The Wow Factor

More than ever before, the arts are shaping and influencing our daily lives through the media and the creative industries. The arts are no longer confined to museums and theatres, but are adding value to our national economies and improving the quality of education. This has implications for arts education. However, unlike other subjects taught at schools, the arts have rarely made their purpose clear: Why are they taught? What is good arts education? And what are the benefits of teaching creative subjects or using creative ways to teach?

In 2004 Professor Anne Bamford conducted the first international analysis of arts education research for UNESCO, in partnership with IFACCA and the Australia Council. Comparing data and case studies from more than 60 countries, the book analyses the differences between 'education in the arts' and 'education through the arts'. While appreciating that arts programmes are embedded in their unique social and cultural contexts, Professor Bamford develops internationally comparable standards for quality arts education. In addition, she identifies a number of concrete educational, cultural, and social benefits of arts education.

This definitive work is of major interest to policy-makers, educators and artists.

Pressestimmen

Genau zur Konferenz erschien das wichtige Buch "Faktor Staunen" der australischen Wissenschaftlerin Anne Bamford, die im Auftrag der UNESCO eine erste systematische und vergleichende Sichtung des Standes kultureller Bildung weltweit erstellt hat. [...] Das Buch ist eine wichtige Informationsquelle für politische Entscheidungsträger, Bildungsfachleute und Künstler.
Christine M. Merkel in: unesco heute online. Online-Magazin der Deutschen UNESCO-Kommission, Ausgabe 3-4, März/April 2006

The aim of this publication is to establish an international compendium on research demonstrating the impact of arts-rich programmes on the education of children and young people around the world.
In: artsresearchdigest, issue 37, summer 2006, p. 12f.

It is Bamford's definitions, her bullet-pointed findings, and case study summaries that I appreciate in this slim volume.
Melisa Borgmann in: Teaching Artist Journal 6(1).