ABSTRACT

This chapter draws on the conceptual framework, Positive Youth Development (Benson and Saito, 2000; Lerner, 2005), to better comprehend the underlying processes by which the arts relate to students’ academic and personal wellbeing outcomes. Despite the attested merits of the arts, it is a curriculum area that has traditionally faced numerous challenges such as limited funding and budget opportunities and inadequate teacher training. Alongside these educational and funding challenges, methodological gaps in previous arts research have also hampered development in the field, including small sample sizes, cross-sectional data, the predominance of North American samples and limited quantitative work. These gaps were addressed in a recent large-scale research project in Australia. The present chapter summarises and discusses major findings from the quantitative component of that project, by detailing data based on 643 primary and secondary school students. Of particular interest are the roles of school, home and community arts participation in students’ academic and personal well-being outcomes. Discussion centres on the support provided by the data on the significance of the arts for students’ academic and non-academic well-being, the importance of the arts in the school curriculum, and the need for quality arts programmes in school and community settings.