Exploring Aesthetic Approaches to Arts Integration : Providing Opportunities for Productive, Holistic and Inclusive Learning in Early Childhood and Primary Education

This book re-examines the role of arts integration in the preschool and primary school curricula, arguing for the creation of an educational environment where children can process every taught subject as an aesthetic stimulus.

This book re-examines the role of arts integration in the preschool and primary school curricula, arguing for the creation of an educational environment where children can process every taught subject as an aesthetic stimulus. Deriving from the author’s earlier work, this scholarly volume attempts to develop novel criteria for arts integration curricula, through examining the effects of different indicative arts integration activities implemented in preschool and primary classrooms. Taking a pedagogical approach, chapters enable readers to connect theoretical insights, implementation strategies and corresponding methodological guidelines. Ultimately, this book argues that the aesthetic integration of the arts into the curricula of preschool and primary schools has three distinct, important effects on the educational process: fostering a more creative and productive education through a multilevel approach, creating opportunities for holistic education by enhancing children’s multifaceted learning involvement and promoting multimodal and inclusive education by providing diverse resources of meaning-making. This book will be of interest to researchers, postgraduate students and academics in the fields of primary education, curriculum studies, teacher education and arts education. Educational policymakers and teacher trainers may also benefit from this volume more broadly.