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acquisition. 12
Based on these understandings, a new curricula design of arts education for
sustainable thinking should incorporate the above-mentioned principles and
standards. Those kinds of curricula can be suggested as follows: 1) Smart by nature
programs that use nature as a context in arts education, 2) Artists in school
programs that bring artists to teach in schools and 3) service learning programs that
utilize local community resources in the learning process.
VI. Epilogue
The principles of ‘sustainability,’ which originated from an ecological point of
view, have expanded its influence to all dimensions of society. As a result,
‘sustainability’ has elevated into a core value that should be incorporated into all
lines of education including arts education.
Confronted with internal and external demands, arts education has
continuously evolved from an “education in arts” into an “education through arts”
and “education for life.” As a result, arts education, by restoring its inherent
principles and expanding its external values, has become encountered today with
ESD.
The Seoul Agenda: Goals for the Development of Arts Education, which was
adopted at the Second World Conference on Arts Education, held in Seoul in 2010,
provided a new way forward and a detailed action plan for arts education. This new
agenda is also in line with mainstreaming the principles and values of ESD in arts
education.
The goals of ESD will be achieved not by developing a new curriculum for ESD
but by internalizing ESD as a “hidden curriculum” within all subject areas. Hence, all
subject areas must seek to incorporate and mainstream the principles of
‘sustainability’ within its content. Arts education, which has tried to accommodate
knowledge acquisition in schools until now, can contribute to expanding
sustainability thinking in the individual and community level and building a
sustainable future by restoring its inherent principles.
The discussions and arguments presented in this article will be meaningful only
when they are implemented and practiced by the society of arts education including
12 Learning by knowledge acquisition can cause serious problems including 1) lack of motivation and
responsibility of the learner, 2) emphasis on learning techniques rather than understanding the meaning and
purpose of the subject, 3) production of dead knowledge, which is useless for the learner, and 4) error of
trusting blindly a standardized knowledge (Jung, Yeon-hee, 2007: 63).