Culture and School, a survey of policies for arts and heritage education across the European Union.
Summary of results
The questionnaire for this study on policy on arts and heritage education in primary and secondary education in the EU member states was answered by all 25 member states during the Spring of 2004. We must make a general comment on the validity and reliability of the answers, however. The questionnaire was completed by civil servants from the member states’ ministries of education and/or culture. In a large number of cases the returned questionnaire was even authorised by the minister in question. But it remains an open question whether civil servants at the ministry of culture completed the questionnaire in the same way as their colleagues at the ministry of education would have done, and vice versa. For instance, one member state returned two completed questionnaires, one from the ministry of culture and one from the ministry of education (authorised by the minister). On the whole the responses did not differ that much, but they did in respect of policy objectives and compulsory and optional school subjects. The data from the authorised version were used in this analysis, but these discrepancies give food for thought. More extensive research, in the course of which other involved parties such as education inspectorates, lower-tier authorities and the educational institutions themselves are approached, will be necessary to obtain more valid and more reliable information for policy development.
The research has been carried out by Cultuurnetwerk Nederland, the Netherlands Expertise Centre for Arts- and Cultural Education by order of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in preparation of the international conference ‘Culture and School; Policies for arts and heritage education across the European Union’ which was held in the Hague in september in 2004.
International conference addresses the need for more comparable data Culture and school: learning to build bridges in diverse Europe
How to build bridges between the worlds of culture and
education? How to make a common European culture of
diversity broader than the continent itself? How to appeal to
children more attuned to Nike, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s than
to their own heritage? How to assess arts and heritage
achievements at school? The conference “Culture and School,
Policies for Arts and Heritage Education across the European
Union” (The Hague, 8 – 10 September 2004) offered rich food
for thought.
read more (PDF document)
You can download the whole survey at www.culture-school.net.
A printed bilingual (English and French) copy of the survey can be ordered at Cultuurnetwerk Nederland for € 45,-
You can order by phone: + 31 30 2361 200
or by email info(at)cultuurnetwerk.nl
Also available is a printed copy of the report of the conference (€17,50).