Australian Education Review on the arts and education

On 12 January, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) released The Arts and Australian Education: Realising Potential, the most recent addition to its series, the Australian Educational Review (AER)

The AER series provides literature reviews, with analyses, of contemporary issues in education. In the most recently released edition, Professor Robyn Ewing from the University of Sydney examines the role of the arts (dance, drama, literature, media arts, music and visual arts) in Australian education.

In a media release, ACER says ‘the review highlights international research that shows those students whose learning is embedded in the Arts achieve better grades and overall test scores, are less likely to leave school early, rarely report boredom and have more positive self concept than those students who are deprived of arts experiences’.

In the review, Professor Ewing calls on Australian governments to invest in arts education initiatives along with research and evaluation of the initiatives.

For further information and to download a copy of the review, visit ACER’s website.

Item posted on 21 March 2011.