Dutch Studies of the Effects of Arts Education Programs on School Success

Abstract

The attitude of the Dutch government with regard to arts education in schools is somewhat ambiguous. On the one hand the unique contribution of arts to youngsters' development is constantly emphasized. However, this does not seem to be enough to legitimize the position of art subjects in education, and policy documents almost always mention their possible instrumental effects (Haanstra, 1994). Depending on the dominant educational ideology, these can be creativity and personality development or, in recent years, cognitive effects and effects on students' achievement in other school subjects. The memorandum, Culture and Schoo4 issued by the Department of Education, Culture and Science in 1996, is characteristic in this respect. It stresses the government's intention to improve cultural education. An alliance between educational and cultural institutions is expected to yield a host of benefits. Active participation in culture is good for the pupils and for the school atmosphere. And the memorandum adds: Research in the United States has shown that arts education has a positive effect on both reading and arithmetic skills (p. 24). The quote refers to `Learning improved by arts training' in Nature (Gardiner, Fox, Knowles & Jeffrey, 1996). This quote is an example of the opportunistic use often made of this kind of research, in which it is not questioned and verified whether the results are also valid outside the analyzed situations. For instance, the memorandum does not mention that the effects were due to a special content of the music and visual art curricula. The curricula emphasized `sequenced skill development' in comparison to `standard arts' classrooms. But in The Netherlands there are also more fundamental discussions about the role of arts education in relation to academic achievement. These discussions take place on all school levels, but the issues in elementary education are different from the issues in secondary education. In elementary education the effectiveness of special arts programs such as the extended school day and the art magnet schools is questioned as far as the improvement of school achievement is concerned. In secondary education the question has been raised whether art subjects are so-called 'soft' subjects and whether choosing arts as an examination subject is detrimental to one's later educational and socioeconomic career. The background of this discussion and the arguments used have a more educational sociological nature than an educational psychological one. The theory of the French sociologist Bourdieu about the impact of `cultural capital' on academic success has played an especially important role. This article summarizes the discussions in both elementary and secondary education in relation to the empirical evidence supporting the claims of the parties involved. Extended School Day in Dutch Elementary Education Differences in School Achievement Depending on the subject, 7 to 14% of the differences in school achievement among Dutch students are caused by qualitative differences between schools, i.e., differences in educational methods, teacher behavior, school organization and so on (Scheerens & Bosker, 1997). The rest of the differences in school achievement are mainly caused by factors related to individual cognitive capacities and socioeconomic background. Important indicators for socioeconomic background are the educational and professional levels attained by parents and parental income. In The Netherlands ethnicity has become a relevant factor only in the last decades, due to a rapid increase in the number of immigrant students. Especially students of Turkish, Moroccan, Antillean and Surinamese origin exhibit educational delays in language proficiency and arithmetic, as well as in factual subjects (geography and history), at the end of elementary education. These students are sent to lower types of post-compulsory education and often leave school without any qualifications. …