Education 3-13

Celebrating the Arts and Humanities in Primary Education

This special issue aims to address the growing concern that the arts and the humanities including areas of learning such as visual arts, music, drama, history, geography and religious education are marginalized in the primary curriculum in many systems.

Despite policy rhetoric emphasising a broad and balanced curriculum many schools struggle to protect time, resources and expertise for these especially due to the pressures of high stakes testing and accountability focused mainly on English and maths.

Contributions maybe based on academic and/or classroom-based research, work in collaboration with with arts and humanities organisations and other initiatives in which the arts and/or the humanities enrich young children's learning and promote their well-being and encourage and strengthen creativity, empathy, cultural understanding and critical thinking, for example.

Articles which demonstrate how these areas of learning can be, or have been, successfully integrated into a balanced and broadly-based primary curriculum whether in England or other systems and/or address challenges such as those related to sustainability, global citizenship and artificial intelligence will be especially welcome.