The Readiness of Primary Schools to Teach the National Curriculum in Art and Design

This paper summarises the findings of the research and development project, ‘Supporting Primary Art’ which was established at the Centre for the Study of the Arts in Primary Education at the Rolle Faculty of Education of the University of Plymouth in October 1992 with support and funding from the Calouste Gulbenkian and Paul Hamlyn Foundations. It is the intention of the project to investigate the response of teachers in primary schools to the introduction of the national curriculum in art and, on the basis of the understandings gained, to develop and evaluate appropriate forms of in-service training and support materials to address those difficulties and concerns identified by teachers in meeting the overall requirements of the Statutory Orders for Art. The project has in mind the significant advantage to the development of art and design education in our schools that is presented by the introduction of the national curriculum in art and the opportunities here to reinforce and extend the richness and quality of the teaching of art to a wider cohort of schools. We hope that this report will help LEAs and those involved in the initial, postgraduate and in-service training of teachers in their work in preparing students and supporting teachers to understand, teach and deliver the national curriculum in art.