What are the values of expressive arts and health and well-being activities in primary education?

What are the values of expressive arts and health and well-being activities in primary education?

Within this blog we will be exploring the values of expressive arts within primary education drawing upon different links such as health and well-being, creativity, literacy and types of flow experience. Health and well-being, expressive arts and flow are apart of the six areas of learning experience within the new curriculum (Donaldson, 2015). 

With the introduction of the new curriculum vastly approaching and already being slowly implemented, children currently in primary schools as well as those newly coming through the system will have a major focus of health and well-being within their curriculum. Children need to experience social, emotional and physical well-being in order to thrive and engage successfully with their education (Donaldson, 2015). When I was in primary school the focus of health and well-being wasn’t as significant as it is today. Our health and well-being mainly consisted purely within PE lessons and when we were free to run around both lunch times and breaks rather than having a greater focus of it within any other core subjects within the classroom like there is today. The Health and well-being Area of Learning and Experience within the new curriculum aims to help to address concerns about physical activity and diet of all pupils (Donaldson, 2015). An example of this could be learning about the importance of nutrition and exercise and how it benefits children both physically and mentally. By allowing children to learn about this helps to contribute to the four purposes such as ambitious, confident learners as by knowing this knowledge allows them to put it to practise on their own lives. Health and well-being benefits children massively as it contributes to the prevention of poor mental health as according to the NHS (2018) one in 8 children ages between 5- 19 years old have suffered with one mental health disorder when assessed in 2017. The Daily Mile has recently had a large impact upon school’s health and well-being. The daily mile involves children running or jogging at their own pace outdoors on the playground or school field with friends. Children can occasionally walk but should aim to run or jog for the full 15 minutes (Daily Mile, 2019).

A large focus within expressive arts is the sense of creativity.

The following image is from a transcript of Ken Robinson’s TED talk from 2006, “How Schools Kill Creativity.” Video link can be found here: https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en


Before I begin to discuss the values of expressive arts within primary education, I feel its important to discuss the arguments I feel are raised about the usage of expressive arts within education. Many may argue that it is a waste of time and focus should be left to both literacy and numeracy, I know when I was in school the use of expressive arts wasn’t massively prioritised within our timetable as we may have had an art lesson once a week as well as dance lessons potentially once a term with no links to expressive arts in any other core subject. However, as you can see from my image above of Sir Ken Robinson, it is recognised today as well as within the new curriculum that actually expressive arts is as important if not equally as all core subjects as without it children cannot express themselves using creativity and imagination.  


Darley and Heath (2007) state that expressive arts are predominantly an educational process but can be therapeutic as it allows the child to move towards health and well-being. Expressive arts usually take the form of drama, visual art, music, dance, writing, imagery, puppetry or adventure therapy (Degges-White and Davis, 2011). For many pupils, achievement in the expressive arts also provides a basis for lifelong participation and can ultimately contribute to a thriving economy and cultural life for Wales (Donaldson, 2015). Expressive arts not only contribute to health and well- being but certain activities such as dance, drama and writing can allow children to enter a series of what’s known as a ‘state of flow’. State of flow can occur when a child is deeply engaged in an activity paying only attention and focus to what they are doing rather than the environment around them. State of flow can be linked to spirituality and mindfulness, two areas known to have large benefits upon health and well-being. Not all moments of flow contribute to a conscious spirituality, but some may, and a child might experience almost any activity as special in this way (Hay, 2006). Mindfulness can be described as paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally (Kabat-Zinn, 1994). Experiencing Immersive mind states when conducting mindfulness are related to inner-happiness, imagination, originality and creativity. There are many mindfulness activities that children can experience as mindfulness is a growing part of the curriculum used to help children develop patience and better focus. 

It’s clear from this blog that both health and well-being and expressive arts have and should continue to have large values within primary education. It’s significant that children learn about the importance of health and well-being and its benefits both physically and mentally in order to maintain it. Expressive arts allow children to express creativity, confidence and imagination because without it, how can we expect children to grow as individuals? As previously said at the beginning of the blog, children need to experience social, emotional and physical well-being in order to thrive and engage successfully with their education (Donaldson, 2015).













References


The Daily Mile. (2019) About us. Available at: https://thedailymile.co.uk/about/ (Accessed 28^th March 2019).

Darley, S., Heath, W., Darley M., et al. (2007) The expressive arts activity book. A resource for professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 

Degges-White, S and N. L., Davis. (2007) Integrating the expressive arts into counselling practice. Theory-based interventions. New York: Springer Publishing Company, (pp. 87–100).

Hay, D., & Nye, R. (2006). The spirit of the child (Rev. ed.). London: Jessica Kingsley.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994) Wherever you go. There you are: mindfulness meditation in everyday life. London: Hachette Books.

NHS (2018) Mental Health of Children and Young People in England. Available at: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england/2017/2017 (Accessed 28th March 2019).

Ted Talks (2006) Do schools kill creativity? Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en (Accessed 29^th March, 2019).