The art of education reform: an analysis of the relationship between arts education and performance in mathematics and science

• Main Author: Xulu, Senzo Siphesihle
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 2016
• Subjects: Educational change > South Africa; Arts in education > South Africa; Science > South Africa > Mathematics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/14124

The role of the Arts Education in South African Education has long been a contentious and disputable topic. Despite this, a large amount of literature has been compiled advocating for the inclusion of the arts in schooling systems worldwide. Most of this literature speaks of the benefits of the arts, covering how they directly and indirectly affect 1) The learning environment 2) The learner and 3) The performance of the learner in other subjects. The basis of this study is to intently look at the third factor, the influence of the arts on a learner’s performance in other subjects, like Mathematics and Science. Though education reform programs are neither new nor few in number, those that have been implemented through the arts, and in low socio-economic areas, portray art education as a salient ingredient to holistic education reform. The study draws from such reform programs, from around the world, and categorically shows how they have successfully integrated arts education into their curricula. Through the investigation of the success and implementation of these programs, this paper shows that creativity - through the teaching of the arts - is a vital key to the education reform that South Africa is in need of, particularly in mathematics and science.