Abstract
Introduction
In 2015, the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) assessed student achievement at Year 4 and Year 8 in three areas of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) – the arts, English: listening and English: viewing. This report presents the key findings for the arts as a learning area. The report draws on the breadth of student achievement data from three assessment components and selected information from questionnaires to provide key findings across the arts learning area.
The arts
The NZC describes the arts as one learning area. However, the arts is multidisciplinary in nature and includes the disciplines of dance, drama, music and visual arts. Each discipline has its own distinctive body of knowledge, concepts and modes of enquiry, and its own forms or genres, styles, conventions and processes. The curriculum requires that students at Years 4 and 8 have access to learning in each of the arts disciplines. Even though each arts discipline is organised with four common strands in the curriculum, for students to make progress, they must demonstrate specific discipline-related knowledge and skills. The four common strands are: understanding the arts in context, developing practical knowledge in the arts, developing ideas in the arts, and communicating and interpreting in the arts. How the strands are incorporated in the learning process varies across disciplines and in emphasis across age bands.
This complexity posed particular challenges for the assessment of the arts in NMSSA. The NMSSA assessment programme sought to assess student achievement in the arts (covering the four disciplines and across the strands) so that a national picture of student achievement in the arts could be gained.
Study features
NMSSA used a two-step sampling procedure to select 100 schools at each year level and up to 27 students within each school. The nationally representative sample at each year level was made up of about 2,200 students (see Appendix, Technical Information 2015 report).
This report draws on the breadth of student achievement data from three assessment components and selected information from questionnaires to provide key findings across the arts curriculum.
In 2015, the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) assessed student achievement at Year 4 and Year 8 in three areas of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) – the arts, English: listening and English: viewing. This report presents the key findings for the arts as a learning area. The report draws on the breadth of student achievement data from three assessment components and selected information from questionnaires to provide key findings across the arts learning area.
The arts
The NZC describes the arts as one learning area. However, the arts is multidisciplinary in nature and includes the disciplines of dance, drama, music and visual arts. Each discipline has its own distinctive body of knowledge, concepts and modes of enquiry, and its own forms or genres, styles, conventions and processes. The curriculum requires that students at Years 4 and 8 have access to learning in each of the arts disciplines. Even though each arts discipline is organised with four common strands in the curriculum, for students to make progress, they must demonstrate specific discipline-related knowledge and skills. The four common strands are: understanding the arts in context, developing practical knowledge in the arts, developing ideas in the arts, and communicating and interpreting in the arts. How the strands are incorporated in the learning process varies across disciplines and in emphasis across age bands.
This complexity posed particular challenges for the assessment of the arts in NMSSA. The NMSSA assessment programme sought to assess student achievement in the arts (covering the four disciplines and across the strands) so that a national picture of student achievement in the arts could be gained.
Study features
NMSSA used a two-step sampling procedure to select 100 schools at each year level and up to 27 students within each school. The nationally representative sample at each year level was made up of about 2,200 students (see Appendix, Technical Information 2015 report).
This report draws on the breadth of student achievement data from three assessment components and selected information from questionnaires to provide key findings across the arts curriculum.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | New Zealand |
| Publisher | Ministry of Education New Zealand |
| Commissioning body | Ministry of Education |
| Number of pages | 86 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-1-927286-28-9 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-1-927286-27-2 |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |