Basic arts education endangered by the short-term mentality
INSTITUTES offering basic training in the arts are under increasing pressure to compete for children’s free time. According to many educators in the field, teachers and principals have a hard time getting children and teens who are increasingly accustomed to short-term gratification to commit to and maintain an interest in training courses in music, visual arts, and other such activities that demand patience and commitment.
“Attitudes change; now people typically want quick and easy results,” says Heli Tiainen, who, as the director of a national assessment project on basic training in the arts, is well placed to sum up the dominant feeling among teachers in the sector. There are over 460 institutions in Finland providing basic training in the arts, either for a fee or free. Over the past two years, the assessment group visited around two dozen of these institutes in various parts of the country and collected statements from teachers and principals in many others also. One common theme in the responses was the apprehension that arts teachers have about the widespread attitudinal change, with tenacity and long-term ambitions giving way to short-term aims and difficulties in concentrating.
Tiainen believes that with the support of enhanced pedagogical methods and child developmental know-how there are realistic hopes of training in the arts also prospering in the future. The study, which was carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Culture, showed that teachers in these institutes are typically highly committed to their work as well as eager to accommodate students with special needs. But nonetheless, Tiainen says, input from other fields is needed to cope.
An additional difficulty facing basic arts training is that the country’s ageing population makes the closure of many arts institutes increasingly likely in the coming years. A further and even more serious problem, according to Tiainen, is that the basic arts education network does not cover the whole country. In general, boys are significantly outnumbered by girls on the courses, even though the study found that in the vast majority of institutes serious efforts are made to ensure both sexes are accommodated for and treated fairly.
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