Big Picture Summary (of Changes in the Revised The Arts, Grades 1-8)

The Arts, Grades 1-8 revised Curriculum Policy Document

In 2007 the Ministry completed feedback consultations for the draft of proposed revisions to The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8, The Arts. Input from this process and other consultations was analysed and used to guide further revisions to the draft curriculum policy document.

To facilitate implementation, a copy of the revised curriculum document will be posted on the Ministry website in May 2009. Print copies of the document will be distributed to school boards and schools beginning in summer 2009. Mandatory implementation of this document begins in September 2009. Training sessions for implementation to support the delivery of the revised curriculum document in schools were held across the province during the fall of 2008. Boards of Education were invited to send a team of 8 representatives to these training sessions.

Summary of Changes in the Revised The Arts, Grades 1-8
• There is a reduction in the number of expectations.
• There are now 4 strands in the Arts document: dance, drama, music and visual arts (dance and drama have been separated).
• The overall expectations have been directly linked to specific expectations, using a numbering system. Closer links between overall and specific expectations prevents ‘orphan’ expectations and will promote greater clarity of instructional and assessment processes.
• The organization of the revised material is done by grades and not by strands, as was presented in 1998.
• The specific expectations begin with explorations of the arts with reference to personal experiences within the students’ own community at the Primary level, broader community at the Junior level, and global considerations and contemporary issues at the intermediate level.
• There are two artistic processes identified in the introduction of this document to support effective learning in the arts:
o the creative process;
o the critical analysis process.
These processes are interconnected, imbedded into the entire curriculum, and can be seen as the processes through which students acquire and apply artistic knowledge and skills.
• Inclusion of the cognitive and affective aspects of the art forms in the expectations. The affective and cognitive domains are both important; students must think and feel in the arts.
• Increased reference to promoting social justice, anti discrimination, global issues (e.g. the environment) and equity because of the strong connection between identity, culture, and the arts.
• Emphasis on many ways of knowing and communicating what we know and understand through the four (4) artistic expressions.
• A table detailing Fundamental Concepts for each strand at each grade level.
• Teacher prompts or suggestions for student work to support/extend teacher understanding of the arts expectations are presented in the English-language curriculum policy document. Teachers are asking for some more support with the “how” and by embedding some instructional ideas into the teacher suggestions associated with the expectations, the curriculum begins to address this need. In the French-language curriculum policy document, prompts are part of the examples.
Expansion of glossary including:
a. More terminology with definitions, examples, and symbols/diagrams where necessary for understanding (e.g. musical symbols).
b. Terminology organized by common or generic terms and concepts related to the arts and arts pedagogy, as well as by strand.
• Examples begin to reflect the greater diversity of our global society.
• First Nations, Inuit and Métis arts and artists, Canadian arts and artists and cross cultural references are evident in some examples or prompts.
• Enhanced description of the role of parents/guardians, students, teachers, administrators, and community partners.

The revised Ontario Arts policy is released

Over the last three years Ontario (Canada) has been involved in an extensive, research-based review, and revision, of its Arts curriculum policy (standards). The philosophy and intent of the document has started a curriculum shift from a decontextualized and formalist approach (1998 document) to a revised document that shows evidence of the impact of the work of critical and social theorists (2009). This document not only provides arts policy statements on antidiscrimination education, environmental education, critical literacy, and multiple literacies; it has articulated the Arts are a way of knowing, and making meaning. The cognitive and affective domain are acknowledged as part of the creative process, and the analysis process is articulated to acknowledges multiple points of view from larger socio-historical forces, to personal experience. Students are given voice, explore ideas, expose biases, embrace creativity, and become active agents in their learning. The concepts are infused throughout the document in examples that are focused on active involvement in artistic creation.

I am privileged to have been the project lead and principal writer of the Arts policy document review. The review was conducted with great care and included comprehensive information-gathering: research studies, benchmarking and document analysis with other jurisdictions (national and international), focus groups comprised of educators from 72 District school boards, and technical content analysis conducted by subject experts. The development has also been informed by existing promising practices in each of the arts disciplines, and consultations with Faculties of Education, parents, District School boards, Universities, and other Ministries; this formed the basis of recommended revisions to the curriculum. Writing, focus and feedback groups have advised on content and structural issues in relation to their specialty. The entire province had the opportunity to provide online survey feedback on the draft document (a combination of likert-score questions and open-ended questions), as well as numerous regional consultations (e.g., boards, universities, first nations schools, arts subject associations, arts councils). The process also included review and validation by colleges and universities (e.g., fact checks, bias checks). Several social justice lenses have been part of the revision such as inclusive education, environmental education, Aboriginal perspectives, and anti-discrimination education. There are many voices who have been directly and indirectly contributed to the document, and though this involves a system of consensus in some situations we were able to form a document that we can work with for at least the next decade.

The document was posted in May 2009 at:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/arts18b09curr.pdf

It is also available in hard copy for a nominal fee. I don’t think the pricing is set yet. Policy documents are often available for free (except for shipping and handling) or for less than $10. They are currently doing an initial print run of 150 000 copies for 8000 sites to get a few copies into each of the provincial schools. After this run is complete they will be able to take additional orders. The Publications Ontario website is:
https://www.publications.serviceontario.ca/ecom/

The document is called, “The Arts: Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8; (Revised 2009)” and it is publication number 231998.

There are a number of initiatives and projects underway to support the next stages of implementation. There is a lot of excitement in the system.

In upcoming blogs I will explore some of the details of the document, among other arts and education related topics.

Regards,
Mervi