Introduction

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.

From 1982 until 1984, the Minister's Advisory Committee on Curriculum and Instruction Review undertook a province-wide study of education. The committee's final report, Directions, recommended that aesthetic education be a part of a kindergarten to grade 12 core curriculum for all students.

In the fall of 1986, an advisory committee was formed to advise Saskatchewan Education on curriculum development in the areas of dance, drama, music and visual art.

The Arts Education curriculum guides were developed in response to six main guidelines:

• the four strands of dance, drama, music and visual art should be developed as discrete strands
• each strand should include three components -- the creative/productive component, the cultural/historical component and the critical/responsive component
• the curriculum should be developed for use by both the generalist classroom teacher and the specialist
• the curriculum should include Indian, Métis and Inuit content and perspectives
• the required learnings should include knowledge, skills and attitudes
• the curriculum should be based on a 200 minute per week time allotment.

Each of the four strands of the arts program was developed by a specialist writer/developer. Drafts were taken periodically to the Arts Education Curriculum Advisory Committee and the Indian and Métis Education Advisory Committee for review and comment. In addition, the program underwent a two-year pilot during which comments and suggestions were gathered from classroom teachers throughout the province. These comments and suggestions were incorporated into the curriculum during the revision process.

During the development process, the developers worked closely with one another so that the curriculum would reflect both the integrity of the disciplines and the commonalities among them.