ABSTRACT
This chapter charts the developments of arts education and arts education research in Singapore over the last three decades. We identify how evolving education policies, reports and proposals have informed local teaching frameworks within the Ministry of Education and National Institute of Education then consider the implications of these developments and frameworks for the practice of arts teachers and external teaching artists working in Singapore schools. We contextualise education within the islandstate-nation of Singapore, articulating the purpose of its economically driven agenda before discussing how the emergence and implementation of an arts agenda in the mid-1980s resulted in a paradigm shift with a more focused and formal presence of the arts in schools. Tracing the shifting positions and development of music, visual art, drama and dance within the Singapore education system, we outline how subsequent and emergent arts and education policies and initiatives slowly but progressively consolidated a place for the arts in schools. An examination of what these have meant for teaching the arts both within and outside of the curriculum follow. Finally we raise questions about the possible future directions for arts education in Singapore.
