The new agreement for Folkeskolen, which was concluded by a broad majority in the Folketing before Easter, will abolish teaching in visual arts in 1st grade. It is a completely wrong way to go, believes the Association of Visual Artists, who, however, praises the agreement that the oldest students can choose visual art.
Folkeskolen must be set free so that the obviously most important thing comes into focus - namely the students' professional development, education and well-being. This is what it says in the new primary school agreement, which aims, among other things, to keep students away from screens.
Unfortunately, the settlement parties have at the same time chosen to abolish visual arts education in 1st grade:
"It rhymes very badly with wanting to strengthen children's education and reduce their screen consumption," says Marie Thams, frontwoman of Visual Artists.
"We see visual arts as a central educational subject with many opportunities for immersion, for deeper experience in connecting the senses and the mind, and for interdisciplinary collaborations, and therefore we believe that the subject must be strengthened both qualitatively and in terms of hours, not just in primary school, but also in teacher training," she says.
Marie Thams emphasizes that it is important to prioritize and maintain visual arts education as an integral part of children's education; visual arts give children the opportunity to explore their creativity and express themselves, and we also know from research that teaching visual arts has positive effects on learning in other subjects:
"If you deprive the 1st grade students of a year of visual arts education and break the continuous learning in the subject from kindergarten, the kindergarten class and on through school, you risk that it will have a negative impact on both the children's creative development and their general commitment to school - not just in 1st grade, but also later," says Marie Thams, who at the same time praises the settlement for the fact that students in secondary school now have the opportunity to take art as an elective:
"Visual art has an important role to play in the Danish primary school, and we appreciate that the oldest students can now choose it for themselves, and that the versatile expression of art can be unfolded in school," she says.
Action plan for visual arts
In 2019, the Association of Visual Artists published an 'Action plan for visual arts', in which a number of concrete proposals were made on how to strengthen children's and young people's encounter with the visual arts. Among other things: 1) strengthen the visual arts schools, 2) let all children meet a professional visual artist during their schooling, and 3) strengthen the visual arts subject both in elementary school and in teacher training.
Read the entire action plan here
Photo at top: Arken – Museum of Contemporary Art