What Are the Benefits of Teaching Arts Subjects to Students?

I very much enjoyed art and creative subjects at school and thought it was a welcome break from the more academic subjects. I personally felt it helped with my self-expression and confidence. It also taught me about the power of perspective and visualisation as well as perseverance. Studying art taught me to believe in myself. Studies have shown that the arts subjects have positive effects on numerous aspects of a child’s cognitive development and social skills and improves wellbeing. To me, one aspect which is most important, is that these subjects, especially art and design or photography, encourage students to view the world around them differently and helps them to express themselves in a positive way.

It is quite widely known that art can reduce stress and anxiety which is something so valuable during a child’s academic life. Artistic subjects also help young people develop key social skills such as empathy and collaboration. It helps them keep an open mind and accept the different views and ideas of others. One thing I learnt was to be resilient in the face of constructive criticism. Other studies have demonstrated how artistic subjects helps to raise academic achievement and improves attendance. It can also increase chances of enrolment in higher education. The more physical of the arts subjects have shown to have positive effects on motor development that is, physical, learned skills and hand-eye coordination.

Art itself teaches us that mistakes are ok and to embrace them. It encourages the use of the imagination, a part of the human mind that we should never forget about. The Arts Council England found that ‘schools that integrate arts across the curriculum (…) have shown consistently higher average reading and mathematics scores compared to similar schools that do not’. Partaking in the arts also offers opportunities for students they would not usually have such as museum and theatre trips and the opportunity to be involved in community events and projects.

I asked one young student who took a mixture of art and academic subjects at school for their take on the topic. This young lady is now studying art at university after taking art, chemistry and biology at A Level. She chose art because she feels it calms her and it allowed her to express herself creatively with different materials and techniques. She hopes that by pursuing art, she can learn more about the different art styles and techniques and one day open her own art studio. She did very well academically, but ultimately chose to follow her passions and dreams, which is the most important thing.

It is clear that incorporating artistic subjects in school curriculums are highly beneficial for students in a number of different ways. They can help to give them skills that could be highly valuable for their future careers, and perhaps even illuminate the path to it.