ABSTRACT
The National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education was set up to formulate recommendations to the Secretary of State on ‘the creative and cultural development of young people through formal and informal education’ and to make proposals for ‘principles, policies and practice’ (NACCCE, 1999:4). The resulting report, All Our Futures is set in the context of global economic and social change and has offered a real opportunity for re-examining the past and looking towards the future in arts education. To be a functioning and useful member of this rapidly evolving society requires the nurturing of individual expression, often through self-directed learning and creative activity, as well as a developed awareness and understanding of the wider society, in a global context. Indeed, themes concerned with the development of the individual in the context of wider society can be found in many educational ideas and philosophies which have historically underpinned the school curriculum.
