The diversity of basic education in the arts must be safeguarded amid changing municipal finances
Concern for the wellbeing, learning and confidence in the future of children and young people is currently widespread and widely shared. Even amid economic challenges, our responsibility for their future must be reflected in the opportunities for learning and growth that we safeguard for them.
Finnish society is evolving, and basic education in the arts must evolve with it. Changes in the population structure, the financial situation of municipalities, the changing needs of children and young people, and changes in art and artistic practice require us to critically examine established ways of working. Pedagogical practices are evolving as well.
This also requires renewal within the field itself. The national visions for arts education and training and the Cultural Policy Report provide direction for this renewal: we need to reach children who are currently excluded from arts education, develop pedagogical practices, and strengthen cooperation between educational institutions, schools and municipalities. We must lower the threshold for participation while safeguarding opportunities to progress further. These goals go hand in hand.
Basic education in the arts provides children and young people with opportunities for long-term engagement with the arts, learning and the development of their own artistic expression. Engaging in the arts has profound value regardless of whether it ever leads to a profession: it builds a relationship with art, strengthens participation and provides communities in which children and young people can grow and engage with others.
In a survey of nearly 2,000 students conducted by the Association for Basic Education in the Arts, 99 per cent of respondents said that they experienced the joy of learning through their arts activities, while 97 per cent felt accepted as they are. Basic education in the arts gives children a place to learn, express themselves and belong to a community. At the same time, studying the arts provides opportunities to practise concentration, perseverance, collaboration and the ability to tolerate uncertainty.
Basic education in the arts is also an integral part of the Finnish education system and forms a learning pathway that can extend from childhood all the way to higher education in the arts and a professional career as an artist. The proposed new legislation on basic education in the arts is likewise based on the principle that education should remain goal-oriented and progressive and support opportunities to pursue further studies in the arts.
It is important to recognise this dual significance. Basic education in the arts must be accessible to as many children and young people as possible while also providing opportunities for sustained, goal-oriented development of artistic skills. Changes to basic education in the arts must therefore be assessed not only in terms of financial savings, but also in terms of their pedagogical, social and long-term impacts.
For Uniarts Helsinki, the considered and sustainable renewal of basic education in the arts is particularly important. We see first-hand the expertise and skills that have been built over years, and often decades, before students enter higher education. At the same time, our responsibility is to consider the significance of art beyond educational pathways leading to professional careers. Society needs people with experience of creativity, artistic thinking and working together, entirely regardless of whether they ever become professional artists.
The ongoing reform of basic education in the arts offers an opportunity to develop the system. Its objectives include improving the quality and accessibility of education and strengthening cooperation between municipalities and private education providers. Giving priority to children and young people as learners is at the heart of the reform.
A sound basis for sustainable reform is to ensure that, when activities are restructured and finances adjusted, the long-term quality and accessibility of basic education in the arts are safeguarded. When assessing the impact of changes on children and young people, it is valuable to draw on pedagogical expertise. These principles also provide a sound basis for decision-making at the local level.
Basic education in the arts is not simply one service among many provided today. It shapes children’s and young people’s relationship with art, communities and society, while laying the foundations for the expertise and skills on which the future of Finnish art depends.
Kaarlo Hildén
Rector, Uniarts Helsinki
Kaisa Rönkkö
Dean, Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki
Leevi Haapala
Dean, Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki