SOFA - Save Our Fine Arts (Guest Post)

The following is a guest posting from Keith Scharnau who is a Director at Large for the Queen Elizabeth Band Parents Association. He is also a committee member of SOFA - Save Our Fine Arts, a group of representatives from high school band associations, teachers, parents and students.



There is a lot of important information in this post - please read it carefully as it will affect our children when they reach Junior and High School. Also consider getting involved by at least sending in your comments. The bold emphases are my only edits:

Dear Haultain Parents,

I would like to add some thoughts to the discussion around the proposed changes to the K-12 Arts Curriculum. The process of curriculum development is managed through Alberta Education. There are teachers who work along with Alberta Education specialists who review, develop and propose changes to curriculum. This process is necessary and ensures that the curriculum our children receive is current and reflects the realities of 21st century education.

First of all, I strongly encourage you to read the K-12 Arts Education Curriculum Framework developed by Alberta Education. The framework lays out a very convincing treatise for why arts education is important in 21st Century Education. The Rationale for Arts Education espouses the benefits of creativity and imagination, artistic literacy, transferable skills, cultural diversity, balanced development of the whole person, and student success. Nobody is arguing with these claims.

The framework continues with Guiding Principles such as student-centred learning, broad artistic and cultural perspectives, connections and community, artistic competence, and creativity and design. We are all with Alberta Education with this as well.

Next, there is an exploration of the creative process. This includes how the process is supported in the environment and the activity of arts education. Again, the government is preaching to the converted to this point in the framework.

For the first ten pages of the document, the supporting research and the bibliography are exciting and reveal a government ministry that seems ready to place arts education in its rightful place as a central component of the overall curriculum. It is the following pages outlining the program organization where we feel let down and disappointed with the short-sighted and narrow view of the vision going forward.

What the program organization proposes is modular format for arts education. Students will have "flexible entry points" or "specialized learning" through "1-credit, 25 hour courses in the arts" (currently, High School Band Students receive 5 credits for 125 hours of instruction). With this model, we loose the opportunity for students to achieve a level of competence to perform at a high level. The first day of band in grade 11 could see one third students who have been playing since grade 7, one third new players that want to be in band all year and one-third students who will only be taking band for 25 hours. There will be no foundation of learning, no spiral where students start at ground level and then build over a series of years their level of competence to higher and higher levels of achievement.

The teacher will be forced to work with each group differently - there will be no large ensemble work. There will be rampant behaviour problems as some students are overly challenged and others are bored with the elemental nature of the music. Our children will become disillusioned and leave the program. Rather than building arts programs of which students, and by extension the school can be proud of, we will have students moving through the programs like a turnstile, there will be nothing but the most rudimentary development.

What does this mean to elementary parents? The changes in the curriculum for elementary are appropriate for 21st Century learning and the developmental level of primary school age children. But for those who want to participate in arts education beyond elementary - for both highly skilled artists and those who pursue art as an area of interest - the entire arts education programs as we know them will be totally re-aligned. What is decided now will affect your child in Junior and Senior High School. The programs are expected to change in 2012 for Elementary, 2013 for Junior High and 2014 for High School. None of this will impact current High School students - this issue is about the future - your children.

We can't dig in our heels and refuse to participate. We need to move forward as the process is underway. What is needed now is feedback from parents, community members and Albertans of all walks of life. Take the time now to provide your comments to the K-12 Arts Education Framework Online Discussion Questions. Consider discussing this issue with your next Parent Council Meeting. Also, join other interested parents, educators, artists and community members with SOFA (Save Our Fine Arts) by sending us an email to saveourfinearts@gmail.com and watch for more information.

Finally, there is a SOFA meeting planned for this Monday, November 9th @ 7:30 p.m. at Lord Beaverbrook High School. This meeting is open to all who are interested in this topic. Come to listen, come to join the discussion, or come to participate in the call to action - just come.

I look forward to the discussion that comes from this issue amongst Haultain parents. Please let me know what additional information you may need or how I can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Keith Scharnau

Administrative Committee

SOFA (Save Our Fine Arts)

Parent of two sons who participate in arts education

Grade 9 - Band at Queen Elizabeth

Grade 5 - School Choir, Westside Children's Choir, Quest Theatre School