and related fields, InSEA is an official partner of Unesco, with members in over 80 countries.
During the global pandemic, it has been following developments in art education around the world and expressed its “disappointment to learn of recent directives in the Maltese primary state sector that have negatively impacted the art education entitlement of pupils around Malta”.
Signed off by InSEA president Glen Coutts, the letter to the minister states: “In the absence of a holistic, inclusive approach to art education, children could be at risk of missing out on invaluable creative experiences that could help them cope with the challenging circumstances they are facing today.”
While understanding that the current health crisis has put educational systems around the world to a tough test, Coutts wrote that, time and again, international declarations and research have shown that arts education should form the basis of a balanced educational experience of all children, “especially during uncertain times like these”.
Artist and professor at the Faculty of Education, Raphael Vella, who started a petition addressed to former education minister Owen Bonnici, reiterated that the arts are essential components of a holistic curriculum, as stated clearly in the national minimum curriculum.
“However, the problem here is not simply a question of entitlement. It has become, more than ever, a question of well-being,” Vella said.
“During the pandemic, the arts can help to provide young learners with the sort of emotional support and creative output they really need. It is important to remember that the arts in education are not intended merely for the ‘talented’ few.
“To suggest that culture and the arts are dispensable is problematic because so many learners benefit from the arts.”
Recent research demonstrates that the arts ineducation can enable transformative action and help people face difficult situations at individual, regional and national level, the InSEA stated in the letter.
It referred to the 2006 Unesco Lisbon Road Map for Arts Education, which established arts education as a universal human right and a compulsory part of educational programmes for all.
This is reiterated in the InSEA Manifesto (2018), it said, which states that a systematic art education, provided over several years, helps to connect people to their world and is a basic entitlement of all learners.