Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research invited arts teacher, arts professors and others to a seminar with purpose to discuss the future of the arts and culture education. The seminar took place on February 28th and lasted for three hours. A number of scholars were invited were invited to present short talks (10 minutes each) and the most areas and levels of education were covered: from pre-school to university education level, as well as some after-school programs. Among the invited speakers, Professor Anna-Lena Østern (the following image) and Professor Svein Sjøberg made the strongest impression on me.
The Minister was leading the conference herself and receiving critique with humble. One of the strongest comments was posed by Professor Sjøberg (the following image) who noted politicians’ major misunderstanding that international testing results can be a true evidence of educational quality; OECD, as they pronounce openly, is interested in general economic progress and not in evaluation of educational systems in relation their national, contextual purposes and quality values. Sjøberg’s words were especially powerful taking in consideration that the Minister’s opening words were that Norwegian students are getting better on international tests. During the seminar on of the speakers also noted that countries that had the highest test scores, also were the countries with the highest suicide rates. The Minister said that she was aware this correlation had already discussed the matter with some other countries.
At the end of the seminar some time was left for questions and comments. I managed to gather enough confidence, stand up and read the words I had written on the train earlier that day. This is what I said (here translated to English):
One of the headings in the invitation for this seminar was: Do we need en attitude change? I suggest that it is necessary to examine our attitudes towards position of arts and culture in education.
The international testing race builds on an idea that taking high education and getting a well-played job equals good life. But if that is the only quality we seek, our hunger for economic progress will prevent many from finding meaning in their lives. Education that gives priority to “objective knowledge” and neglects feelings, imagination and experiences, prevents possibilities for meaningful lives, because it is exactly emotions and engagement in own experiences that make life worth living.
The arts safeguard imagination (necessary for construction of personal meanings), provide possibilities for mastery, afford with context for contributing to the others with unique personal contributions, make true engagement possible and motivate imagination and explorative learning. I cannot understand how the value of arts can be neglected in education, though I can understand that it is frightening to question the direction international education is heading for. I believe that it is necessary to pose a question whether it is wise to follow the international trends even if we are aware that it is going in wrong direction.
Relevant links:
Invitation to the meeting (in Norwegian)
Internet-TV with full coverage of the meeting (on the pages of Ministry of Education and Research)
