| Introduction | Program Aim and Goals | Philosophy | Three Components of Arts Education | Saskatchewan and Canadian Content | The Role of Specialized Courses |
Two Minister's advisory committee reports released in the 1980s provided the basis for the development of new policy and curricula in arts education in Saskatchewan.
In 1981 the Minister's Advisory Committee on the Fine Arts in Education released its final report with forty-five recommendations for improving the teaching of the arts in Saskatchewan schools. It recommended that a new curriculum be developed and provided guidelines for curriculum development. The committee also recommended that high schools be encouraged to offer specialized credit courses in the arts at the 10, 20, and 30 levels and that the Department of Education establish rigorous standards for specialized studies in the arts.
From 1982 until 1984, the Minister's Curriculum and Instruction Review Advisory Committee undertook a province-wide study of education. The committee's final report, Directions, recommended that aesthetic education be a part of the kindergarten to grade 12 Core Curriculum for all students.
In the fall of 1986, an advisory committee was formed to advise Saskatchewan Education in the areas of dance, drama, music, and visual art. Curriculum writers and the committee began to prepare curriculum documents for a four-strand arts education program and for specialized arts courses at the 10, 20 and 30 levels.
Dance 10, 20 and 30 curriculum requirements were established in response to four main guidelines:
During the development of these curriculum requirements, drafts were taken periodically to the dance sub-committee of the Arts Education Curriculum Advisory Committee and to the Indian and Métis Education Advisory Committee for review and comment. In addition, the requirements underwent a review by the Dance Reference Committee, composed of dance specialists and classroom teachers from the province. The comments and suggestions provided by these committees were incorporated into the document during the revision process.
| Introduction | Program Aim and Goals | Philosophy | Three Components of Arts Education | Saskatchewan and Canadian Content | The Role of Specialized Courses |
The Arts Education program has one major aim: to enable students to understand and value arts expressions throughout life. This one aim which also applies to specialized arts courses, describes the main outcome for students and the primary reason for including Arts Education in the Core Curriculum for all students.
The aim of the Arts Education program can be achieved through meeting the following goals. Students will:
| Introduction | Program Aim and Goals | Philosophy | Three Components of Arts Education | Saskatchewan and Canadian Content | The Role of Specialized Courses |
The Saskatchewan arts education program provides a unique "way of knowing" about the world and human experience. In order for students to benefit from this unique way of knowing, the program encourages the following:
In addition, the arts education program recognizes that artists are thinkers. Their ideas have contributed and continue to contribute to an understanding of human existence. The arts education program provides a place for critical and creative thinking and the development of student ideas.
| Introduction | Program aim and Goals | Philosophy | Three Components of Arts Education | Saskatchewan and Canadian Content | The Role of Specialized Courses |
All Saskatchewan arts education courses, including specialized courses, must incorporate the three components of the arts education program. These components are the creative/productive component, the cultural/historical component, and the critical/responsive component.
Courses are structured, through the inclusion of the three components, to achieve a balance in focus. The three components are not to be segregated but are intended to be interwoven throughout the program.
The Creative/Productive Component
This component includes the exploration, development, and expression of ideas in the language of each strand or art form. In order for an activity to be creative, the students must be actively engaged in a thinking process. Students will learn where ideas come from and how ideas can be developed and transformed. Reflection, both continuous and summative, is an essential part of the creative process and allows students to evaluate their own growth in their creative endeavours.
The Cultural/Historical Component
This component deals with the role of the arts in culture, the development of the arts throughout history, and the factors that influence the arts and artists. It includes the historical development of each art form. In addition, it focuses on the arts in contemporary cultures, and includes popular culture and various cross-cultural studies. The intention of this component is to develop in students an understanding that the arts are an integral aspect of living for all people.
The Critical/Responsive Component
This component enables students to respond critically to images, sounds, performances, and events in the artistic environment, including the mass media. Students will become willing participants in the interactive process between artist and audience rather than passive consumers of the arts. The curriculum suggests a seven-step process to help teachers guide discussion about dance presentations. The process is intended to move students beyond quick judgement to informed personal interpretation. A description of the process appears in Appendix C.
| Introduction | Program Aim and Goals | Philosophy | Three Components of Arts Education | Saskatchewan and Canadian Content | The Role of Specialized Courses |
The curriculum requirements encourage students to explore the rich and exciting arts community that exists in this province and Canada. It is important that students become familiar with their own artistic heritage and surroundings. If they study Saskatchewan and Canadian art and artists, they will recognize themselves, their environment, their concerns, and their feelings expressed in a diverse range of styles. They will learn that Saskatchewan and Canadian artists deal with personal, cultural, regional, and global concerns, and that artistic accomplishments in this province and Canada are cause for celebration.
| Introduction | Program Aim and Goals | Philosophy | Three Components of Arts Education | Saskatchewan and Canadian Content | The Role of Specialized Courses |
All students will have taken the four-strand arts education program at the Elementary and Middle Levels. Many Secondary Level students will wish to continue their study of the arts through a four-strand arts education program. Others who have a particular interest in one arts area will choose to further their studies by pursuing 10, 20, and 30 level courses in that one particular area.
Both the Secondary Level arts education curriculum and specialized courses are developed along a continuum of learning about and through the arts that began at the Elementary Level. The four-strand arts education program and the specialized courses ar e connected through their common developmental content and through their inclusion of the three components.
The most obvious difference lies in the time allotments. The dance strand of the four-strand program at the Secondary Level receives one quarter of an allotted one hundred hours, while the specialized dance courses receive the entire one hundred hour allotment. The additional time in Dance 10, 20, 30 allows students to explore the study of dance in greater depth.