ABSTRACT
The demands placed on the modern curriculum have resulted in a tension between arts education and ‘traditional’ subject offerings (Gibson and Anderson, 2008) as well as questions being posed about the potential benefits of arts education on students’ outcomes such as motivation, engagement and achievement. Innovative and rigorous research that can ascertain the learning and motivational gains arising from participation in arts education will better inform policy and practice relating to arts education provision. Co-curricular and curricular arts in school have traditionally competed with the more mainstream ‘academic’ subjects. Many students (and their teachers and parents) see these subjects as providing a better pathway to further education and work (O’Toole, 1998). The arts are also often viewed as inconsistent with the type of motivation and engagement that is required for academic success at school and beyond (Gadsden, 2008). Proponents of arts education, on the other hand, have long argued that participation in co-curricular and curricular arts in school is no impediment to academicbased motivation, engagement and achievement. In fact, they maintain that outcomes in the Key Learning Areas are strongly and positively influenced by participation in the arts (e.g. Aprill, 2001; Hunter, 2005). Furthermore, there are many opportunities for children and young people to be involved in the arts outside the classroom, and so there is an additional need to examine the effects of this type of involvement on academic outcomes.
