The Wow Factor Global research compendium on the ... - E-cademic

More broadly, arts education is a relatively neglected area for scholarly investigation.
As Zimmerman (1994: 60) notes, there has been considerable neglect of <strong>research</strong>
and practices related to arts teachers. This lack of <strong>research</strong> impacts negatively
upon future directions in arts education. Additionally, Zimmerman (1994:
65) contends that teachers and artists need to be encouraged to find a voice and to
be empowered to seek their own meaning and understandings as they engage in the
practice of arts teaching. <strong>The</strong> results of the <strong>research</strong> have shown a clear gap
between the espoused policy – that value the arts within education – and the actual
‘in school’ practices, that tend to fall significantly below the lofty aims existing in
policy.
While substantial studies into the benefits of art education have been undertaken in
the United States (USA), Canada, Australia, Finland, the United Kingdom (UK)
and others, a comprehensive analysis had not been conducted of global <strong>research</strong> in
arts education. Despite a range of studies indicating the benefits of the arts, the arts
remain undervalued in many countries.
Organisation of the book
<strong>The</strong> overall structure of the book has been designed to look comprehensively at the
state of arts education at the current point in time. <strong>The</strong> book utilises the data from
the survey to present a wide-ranging picture of arts-rich education around the
world. <strong>The</strong> rationale behind the original <strong>research</strong> is that it would be valuable to
capture the current state-of-play in relation to arts education around the world and
open this up for discussion so that at a local level teachers and artists they may be
able to communicate aspects of their practice and beliefs, and at a national or state
level ministries of education, arts and culture and educational and cultural agencies
may be provided with inspiration for models of future arts-rich education. It is the
contention of this book that through conversations, it is possible to differentiate the
present from the future and to think how the present and the future are likely to
differ. It is within a framework of future action and improvement that the <strong>research</strong>
– and resulting book – is conceived.
Since, earlier attempts to enhance the quality of long-term, classroom based
outcomes of arts-rich education programmes seem to have been largely ineffectual,
the book provided an opportunity to gather large-scale data and yet allow for the
presentation of case studies that encouraged the full involvement of teachers and
artists. In presenting the meta-analysis, the book tries to combine the statistical data
with the voice of the respondents so that equal attention is given to the ‘big picture’
as to the educational ecology surrounding arts-rich practices. It was equally
significant to investigate what was happening in arts education today in a global
and national level as it was to examine the ways teachers, artists and the
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