PAM Research Report by moe_star

Enhancing 21st Century Competencies in Physical Education, Art and Music: PAM Research Report

All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. No part of it may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Physical Education and Sports Teacher Academy (PESTA) and the Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR).

Published by

Physical Education and Sports Teacher Academy (PESTA) Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR) 2 Malan Road

Singapore 109433 http://www.pesta.moe.edu.sg http://www.star.moe.edu.sg

ISBN: 978-981-09-8447-2

Foreword

Acknowledgements

chApter 1

Introduction to pAm research

siew ling chUA, kok Boon lIm, hanif ABdUl r AhmAn

chApter 2

effective Affective learning: the case of physical education in singapore

Anthony leow, gwendoline wendy koh, hanif ABdUl r AhmAn

chApter 3

development of 21cc through Art in singapore

schools: re-Assessing singapore Art teaching

kok Boon lIm, chor howe teo, Bee lian kehk , Victoria loY

chApter 4

pedagogical leverages for the 21st century music classroom

siew ling chUA, hui ping ho, chee-hoo lUm, chai Jing tAn

chApter 5

conclusion

siew ling chUA, kok Boon lIm, hanif AB

foREwoRd

Bringing out the best in our students has always been our main goal and this means developing them holistically, in all aspects – moral, cognitive, physical, social and aesthetic. International benchmark studies in recent years have affirmed Singapore’s success in providing quality education to our students. There is more we can do to ensure that the quality of education we provide continues to be progressive and grounded by the current and future needs for our students. The move towards student-centric, valuesdriven education makes learning engaging and versatile in meeting the varied learning needs of our students in the 21st century.

The establishment of Physical Education and Sports Teacher Academy (PESTA) and Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR) in 2011 was a significant milestone to enhance the quality of teaching in Physical Education (PE), Art and Music education. Since then STAR and PESTA have nurtured a teacher-led culture of continual learning through mentoring programmes, various professional development opportunities and research.

Mr Wong Siew Hoong Director-General of Education Ministry of Education, Singapore

Educational research generates professional knowledge from evidence-based practices and provides a sound basis for innovation and change. The PE, Art and Music (PAM) Research is one such example. A collaborative venture between MOE, PESTA, STAR, schools and the National Institute of Education, the PAM Research sought to determine the pedagogical principles and practices that would support the development of the 21st Century Competencies (21CC) in PE, Art and Music. Together, the team of researchers have started to define what can be considered as the Singapore approach to the infusion of 21CC in these subjects.

I congratulate the teams who have worked on this research and I am confident that their findings will go a long way towards the provision of quality education for our students. As you read this, I hope that you will be inspired by the insights that these teams have gathered and take up the challenge to make advancements of your own towards pedagogical innovation.

ACknowlEdgEMEnts

This research was possible through the contributions of the following people and schools:

pAm rese Arch commIttee (2012 to 2014)

(Designations presented are as of 2012 to 2014)

Advisor

Prof Lee Wing On Dean / OER, NIE-NTU

Assistant Advisor

Prof David Hung

chairpersons

Mrs Rebecca Chew

Ms Melanie Martens

Mrs Teo Khin Hiang

Mr Tan Teck Hock

members

Mr Ong Kim Soon

Associate Dean / OER, NIE-NTU

Academy Principal / STAR (from 15 Dec 2012)

Academy Principal / PESTA (from 15 Dec 2013)

Former Academy Principal / STAR (till 14 Dec 2012)

Former Academy Principal / PESTA (till 14 Dec 2013)

Deputy Director / PESEB

Mr Low Eng Teong Deputy Director / AEB

Mr Melvin Chng Curriculum Policy Specialist / Curriculum Policy Office

pe subject team

Mr Hanif Abdul Rahman

Dr Isabella Wong

Mdm Wendy Koh

Master Teacher (PE) / PESTA, Principal Investigator

Sub-Dean / HPLD, NIE-NTU (Research Advisor)

Programme Manager / PESTA

Mr Shang Thian Huat Programme Manager / PESTA

Dr Anthony Leow Programme Manager / PESTA

Mr Timothy D’Cruz

Programme Manager / PESTA

Ms Connie Yeo Senior Specialist (Physical Education) / PESEB

Dr Susanna Ho Senior Specialist (Outdoor Education) / PESEB

Supported by

Miss Phyllis Thia

Mr Teng Tse Sheng

Mr Roskhaider Mohd Saat

Ms Helen Low

Art subject team

Mr Lim Kok Boon

Programme Manager / PESTA

Programme Director (Art) / STAR, Principal Investigator

Ms Kehk Bee Lian Lecturer / VPA, NIE-NTU (Research Advisor)

Mr Teo Chor Howe

Mdm Victoria Loy

Ms Grace Kwa

Senior Specialist (Art) / AEB

Master Teacher (Art) / STAR

Programme Manager (Art) / STAR

Supported by

Ms Tang Hui Jing

Mdm Chun Wee San

Mr Lee Pheng Guan

Mdm Ira Wati Sukaimi

Dr Koh Bee Kim

Ms Dee Chia

Ms Jane Hoe

Mr Nathanael Tan

music subject team

Mrs Tan-Chua Siew Ling

Asst Prof Lum Chee Hoo

Mrs Li Yen See

Ms Ho Hui Ping

Ms Agnes Tan Chai Jing

Dr Koh Chee Kang

Ms Lee Chin Sin

Mr Lim Seng Yuen

Supported by

Mrs Joanne Yeo

Mr Lennie Chua

Ms Sheryl Sim

Mdm Suriati Suradi

Programme Manager (Art) / STAR

Senior Specialist (Art) / AEB

Arts Education Officer (Art) / AEB

Programme Director (Music) / STAR, Principal Investigator

Assistant Professor / VPA, NIE-NTU, Coordinator of UNESCO-NIE

Centre for Arts Research and Education

Master Teacher (Music) / STAR

Programme Manager (Music) / STAR

Senior Specialist (Music) / AEB

Senior Specialist (Music) /AEB

Arts Education Officer (Music) / AEB

Programme Manager (Music) / STAR

Master Teacher (Music) / STAR

InternAtIonAl pAnel (Ip) memBers (2013 to 2014)

(Designations presented are as of 2013 to 2014)

Mrs Daisie Yip

Dr Isabella Wong

Dr Judith Rink

Cluster Superintendent (Retired), MOE

Sub-Dean / HLPD, NIE-NTU

Emeritus Professor, University of South Carolina, USA

Mr Kiran Kumar Gosian Principal, Sembawang Primary School

Ms Melanie Martens Former Principal, St Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School (Current Academy Principal / PESTA)

Dr Ralph Pim Professor, Physical Education / Director of Competitive Sports (Retired), United States Military Academy, West Point, USA

Mr Tan Siew Tiong Principal, East Coast Primary School

Art

Prof Karen Lee Carroll

Dean, Centre for Art Education, Maryland Institute College of Art

Dr Richard Hickman Reader in Art Education, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge

Dr Winston Ang Blue Dot Art Consultant

Ms Kehk Bee Lian Lecturer / VPA, NIE-NTU

Mr Low Joo Hong Principal, Siglap Secondary School

Mr Yang Tien Deputy Director (Animation), Nanyang Polytechnic

music

Dr Scott Shuler

Arts Education Specialist, Connecticut State Department of Education, USA

Dr Eric W. Favaro Arts Education Consultant, Canada

Dr Lum Chee Hoo Assistant Professor / VPA, NIE-NTU, Coordinator of UNESCO-NIE Centre for Arts Research and Education

Mr Eric Peter Stead Senior Lecturer / VPA, NIE-NTU

Mrs Clara Lim-Tan Principal, CHIJ (Kellock) School

Mrs Constance Loke Principal, Haig Girls’ School

schools

Admiralty Primary School

Anderson Primary School

Anderson Secondary School

Anglican High School

Beacon Primary School

Bedok View Secondary School

Bukit Panjang Primary School

Canberra Secondary School

Cedar Girls’ Secondary School

Chongzheng Primary School

Clementi Town Secondary School

Edgefield Primary School

Endeavour Primary School

Holy Innocents’ High School

Keming Primary School

Maris Stella High School (Primary)

Naval Base Primary School

Ngee Ann Primary School

Radin Mas Primary School

River Valley Primary School

Seng Kang Primary School

St. Andrew’s Junior School

St. Andrew’s Secondary School

St. Gabriel’s Secondary School

West Grove Primary School

Zhenghua Primary School

Siew Ling CHUA, Kok Boon LIM, Hanif ABDUL RAHMAN

BACkgRound

In 2010, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced a new framework to be implemented in Singapore schools, the purpose of which is to enhance the development of 21st Century Competencies (21CC) in students, which will underpin the holistic education provided by schools. This was done with the objective of achieving student outcomes where a student becomes an active contributor, a concerned citizen, a self-directed learner, and a confident person.

In the same press release, MOE also announced its commitment to strengthen the quality of Physical, Art and Music (PAM) education as “these subjects enable students to develop physical robustness, enhance their creative and expressive capacities, as well as shape their personal, cultural and social identity” (MOE, 2010). The establishment of the Physical

ConfidentPerson

Education and Sports Teacher Academy (PESTA) and the Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR) in 2011, to support the in-service professional development of Physical Education (PE), Art and Music teachers, testifies to MOE’s commitment to strengthen PAM education.

When STAR and PESTA were launched in 2011, the academies envisioned their role as key engines to enhance the quality of PAM education, which would contribute to the Whole-of-Government 1 efforts to ensure sustainable economic growth, world class living environment, strong families and a cohesive society. This is aligned to the broader government agenda that involves:

a. MOE’s strategic focus in building 21CC and values in students;

b. The focus of then Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts (now Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth) on

Self-directedLearner

transforming Singapore into a Distinctive Global City for the Arts from the Renaissance City Plan; and

c. The focus of then Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (now Ministry of Social and Family Development) and then Singapore Sports Council’s (now Sport Singapore) initiative of Vision 2030 to further develop a Sporting Singapore.

In 2012, STAR and PESTA met with the Arts Education Branch (AEB) and Physical & Sports Education Branch (PESEB), MOE, and the National Institute of Education (NIE) to discuss a collaborative two-year government-funded research study to establish the significance of PE, Art and Music in the development of 21CC. The study, which was referred to as “PAM Research”, was designed to examine the impact of PE, Art and Music pedagogies on the delivery of the 21CC and PAM student outcomes. A committee, comprising representatives from various MOE divisions and NIE, was set up with Professor Lee Wing On (then Dean, Office of Education Research, NIE) and Professor David Hung (Associate Dean, Office of Education Research, NIE) acting as advisors. The subject teams for PE, Art and Music were formed to conceptualise the research process and methodology, to develop the evaluation guides, and to implement the research in subject-appropriate ways.

REsEARCh PuRPosE

This research establishes the significance of PAM in developing the 21CC that would constitute the

social capital for nation building. PAM subjects serve as important platforms through which life skills can be taught. MOE postulates that equipping students with life skills will better position them to take advantage of opportunities in a globalised world, build social cohesion and personal commitment to the community, and therein, develop Singapore’s social capital.

While there is current international discourse (Voogt & Roblin, 2012; Schleicher (ed.), 2012; Dede, 2010; Shuler, 2011) on what constitutes 21st century skills and competencies, it is recognised that implementing 21CC poses pedagogical challenges for teachers. This research sought to understand subjectappropriate pedagogical principles that better deliver the 21CC, and draw the links between PAM subjects and the development of 21CC. These research findings would provide information to MOE on the design of professional development programmes and the support structures needed for the delivery of the PE, Art and Music curricula, and 21CC. It also aimed to inform PAM teachers and coaches on good teaching practices that could foster the development of 21CC and aid in the achievement of student outcomes. Lastly, it is hoped that the insights gained from the research would help enhance the holistic education of our students through PAM and raise the capacity of the PAM fraternity.

MEthodologY

This research adopted a Case Study approach (Yin, 2009) incorporating both quantitative and qualitative elements to allow for an in-depth and holistic study, which takes into consideration the intricacies of ground situations and contexts.

It was designed to understand the characteristics of effective pedagogies, and consequently incorporate these characteristics into the teaching and learning of PAM. A total of 12 PE, 12 Art and 12 Music teachers, from primary and secondary schools, participated in the research. The teachers involved in this research study were of varying teacher profiles so that findings would allow for translating, scaling and implementing future professional development programmes.

As part of the study, the teachers and their respective classes were observed by an International Panel, and guided by evaluation tools designed by the respective subject teams. The purpose of the International Panel was to present an objective perspective of the PE, Art and Music teaching practices, and observe student behaviours in Singapore’s primary and secondary classrooms.

During the school visits, the International Panel also examined other artefacts from the teachers, such as schemes of work and lesson plans. To triangulate data from the lesson observations, the International Panel members conducted both interviews with the teachers and focus group discussions with students.

The school visits were conducted in three stages over a two-year period: Baseline (January to March 2013); Interim (July to September 2013); and,

Final (July to September 2014). In between these stages, professional development interventions, in the form of mentoring, workshops and networked learning, were conducted based on the recommendations of the International Panel.

The International Panel provided an overall description of the impact of PAM pedagogies, and advised on the principles for student-centred PAM learning that nurture 21CC and PAM student outcomes. The International Panel’s observations and recommendations became part of the data collection of this research study, and were analysed in conjunction with other data sources including teachers’ and students’ questionnaires administered by the respective subject teams.

The data collection stages and research processes are summarised in the flow chart in Figure 1.1 (Research Processes Flow Chart). The processes are:

a. Pre- and Post-Research Questionnaire administered to PAM teachers to examine their understanding and perspectives of teaching methods and teaching practice, the factors influencing the achievement of student outcomes, and to gather feedback on the professional development interventions in nurturing 21CC;

b. School visits by the International Panel to provide an objective account of the following through

The purpose of the International Panel was to present an objective perspective of the PE, Art and Music teaching practices, and observe student behaviours in Singapore’s primary and secondary classrooms.

lesson observations, focus group discussions and interviews:

• Teachers’ pedagogies that seek to nurture 21CC

• Students’ observable behaviour demonstrating 21CC through PAM

c. Professional development interventions to clarify teachers’ understanding of 21CC, and, provide support and guidance in nurturing 21CC in PAM education through mentoring, workshops and networked learning.

Baseline Stage (Jan-Mar 2013): Questionnaires, and International Panel visit

Professional Development Interventions

Interim Stage (Jul-Sep 2013): Questionnaires, and International Panel visit

Professional Development Interventions

Final Stage (Jul -Sep 2014): Questionnaires, and International Panel visit

Consolidation and Report

International Panel

The International Panel comprised three teams (PE, Art and Music); each consisting of local and overseas subject pedagogues, academics, and school leaders, identified by the academies as possessing in-depth knowledge or having experience of the Singapore PAM education contexts, and who are well regarded in their respective subjects. Another criterion was that they should possess a good understanding of 21CC. As both the international and local members in each team were required to discuss

and provide a consensual assessment of their observations at school visits, the process allowed for a mediation of insider and outsider perspectives on the pedagogical moves and observable student-outcomes.

In summary, the role of the International Panel was to:

a. Provide an overall description of the impact of PAM education pedagogies on the delivery of 21CC and student outcomes;

b. Identify the strengths and areas for improvement for 21st century PAM

Figure 1.1: Research Processes Flow Chart

education, and recommend ways to enhance the strengths and make improvements; and

c. Provide input on directions of PAM education pedagogies, and make recommendations on professional development programmes and the support structures that are needed for the delivery of the curriculum and development of 21CC.

Research and evaluation Guides

The PE, Art and Music subject teams developed the PAM PE Research Guide and the Art and Music Evaluation Guide for the International Panels to provide guidance on the research and evaluation processes. Since the research was about nurturing 21CC, the operational definitions for observable 21CC behaviours in students were adapted from the indicators in the “Standards & Benchmarks for 21st Century Competencies” and the “Standards and Benchmarks for Social and Emotional Learning” by MOE. The other key considerations were that the student behavioural indicators should be guided by syllabus outcomes and also measure 21CC in subject-specific areas. The indicators should also be sufficiently broad for qualitative comments and feedback to be made by teachers and the International Panels.

The teams designed the guides in unique ways, guided by the beliefs and objectives of PESTA and STAR

respectively. For example, the PE subject team focused on the social and emotional competencies of selfawareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decisionmaking, and relationship management in the MOE 21CC framework. This was a deliberate decision made to examine how PE could develop social and emotional competencies and the affective domain, which seemed to be a less discussed area in PE teaching (Weiss, 2011, p. 4). For Art and Music, the subject teams focused on the 21CC outcomes of civic literacy, global awareness and cross-cultural skills, critical and inventive thinking, and communication, collaboration and information skills. The aim was to explore broader pedagogical principles and leverages to nurture 21CC.

The PE Research Guide dwelled on three main areas that were viewed by the PE subject team as crucial to the understanding of affective development within PE. These areas were: (a) Teacher’s belief and practice; (b) Teacher’s pedagogical principles; and (c) Students’ competencies. Four guiding pedagogical principles on effective PE teaching and learning that promote affective development were incorporated in the guide. These principles were: (a) Positive Learning Environment; (b) Effective Communication; (c) Engaged Learning; and, (d) Skilful Management. Key teacher practices that corresponded

The aim was to explore broader pedagogical principles and leverages to nurture 21CC.

to the guiding principles were also included to guide the International Panel in their lesson observations. Examples of these key teacher practices are: (a) Establishing positive teacher-student relationships (Positive Learning Environment); (b) Giving feedback appropriately (Effective Communication); (c) Facilitating reflection (Engaged Learning); and, (d) Establishing expectations and routines to encourage pro-social norms (Skilful Management).

As for the Art and Music evaluation guide, this was designed to guide the International Panel in evaluating and providing feedback on the Art and Music pedagogies and resultant observable student behaviours. It provided indicators for lesson observations and guiding questions for focus group discussions and interviews with students and teachers. The evaluation framework was framed by the seven principles of studentcentred arts learning, which were derived from lesson observations (local and overseas) by STAR, feedback from AEB, and dialogue with teacher-leaders from October 2011 to May 2012. These principles included: (a) Knowing students (psychology and development in art / music); (b) Making learning relevant through contextualising learning of the arts; (c) Providing choices and empowering students to make decisions (in the arts processes, learning goals, and criteria of success); (d) Facilitating reflection-in-action, reflection-on-action and critical thinking; (e) Facilitating creativity in art and music making; (f) Creating a ‘flow’ (fluency, pacing, aesthetic flow); and, (g) Creating a conducive arts learning environment (e.g. organisation for instruction, collaborative learning).

Questionnaires

The PE questionnaires were designed to understand: (a) Teachers’ perceptions of their pedagogical principles and practices; and, (b) Teachers’ ability to develop social and emotional competencies. The design of the PE questionnaires was based on theories and concepts found in the The Skillful Teacher (Saphier, Haley-Speca & Gower, 2008) and the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programmes Guide (CASEL, 2013). Data from the first questionnaire aimed to inform the team on teachers’ views of the impact of PE and Sports on the affective development of students, and on their pedagogical principles and practices used to foster students’ affective learning. The second questionnaire aimed to provide data on teachers’ perceptions of their level of competence in developing social and emotional competencies in their students, and how they attempted to develop these social and emotional competencies in their students during PE lessons. The two questionnaires were administered to the 12 PE teachers at the Baseline and Final stages of the research.

In addition, a student questionnaire, adapted from the Rating Tool for Social and Emotional Competencies (RTSEC) developed by the Guidance Branch, MOE, was designed to gather information on students’ perceptions of their social and emotional competencies. It was also administered at the Baseline and Final stages of the research to 12 students within each of the sample classes.

All three questionnaires were piloted before they were administered. Responses from the

questionnaires were triangulated with data collected during lesson observations, focus group discussions with students, and teacher interviews. The collected data provided the research team with information on teacher beliefs and teacher practice, teacher pedagogical principles, and student competencies.

The Art and Music questionnaires were developed and designed to understand teachers’ perspectives of their own teaching practice in relation to the seven principles of student-centred arts learning as described in the evaluation guide. The design of questions for each of the principles was guided by underpinning theories. For example, the teacher moves in The Skillful Teacher (Saphier, Haley-Speca & Gower, 2008) were used to frame the questions for the principle on creating a ‘flow’. Artful thinking palette from Project Zero was used to define the critical thinking dispositions in Art. Literature on creative processes by Petty (1997), Sternberg & Williams (1996), Burnard (2012), and Odena (2012) were used to define the questions on facilitating creativity.

Three versions of the questionnaire were piloted prior to the administration. As the questionnaire was also administered to other Art and Music teachers, the data from the questionnaire allowed the research team to understand where the

identified teachers stood in terms of their teaching practices compared to the rest of their Art and Music colleagues in Singapore, and informed the research team on teachers’ perception of their teaching practices. The Art and Music questionnaires were administered at the beginning of the research (November 2012 – January 2013), and toward the end of the research (July – August 2014).

Research ethics

Research ethic protocols were adhered to throughout the study. The research participants gave informed consent, and were allowed to decline participation or withdraw from the study at any time. Classroom observations, focus group discussions and interviews, and the recording of these sessions proceeded with parental consent and student assent. Data collected was kept confidential, and subsequent reporting of data ensured anonymity was preserved.

ConClusIon

Overall, the PAM Research confirmed the unique contributions of PE, Art and Music to the nurturing of 21CC. This chapter broadly sets out the rationale, context and methodology for the research. The remaining chapters aim to elaborate further on the processes and share the key findings that will be useful for the teaching of PE, Art and

Overall, the PAM Research confirmed the unique contributions of PE, Art and Music to the nurturing of 21CC.

Music, as well as the professional development of teachers. Chapter 2 discusses the evidence of how PE could catalyse the development of social and emotional competencies and the five affective learning opportunities. Chapter 3 discusses the development of 21CC through

effective Art teaching practices. Chapter 4 discusses the four pedagogical leverages for Music in the fostering of students’ 21CC. And finally, Chapter 5 summarises the key learning that is common across the PE, Art and Music studies.

references

Burnard, P. (2012). Musical creativities in practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning. (2013). Effective social and emotional learning programs: Preschool and elementary school edition. Retrieved 27 August, 2015, from http://www.casel.org/preschool-and-elementary-edition-casel-guide

Dede, C. (2010). Comparing frameworks for 21st century skills. In J. Bellanca & R. Brandt (Eds.), 21st century skills: Rethinking how students learn (pp. 51-75). Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.

Ministry of Education. (2010). MOE to enhance learning of 21st Century Competencies and strengthen Art, Music and Physical Education. Retrieved 1 January, 2015, from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/2010/03/moe-to-enhance-learning-of-21s.php

Odena, O. (2012). Musical creativity: Insights from Music education research. England: Ashgate Publishing Limited.

Petty, G. (1997). How to be better at creativity. London: Kogan Page Ltd.

Saphier, J., Haley-Speca, M. A., & Gower, R. (2008). The skillful teacher: Building your teaching skills. United States of America: Research for Better Teaching, Inc.

Schleicher, A. (Ed.). (2012). Preparing teachers and developing school leaders for the 21st century: Lessons from around the world. OECD Publishing. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264174559-en

Shuler, S. C. (2011). Music education for life: The three artistic processes: Paths to lifelong 21st-century skills through music. Music Educators Journal, 97(4), 9-13.

Sternberg, R. J., & Williams, W. M. (1996). How to develop student creativity. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Voogt, J., & Roblin, N. P. (2012). A comparative analysis of international frameworks for 21st century competences: Implications for national curriculum policies. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 44(3), 299 – 321.

Weiss, M. R. (2011). Teach the children well: A holistic approach to developing psychosocial and behavioral competencies through physical education. Quest, 63(1), 55-65. doi: 10.1080/00336297.2011.10483663

Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Zainal, K. (2011). Reviewing Whole-of-Government collaboration in the Singapore Public Service. Ethos, 9, 11-18.

Anthony LEOW, Gwendoline Wendy KOH, Hanif ABDUL RAHMAN

IntRoduC tIon

Recent education policies and curriculum documents in Singapore promote the development of 21CC as a cross-curriculum goal and place the goal at the centre of the education process in Singapore schools. All subjects, including PE, are required to contribute to the development of 21CC and the desired student outcomes as delineated in the MOE Framework for 21CC and Student Outcomes. This growing emphasis on outcomes beyond academic achievements is the result of a confluence of factors, including shifting perceptions and mindsets among Singapore’s political leaders that started with the vision of “Thinking Schools, Learning Nation”, as advocated by former Prime Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong (Goh, 1997).

This chapter addresses the question of how PE can be an integral part of the total curriculum within Singapore schools in fostering the development of the 21CC and its associated desired student outcomes. More specifically, we look at the evidence of PE as one of the prime sites for facilitating students’ development of 21CC and how PE teachers can catalyse this growth process. We will make the argument that PE is one subject that holds great potential in developing students’ core values and Social and Emotional Competencies (SEC) as there are ample opportunities for social interactions among students, and between student and teacher, within lessons (Bailey, 2006; Hellison, 2011; Theodoulides & Armour, 2001). This chapter also presents data from empirical work undertaken with the participating schools and their two-year professional learning journey with PESTA. The impetus on developing students’ 21CC in a globalised world is unlikely to dissipate and therefore, teacher educators, school leaders, policy writers and PE teachers need to better

understand how to effectively meet the learning needs of 21st Century students without losing sight of the primary purpose of PE that addresses students’ psychomotor development.

The cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains are integral aspects of a student’s education and as such, it will be remiss of a PE teacher to neglect any one domain in his or her lessons. Unlike the psychomotor and cognitive domains where learning can be clearly defined within a PE classroom, the same cannot be said of the affective domain. The affective domain is difficult to define, owing to its subjective, imprecise and personal nature (Pope, 2005). However, this lack of clarity associated with the affective domain cannot be attributed to a lack of concern among PE teachers, educators, or psychologists as evident in recent studies (e.g., Jacobs, Knoppers & Webb, 2013; Webster, Mindrila & Weaver, 2013). According to Rink (2014), “Affective objectives describe student feelings, attitudes, values, and social behaviours” (p. 6). While this general recognition that affect is associated with “feeling tones” (Krathwohl, Bloom & Masia, 1964) may be useful to a layman, it provides neither the definition nor information needed to develop a comprehensive notion about how specific educational objectives, or in this case 21CC, might be positioned in a school’s PE programme.

There is a lack of data evaluating the extent to how PE teachers make sense of the curriculum objective to develop their students in the affective domain (Jacobs et al., 2013). Although MOE policy and curriculum documents in various subjects highlight the desired educational goals of 21CC and student outcomes, little is known about how PE teachers understand the

curriculum goals related to 21CC and how they try to accomplish these curriculum goals, if at all.

Various researchers have argued that the achievement of the affective goals is seldom straightforward and unproblematic but is heavily contingent on the PE teacher (Bailey, 2006; Vidoni & Ward, 2009). While the literature is replete with examples recognising its importance, the concept of affective learning in PE is often overlooked, ignored, or labelled as “too difficult” to be an elemental component of quality PE lessons. It is clear that further understanding is needed on the mechanisms through which students’ affective development can occur through PE. As Gibbons and Bressan (1991) have highlighted, “Curriculum theorists within physical education have not been particularly helpful in providing teachers with definitions and conceptual frameworks for thinking in productive ways about the affective dimension in general and affective outcomes in particular” (p. 79). This chapter is an attempt to offer an analytical framework within which to locate the affective aspects of PE.

Against this backdrop, the research design concentrated on the development of students’ SEC through PE and sought to understand:

a. The PE pedagogical principles and practices that contribute to the effective development of 21CC and student outcomes; and

b. The effects that planned infusion and facilitation of 21CC in PE have on students’ affective development.

21st CEntuRY CoMPE tEnCIEs And thE AffEC tIvE

doMAIn

Benjamin Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy has been widely recognised as a lingua franca for educators in determining learning objectives and as a foundational and essential element for curriculum and evaluation (Krathwohl, 2002).

On the contrary, the affective domain has been largely overlooked due to the emphasis on the acquisition of academic skills and many educators have shied away from the affective domain because of its complexity (Adkins, 2004).

Although we strive to develop an understanding of the needs of the diverse learner and appreciate diversity within our schools, we often do not pay enough attention to and emphasise meeting the diverse needs of each child we teach, especially within the affective domain.

CASEL is a leading organisation working to build demand and capacity for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Taking a leaf from CASEL, MOE defined the key domains of social and emotional skills as depicted in Table 2.1.

Key DoMAInS oF SoCIAL AnD eMoTIonAL CoMPeTenCIeS DeSCRIPTIon

Self-Awareness

Social Awareness

Self-Management

Identifying and recognising emotions

Accurate self-perception

Recognising strengths, needs and values

Self-efficacy

Spirituality

Perspective taking

Empathy

Appreciating diversity

Respect for others

Impulse control and stress management

Self-motivation and discipline

Goal setting and organisational skills

Relationship Management Communication, social engagement and building relationships

Working cooperatively

Negotiation, refusal and conflict management

Seeking and providing help

Responsible Decision-Making

Problem identification and situation analysis

Problem solving

Evaluation and reflection

Personal, moral and ethical responsibility

Source: Guidance Branch, MOE (http://intranet.moe.gov.sg/guidancebranch/sel_website/Pages/selrespack.aspx#ResPack)

According to MOE, the teaching and facilitation of SEL in Singapore schools is guided by four principles:

• Principle 1: Values are at the core as they guide and provide the purpose for one’s behaviours. Values refer to the core values that are being explicitly taught in the curriculum. Enactment of actions without grounding in values would lead to inconsistency in purpose and actions.

• Principle 2: SEC should be taught to students to ensure that they acquire the competencies, knowledge and dispositions that will help them face future challenges. The five key domains of competencies are Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Self-Management, Relationship Management, and Responsible Decision-Making.

Table 2.1: Key Domains of Social and Emotional Competencies

Teaching of SEC to students can be explicit, through infusion or through teachable moments2 .

• Principle 3: Schools play an important role in the teaching of SEC because school leaders and teachers are important role models of these competencies. Furthermore, the school environment is an important enabler of student learning that supports the teaching and learning of SEC.

• Principle 4: Children equipped with SEC, anchored on sound values, will be able to demonstrate good character and citizenship.

SEC is a critical part of our students’ learning to prepare them to navigate the challenges of the 21st Century. Together with the core values, SEC forms an integral part of MOE’s Framework for 21CC and Student Outcomes. The teaching and facilitation of SEC, together with positive and supportive relationships within the school community, in particular, teacher-student relationship, support and increase students’ learning, motivation and school success.

As Eccles and Roeser (1999) suggest, a student’s formal learning is largely shaped by his or her teacher, and this includes the acquisition of SEC. Socially and emotionally competent teachers have the potential to facilitate pro-social behaviours in their classroom through various means, such as: (a) Developing positive and supportive teacher-student relationships (TSR); (b) Establishing and implementing behavioural guidelines that promote intrinsic motivation; (c)

Coaching students through conflict situations; (d) Encouraging cooperation among students; and, (e) Modelling respectful and appropriate communication, and exhibitions of pro-social behaviours (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009).

Conflicts and disruptive behaviours are minimised in an optimal classroom climate where smooth transitions in between learning tasks, respectful communication and problemsolving in a supportive environment are heightened (La Paro & Pianta, 2003). On the other hand, students display lower levels of on-task behaviour and performance when teachers lack the resources and skills to effectively manage the social and emotional challenges within their classrooms (Marzano, Marzano & Pickering, 2003). Like Jennings and Greenberg (2009), we hypothesise that the quality of TSR, student and classroom management, and effective SEL programme implementation mediate curricular and student outcomes. We further postulate that in order to effectively facilitate students’ acquisition of SEC in the classroom, one must possess the pre-requisite knowledge and skills to be an effective teacher in his or her chosen subject; in this case, PE.

REsEARCh dEsIgn

Teaching and learning have all too often been seen as either synonymous, or directly related

2 Knowles (1970) stated that each developmental task produces a ‘readiness to learn’ in students which at its peak presents a “teachable moment”. Lawson and Flocke’s (2008) literature review across social science and medical disciplines databases show that 81% of the references for “teachable moments” has been used synonymous with “opportunities”. In this study, teachable moments are characterised as casual moments (unpremeditated opportunities) arising within situations that present moral choices and ethical challenges (Reuben, 1997) which can be used to facilitate affective learning.

through a simple cause and effect relationship (Tom, 1984). In order to gain a deeper understanding of the interface between the teaching and learning of the affective domain, we need to recognise the constant struggle between (or synthesis of) the two sets of discourses. Situated within the teaching and learning nexus, the most desirable mode of inquiry in studying the interaction of the PE and 21CC discourses, is that of the qualitative paradigm. Arguing for the use of the qualitative paradigm in researching the social world, Heyman (1983) proclaimed:

Quantitative studies provide no remedy for the indexicality of the social world… this is repeatedly shown in the failure of these studies to provide useful accounts of teaching and learning without extensive provision being made to allow for contextual details of individual situations (p. 432).

In concurrence with Heyman (1983), an interpretive research design (Macdonald et al., 2002; Schempp & Choi, 1994; Sparkes, 1994) was chosen for this study to investigate in depth the following: (a) How teachers’ pedagogical principles and practices facilitate the effective development of 21CC in students; and, (b) The effects of the professional development (PD) interventions on students’ affective development. The interpretive study design is used when the goal of the researcher is to gain a deeper

understanding to how participants make meaning of a situation or phenomenon (Lichtman, 2006).

Essentially, the interpretive paradigm is concerned with contributing to a better understanding of “what is happening here?” and “what do these events mean to the people engaged in them?” (Erickson, 1986, p. 124). It adheres to the fundamental tenet that social reality is constructed and sustained through the subjective and intersubjective experiences of the actors to interpret and negotiate meanings about the world (Ting-Toomey, 1984). This underlying principle formed the crux of this study in investigating the participants’ (both teachers and students) perspectives on the effects of intentional efforts in facilitating affective learning through the PD interventions.

ME thodologY

A PE International Panel (IP) comprising both international and local PE pedagogues, and school leaders with PE training, was formed to observe 12 teachers and 12 randomly selected students in their classes in three stages over a one-and-a-half-year period: Baseline (January to March 2013); Interim (July to September 2013); and, Final (July to September 2014). To control participant variability, the classes involved in the study deliberately remained intact

…social reality is constructed and sustained through the subjective and intersubjective experiences of the actors to interpret and negotiate meanings about the world (TingToomey, 1984).

throughout the duration of the study. Four key considerations informing the choice of schools in this study were:

1. The level of education - primary or secondary;

2. A fairly well-staffed PE department made up of experienced teachers (n>5);

3. The school’s previous involvement with PESTA projects; and

4. The research participants’ willingness and informed consent.

The PAM Research (PE) Guide was developed to foster a coherent understanding of the inter-relationship of the core values, SEC and the emerging 21CC among members of the International Panel. The Guide also operationalised the dimensions of emerging 21CC and established a common understanding on the guiding pedagogical principles and their accompanying teacher practices that advance students’ affective learning (see Table 2.2).

These principles and practices were drawn from both PE and general education literature (CASEL, 2013; Hellison, 2011; Rink, 2014; Rink & Hall, 2008; Saphier, Haley-Speca & Gower, 2008; Weare & Gray, 2003). An evaluation framework included in the Guide provided indicators for lesson observations and guiding questions for focused group discussions (FGD) and interviews with students and teachers.

Data on teachers’ beliefs and practices was collected from teacher questionnaires and lesson observations. This data was triangulated with responses from both the teacher interviews and the student FGD. Interviews and lesson transcripts were coded and analysed, and a peer check (Lichtman, 2006) was conducted with members of the PE subject team and International Panel to increase the veracity of the data collected. Data on students’ perceived SEC was collected from students

Table 2.2: Guiding Pedagogical Principles and Teacher Practice for Affective Teaching

GuIDInG PeDAGoGICAL PRInCIPLeS TeACheR PRACTICe ThAT PRoMoTeS STuDenTS’ AFFeCTIVe LeARnInG

Positive Learning environment

Creating a caring and participatory learning environment.

effective Communication

Giving clear instructions and useful feedback; modelling good behaviour.

engaged Learning

Engaging students meaningfully and guiding them in practice.

Skilful Management

Managing students with clear boundaries and routines.

• Establish positive teacher-student relationships

• Empower students with autonomy and choice

• Create a conducive climate for student participation

• Provide concise and specific instructions / teaching cues

• Give feedback appropriately

• Model Social Emotional Competencies

• Embed affective learning experiences through appropriate performance tasks

• Facilitate reflection

• Facilitate transfer of learning

• Facilitate success in learning

• Establish expectations and routines to encourage prosocial norms

and teachers through the teacher’s perception and student’s self-perception rating tool for SEC adapted from the Rating Tool for Social and Emotional Competencies (RTSEC) developed by MOE Guidance Branch (MOE, 2012). A Teacher Case Study Report was then produced for each teacher. As part of the research process, PD interventions were conducted for the 12 teachers in response to findings and International Panel recommendations at each stage of the research.

From the Baseline study, it was established that teachers lacked clarity on what constituted affective learning and affective development in PE. Therefore, in order to enhance teachers’ competencies in facilitating their students’ affective development, the initial focus must be on their overall delivery of PE. Teachers needed to, first and foremost, be skilled and proficient in achieving the psychomotor objectives of PE. Findings suggested that PE as an effective platform for affective development could only exist in a symbiotic relationship with quality PE teaching. Hence, the first round of PD intervention was focused on examining teachers’ understanding of affective learning in PE and improving their competencies in delivering quality PE lessons. The PD interventions took the form of discussions with teachers, workshops, and mentoring of teachers through lesson observations by the PD team from PESTA.

Thereafter, at the Interim Stage, teachers’ delivery of quality PE, according to the four guiding pedagogical principles (see Table 2.2), became a primary PD focus area to provide them with the tools and strategies to be more effective teachers. At this stage, further arrangements were made for the teachers to observe fellow participants from both primary and secondary schools

conducting lessons to foster their discussion and development. This study is essentially a typology (Goetz & LeCompte, 1984) and thus, both inductive and deductive content analyses were adopted (Suter, 2012).

REsults

RQ 1: What are the Pe pedagogical principles and practices that contribute to the effective development of 21CC and student outcomes?

Positive Learning environment

A caring and participatory learning environment is crucial to students’ affective development. It addresses social awareness and relationship management within the SEC domains. It also extends into the 21CC through the display of sociocultural awareness and sensitivity, and students’ ability to communicate and collaborate effectively. All the PE lessons observed in the three stages exhibited positive learning environments, and this observation was corroborated through FGD with students. It was observed that the quality of the learning environment established by the teachers was dependent on the following:

a. Depth of Teacher-Student Relationship (TSR)

Positive TSR enabled the teachers to facilitate learning, such as making connections with students through small-group activities and addressing students by name. The teachers’ concern for students’ needs and wellbeing further cemented the TSR bond. Good TSR and teachers’ positive reinforcement created a positive learning environment that facilitated the internalisation of SEC and values in students. At FGDs, students

were able to cite instances of positive teacher role-modelling of SEC and articulate how values were manifested through their actions during PE;

b. Level of autonomy and choice provided for students

Autonomy and choice at the Baseline Stage was carried out mainly through students working in teams, selection of equipment and goal setting. It was not initially evident that teachers were prepared to empower students in other ways that would encourage them to take greater ownership of their learning. However, there was significant improvement in the Final Stage (see Table 2.3); and

c. Climate for student participation

Teachers emphasised inclusivity in PE throughout the stages and ensured that students were provided a safe and encouraging environment to make mistakes and work collaboratively. Teachers were generally encouraging in their instruction and students were also engaged in carrying out the planned tasks and activities.

effective Communication

In the area of teachers’ communication, there were three key aspects that influenced students’ affective development:

a. The teacher was a role model for good behaviour

With regard to role-modelling, teachers’ management of students generally displayed respect, care and concern, and these traits were consistent with the promotion of affective learning outcomes in students;

b. The teacher provided clear instructions and useful feedback

In terms of giving instructions and providing feedback to students, teacher effectiveness was initially hampered by little wait time provided to facilitate students’ responses and develop their communication skills. Feedback was often not task-specific, lacked timelines and was impersonal. They were also mostly directed at addressing the psychomotor domain and the management of activities. Teachers provided clearer instructions, and timely and more personalised feedback with sufficient wait time in the Final Stage; and

c. The teacher used appropriate teaching cues for affective learning

At the Baseline Stage, teaching cues for tasks were communicated more at the class level than at individuals and mainly for psychomotor skill development. There was limited verification of students’ understanding and instances of inaccurate verbal teaching cues and demonstrations. The use of teaching cues for affective learning was observed only at the later stage of the study.

engaged Learning

Engaging students meaningfully and guiding them in practice, especially towards affective development, are essential. In the beginning, most teachers perceived that affective development was best done through pep talks and teachable moments, and it was not necessary to plan for them in PE. Therefore, in the initial stages when high value teachable moments presented themselves during the lessons, the teachers did not always seize them,

but chose instead to address students’ negative behaviour while failing to capitalise on positive examples.

Performance tasks design and development were at times inappropriately pitched, hence hindering student learning. It was observed at the Baseline Stage that there was inadequate planning of performance tasks in the use of space, equipment and grouping, resulting in fewer opportunities for students to experience a wider range of emotions (e.g. success and failure) during lessons. It was generally recognised that a feeling of relative success in PE was important to engage students emotionally and develop them positively in the affective domain.

Pair and group work are ideal platforms that are best suited for affective development in PE and they were regularly incorporated in most of the lessons observed throughout the stages. Teachers, however, did not facilitate the dynamics of social awareness and relationship management effectively when opportunities presented themselves during pair and group work till the later stages of the study. At the Baseline and Interim Stages, most teachers did not appear to possess the range of skills to facilitate individual and small-group collaborative, critical and reflective thinking during lessons. While some teachers facilitated reflection at the end of the lesson, these were mostly

directed at recalling psychomotor cues with little extension into the cognitive and affective domains. There were also few instances of teachers facilitating the transfer of affective learning beyond the PE context throughout the three stages. As a result, the internalisation of 21CC through SEC could be limited. After the final PD intervention, more teachers attempted to facilitate reflection and capitalise on high value teachable moments for the cognitive and affective domains.

Skilful Management

Managing students with clear boundaries and routines is vital to good classroom management and the safe conduct of PE. Expectations and routines for class behaviour and organisation were established well in all lessons. It was, however, not clear as to how the expectations and routines could support the development of students’ affective development. Generally, there was an over-emphasis on maintaining order and control by the teachers during the Baseline and Interim Stages with little opportunity for students to exhibit sound reasoning and responsible decision-making. To enhance students’ internalisation of positive behaviour, teachers need to transfer autonomy and control back to the students through planned performance tasks that require selfregulation and conflict resolution as seen in the Final Stage.

It was generally recognised that a feeling of relative success in PE was important to engage students emotionally and develop them positively in the affective domain.

The Final Stage served to validate Baseline and Interim findings and surface additional factors that facilitate or inhibit the development of 21CC in students. Confirming the findings from the Baseline and Interim Stages, there was strong evidence to support the postulation

PeDAGoGICAL PRInCIPLeS

Positive learning environment

effective

TeACheR PRACTICe

Baseline Stage Final Stage

Only two teachers were observed to empower their students with autonomy and choice during their lessons.

Although all teachers had good TSR, only five teachers created conducive environments that promoted student participation.

Only four teachers were observed to provide concise and specific instructional cues

that the guiding pedagogical principles and the corresponding teacher practices identified for the study were essential for the development of 21CC. The findings are presented in Table 2.3 below:

• Five teachers were observed to consciously incorporate autonomy and choice to enhance their students’ learning experiences.

• This was an important change for some teachers who articulated at the Baseline Stage, the difficulty in transferring control to students.

• All teachers created conducive environments within their PE classes and maintained good TSR. This was attributed to their increased awareness of the need to have greater student ownership on participation that was achieved through the deliberate planning and provision for more activity time. Other than maximising student participation, this purposeful planning also resulted in greater autonomy and choice for the students.

• Student FGD and lesson observations corroborated that students’ development of SEC were attributed to a positive learning environment resulting from teachers’ positive reinforcement and good TSR. Teachers recognised the importance of positive TSR to facilitate student learning. This was exemplified in their successful modelling of SEC that they felt was contingent on positive TSR.

All teachers were conversant with providing teaching cues for the psychomotor domain. Seven teachers were also observed to have developed competency in planning for and providing teaching cues for the affective domain specific to the PE lesson.

Table 2.3: Findings on Pedagogical Principles and Practices

PeDAGoGICAL

PRInCIPLeS

engaged learning

TeACheR PRACTICe

Baseline Stage Final Stage

Only two teachers were able to exhibit beyond a superficial and perfunctory approach to teaching the affective domain while the rest relied predominantly on teachable moments to accomplish their affective learning objective.

11 teachers were able to engage students meaningfully and guide them in practice by applying the skills and knowledge (e.g. the five ALO) acquired through the PD workshops, lesson observations and Communities of Practice (CoP) discussions (Wenger & Snyder, 2000).

Skilful management

Only two teachers made an effort to facilitate reflection in their lessons.

All teachers had established routines and instructional organisation.

• Eight teachers attempted to facilitate students’ reflection during lessons. However, while open-ended questions were employed, there was insufficient wait time given, hence compromising the depth of student critical thinking and learning. Teachers were also unaware that developing a structure to check for student understanding could be an effective form of formative assessment.

• There was little attempt to facilitate the transfer of learning in all stages (i.e., Baseline, Interim and Final). Teachers were not very successful in contextualising the relevance of the affective learning beyond PE.

All teachers had established routines and instructional organisation that increased participation. Teachers had also begun to decrease their level of control, allowing students more personal responsibility.

RQ 2: What are the effects that planned infusion and facilitation of 21CC in Pe have on students’ affective development?

Teacher Belief

Teacher belief explains the underlying conviction that drives teacher action and choice of pedagogical practices. It provides a deep understanding of the teacher’s pedagogical principles and his or her practices. It was observed at the Baseline Stage that while all teachers involved in the research study believed that PE provided an authentic platform for the affective development of students, they initially cited the

following reasons for not planning structured affective development in their lessons:

a. Psychomotor learning outcomes are of higher priority in PE lessons;

b. Time constraints limit focus of lessons to high priority outcomes; and

c. Affective development through PE is perceived as best achieved through teacher role modelling and capitalising on teachable moments.

Despite a strong belief in the value of affective development in PE, there was a diverse understanding amongst the teachers of what affective development in PE meant. For example, SEC and values inculcation were understood by the teachers to be synonymous with ensuring character development. While the teacher’s survey revealed that teachers felt confident teaching SEC, they also requested for guidance, resources and training to facilitate affective development in PE. In the PE lessons observed, there was a need for better planning and explicit teaching for affective development.

Teacher Planning

Stemming from teacher belief, teacher planning was the next step in translating the teachers’ conviction into action. From the lesson plans submitted at the Baseline Stage, only four teachers planned for affective development in PE. However, they lacked clarity and details on how those outcomes could be achieved. Formative assessment for affective development, a key element to check for students’ learning, was also not evident in all the lessons observed.

To address the lack of clarity on how affective outcomes could be achieved, the research team

introduced the idea of scope and sequence to the teachers in the teaching of values in PE during the Interim Stage. For example, in scoping the teaching of respect, we asked them to think about their definition of the value and what they want to teach the students (e.g., respecting the rules and respecting the opponents). Concurrently, they were also asked to think about the breadth and depth of the value to be covered at any one time (e.g., over a unit, term or year), and how the “content” of the value would manifest as SEC and observable student behaviour. In sequencing the value, we were able to get the teachers to think about when to introduce the value and the order in which the content was presented to the students over time. More importantly, this enabled teachers to plan a developmental progression for the teaching of the value. For instance, the teaching of respect in a Primary One class would be pedagogically dissimilar to the teaching of respect in a Primary Six class.

We also introduced and facilitated their understanding of existing definitions, and standards and benchmarks of the emerging 21CC and SEC by MOE Curriculum Policy Office (CPO) and MOE Guidance Branch respectively. In alignment with the broader agenda of MOE, teachers were encouraged to tap on these existing resources when planning for affective learning in their lessons.

Teacher Practice

It was also noticed that while teachers had attempted to include affective learning in their lesson plans, they met with some challenges in implementing them at the start. Before they could proceed towards successful

implementation, some input was necessary. To achieve greater clarity and specificity in planning, teachers first needed to be equipped with the required content-specific knowledge and skills that could facilitate higher affective development in the different learning areas. Clear objectives, that include the expected behaviour, conditions, and criteria for achievement, were built into teachers’ instructional plans. Such plans have to be supported by appropriate teaching strategies in order to achieve the desired outcome.

From the Baseline Study, it was observed that the affective learning experiences in the teachers’ lessons were highly contingent on the manifestation of “teachable moments”. However, these “teachable moments” were opportunistic and often left to chance. Cleland and Pearse (1995) found that students were more successful when teachers intentionally designed tasks to elicit specific thinking skills throughout the lesson. On this note, the team also concurred that in order for affective learning to be effectively layered, it has to be intentionally planned for and implemented during the PE lessons. Throughout the two-year study, this team analysed and found empirical evidence for four other strategies that teachers may employ in enhancing affective learning in their lessons, rather than waiting for that elusive “teachable moment” to happen. These strategies, including teachable moments, have been termed Affective Learning Opportunities (ALO) and are defined in Table 2.4.

explicit Teaching

Content Settings

Didactic Interactions

Communication Styles

Teachable Moments

Use of planned tasks, with a specific set of cues for the expected affective outcomes.

Settings occurring frequently or naturally in PE with the potential for affective teaching and values inculcation.

Specific approaches and interactions between the PE teacher and a specific student or group of students to act or behave in a certain affective manner; or, teacherstructured interaction between students or groups of students.

General disposition of the teacher’s communication style has an effect on the way students react and relate to the PE tasks that they have to do.

Unanticipated positive or negative events the teacher takes advantage of to reinforce a certain aspect of affective teaching.

Table 2.4: Definitions of Affective Learning Opportunities

In all the four schools, students’ self-perception of their SEC corresponded with the teachers. It was observed that students who had good TSR with their teachers had a higher perception of their SEC. Students’ perception of their ability to self-manage appeared to mirror teachers’ ratings on students’ ability on selfmanagement. Where appropriate instructional cues on task management and organisation were provided, students were generally able to remain engaged in their assigned tasks. It is unclear, however, the extent to which the teacher’s choice of pedagogical practice had influenced the students’ ability to self-manage. Students’ perception of their social awareness and relationship management, which they rated highest among the five SEC domains, was observed through their ability to work well during group activities.

Comparing the Baseline and Final Stages results of students’ self-perception rating tool for SEC, a general increasing trend was observed for all students. None of the students recorded a decrease in all five domains. The students with the highest increase in perceived SEC were from one primary and one secondary school class. The two teachers from these respective classes also demonstrated the biggest increase in competency in the area of teaching emerging 21CC. During FGD, their students were able to articulate evidence of emerging 21CC (critical and inventive thinking, and communication and collaboration skills) during PE. When asked about the importance of being taught values in their PE lessons, one student offered:

“Responsibility, respect and integrity are like the foundation of life. If you have those three core values, that means that you have good character.

Without responsibility, you cannot complete something in a good way. Without integrity, you are just lying to yourself.” (Student FGD, 2014)

When prompted on how his learning of values could influence him in the future, he replied:

“Maybe in the future when I am working and then the boss gives me a task, I must be responsible for that task. This is because if I am responsible, the manager may have a better impression of me and I might get promoted.” (Student FGD, 2014)

The student had evidently internalised the affective learning and was able to see the link between what he learnt and how he would apply this learning in the future.

dIsCussIon: dE vEloPMEnt of 21CC thRough PE

While PE provides a natural “conduit” to promote affective learning, PE teachers must implement quality programmes and employ teaching strategies that intentionally and purposefully address the affective domain and the development of 21CC in their students. According to Hansen (2008), “The most effective PE curriculums are those that incorporate all three domains (psychomotor, cognitive, and affective) of teaching and learning” (p. 9). However, this can be a very challenging endeavour when you are faced with 40

students, as is the norm in most, if not all, Singapore classrooms. Notwithstanding the complex intricacies of such a daunting task, it is critical to acknowledge the interrelationships within the domains, for all learning has affective components (Woodford, 1979).

It is evident from the various data sources at the Final Stage, there are strong benefits in teaching 21CC (i.e., values, SEC and emerging 21CC) in PE. At the Baseline Stage, teachers’ interviews and questionnaires suggest that they were unsure of how to incorporate and plan for affective learning in their lessons. They relied predominantly on teachable moments and encouraging students to exhibit particular affective behaviours without consciously teaching them. At the conclusion of the study, it was apparent that all, but for one teacher, were confident to plan for and embed explicit teaching of the affective domain into their lessons. The 11 teachers primarily used the values of respect, responsibility, integrity, and care to frame their affective learning objectives and teach, or facilitate, these values through the development of SEC and emerging 21CC.

The more advanced teachers were able to plan and facilitate the development of emerging 21CC in their lessons, primarily focusing on collaboration and critical thinking. This was corroborated by students during the FGD where they articulated that their teachers were now

teaching PE differently and in a positive way. For example, the students cited examples of how teachers were giving them more opportunities to work collaboratively in groups and allowing their voices to be heard. Five teachers reflected that their participation in this research study had also strengthened their belief that PE is an authentic platform for 21CC development. This belief was further reinforced by the perceived success, and heightened confidence, they felt in implementing the new knowledge learnt through the PD intervention workshops and discussions within their CoP. For these teachers, they were able to balance the need for maximal activity time and psychomotor development, yet effectively layering affective development within their lessons. The teachers remained unequivocal in their belief that psychomotor learning remains their first priority in the PE classroom, and this should rightly be the case.

Very often, when PE teachers are asked how they incorporate affective learning into their PE lessons, the answer is predominantly “teachable” moments where they then focus their attention on the negative situations to illustrate to the students what not to do. However, it is entirely possible, as demonstrated in this study, for teachers to increase their capacity and develop their competency in planning for and teaching to enhance the affective domain.

For these teachers, they were able to balance the need for maximal activity time and psychomotor development, yet effectively layering affective development within their lessons.

First, teachers need to demonstrate and model explicit expectations of the kind of learning environment they expect from the students. The pedagogical principles and practices that emerged from this study constitute a compelling set of guidelines for professional practice. They define specific concepts that teachers can select in situating their teaching practices for student development in the affective domain.

Second, they need to understand and seek to assimilate the ALO into their pedagogical repertoire. The ALO hypothesised in this research study was based on the observations made from the Baseline and Interim Stages of the study. The primary function of the ALO was to help teachers identify pertinent opportunities for affective learning during the lesson planning stage and develop them further, in anticipation of their possible enactment during lesson delivery. The study established that the set of ALO has proved to effectively help PE teachers plan and embed affective learning into PE curriculum without compromising the achievement of psychomotor outcomes, as seen at the Final Stage.

The teachers reflected that the affective learning structure (in relation to the MOE Framework for 21st Century Competencies and Student Outcomes) learnt throughout this study has benefitted them with regard to the documentation of expectations, for themselves and the students. As Gibbons et al. (2002) has stated, “Students ultimately take more responsibility for their actions and learning if they are aware of the expectations” (p. 31). By foregrounding these expectations, it engenders a sense of accountability for the teachers as they facilitate students’ affective development, and for the students as they strive to achieve these expectations.

ConClusIon

As demonstrated in this study, research studies to determine the significance of affective learning and teaching can provide insight into the practical implications for learning outcomes in various fields (Holland, 2006). The key to fostering an affective learning culture within PE lessons lies in the intentionality of such efforts. The findings derived from this study suggest that establishing and maintaining a positive learning environment, effective communication, engaged learning, and skilful management are necessary in developing 21CC in students. In a study conducted by Russel (2004) on the effects of the affective domain on classroom culture, students reported that their learning was facilitated by laughter, praise, encouragement, a helpful and cooperative peer group, and by ‘good’ teaching. Conversely, learning was hampered if they were made to feel uncomfortable or humiliated by disruptive peers and by ‘bad’ teaching.

While research has also shown that a caring and participatory learning environment in PE leads to higher affective learning outcomes (see Gibbons & Bressan, 1991; Heidorn & Welch, 2010; Webster et al., 2013; Woodford, 1979), teachers need help to learn how to plan and facilitate affective learning through performance tasks that incorporate greater choice and autonomy. These tasks serve as significant platforms for students to generate ideas and explore possible actions. By interacting with peers, and managing the complexities of the decision-making and execution of the physical task, students exercise sound reasoning and decision-making.

While the pedagogical principles and practices hypothesised in this study were informed by

literature within and outside of PE with regard to effective teaching, they have proven to be an emerging conceptual framework for the infusion of 21CC in PE. The principles and practices derived from this research will give PE teachers a construct to situate their practices in affective learning. Stenzel (2006) advocates that intentional intervention at the affective level needs to be strategically planned in order to produce desirable results.

The development of 21CC in students is a longdrawn process and the odyssey in delivering quality PE can be exacting. However, it is the teacher’s professional responsibility to provide students with an enjoyable PE experience that develops their values, knowledge, skills, and a love for the subject. This will maximise

their learning and enable their development as confident and competent movers. While it may seem less of an undertaking to formulate a comprehensive list of characteristics associated with affective learning (e.g. feelings, values, attitudes and social behaviours), the list will be a futile pursuit if each characteristic exists in isolation, with no apparent relationship to the others. A more worthwhile venture may be to develop a conceptual framework that can organise the various affective characteristics and descriptors in a meaningful and integrative way, as what we have attempted in this study.

Future research should pursue other variables that could further distinguish the transfer of learning from values to SEC and culminating in the acquisition of 21CC.

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tRAnsl AtIng thEoRY into PRAC tICE

The four pedagogical principles and their corresponding teacher practices in the research study have been established as essential for the infusion of affective learning into PE lessons. How this translates into application within PE lessons requires teachers to first determine the scope and sequence of the values that they have selected, the depth and breadth of the value to be covered, and the developmental progression of the “content” to be taught. Next, teachers would need to identify pertinent opportunities for affective learning during the lesson planning stage, and develop them further through the five Affective Learning Opportunities (ALO). Infusing affective learning in PE should be seamless and not compromise the achievement of the psychomotor outcomes, and the following points will give you some insights into how this can be accomplished through some thoughtful planning and purposeful facilitation.

Planning for Affective Learning

• Select values to be taught

» Are they specified in the PE syllabus?

» Are they values identified as “school values”?

• Determine the scope of the selected values

» Consider what the “content” is - e.g. social and emotional competencies (SEC), emerging 21st century competencies (21CC), expected observable student behaviour

» Consider the depth and breadth of the content to be covered - e.g. within a unit, by the end of the year, by the end of an education level (primary, secondary, preuniversity)

• Determine the sequence for the content of the selected values

» What is the order in which the content should be presented to students over time?

» Is there a developmental progression?

• Identify the psychomotor content on which the scope and sequence of the selected values can be seamlessly taught

• Determine which teacher practices within the pedagogical principles and ALO could be utilised to facilitate the teaching of the affective content and how they could be utilised

In the MOE PE Syllabus, Learning Outcomes (LOs) have been defined for each of the Core Values (Respect, Responsibility, Resilience, Integrity, Care and Harmony) and presented in the form of related SEC and emerging 21CC.

utilising the Principles and Practices

While the principles guide you on what should be in place for students’ affective learning to occur, their corresponding teacher practices give you an operational understanding of what should be done.

• Establishing a positive learning environment

» Develop good teacher-student relationships (TSR) - e.g. know your students, call on them by their names

» Provide them with opportunities for autonomy and choice beyond just a choice of equipment or group members - e.g. setting personal targets, choosing tactics for game play

» Create conducive environments for student participation - e.g. make “failure” nonthreatening by removing consequences for it, share examples of good effort in spite of failure to encourage participation

• Effective communication

» Provide concise and specific instruction / teaching cues for affective outcomes and expected behaviour

Sample:

“As you work in groups, you will need to respect your team mates by allowing everyone to share their views and listening to all opinions before you make a decision, as a group, about the tactics you are going to use in the game.”

» Give feedback appropriately - e.g. praise students for the effort made and be specific about why the praise was given

Sample:

“I liked the way you handled that disagreement among your team mates. You gave everyone a chance to share their side of it before offering them ideas on how to settle it. Good job!”

» Model social and emotional competenciese.g. model conflict resolution when dealing with disagreements among teams during the lesson

• Engaged learning

» Embed affective experiences in appropriate performance tasks - e.g. pair work with peer feedback on the forehand strike to create self and social awareness within the value of respect

» Facilitate reflection - e.g. question rather than tell students about affective content, provide time and opportunities for students to think about their actions and/ or responses

» Facilitate transfer of learning - e.g. get students to suggest examples beyond PE where desired behaviour would apply, get students to share when they have exhibited behaviour beyond PE

» Facilitate success in learning - e.g. enable students to work within their ability range so that they can gain better self-awareness and experience a sense of achievement

• Skilful management

» Establish expectations of student behavioure.g. respecting others by giving everyone the chance to voice their opinions or concerns, taking responsibility for your mistakes by raising your hand to acknowledge your error

» Establishing routines to encourage prosocial norms - e.g. reporting for class on time which shows respect for peers and the teacher, collecting and returning equipment safely which shows respect for routine and care for others

utilising ALo

The ALO provides a lens for teachers to recognise possibilities within their practice for affective learning.

• Explicit teaching – the use of planned tasks, with a specific set of cues for the expected affective outcomes

» Select the affective learning outcome and

decide on the specific affective objective(s) for the lesson

» Define what the desired behaviour would be

» Design a task or tasks that would create opportunities for the desired behaviour to be practised and reinforced - e.g. through the context of the task, through the content setting, etc.

» Reinforce desired behaviour through feedback, assessment and within the lesson summary

» Facilitate the transfer of learning beyond PE

• Content setting – settings occurring frequently or naturally in PE with the potential for affective teaching and values inculcation

» Student organisation - e.g. individually, in pairs, in groups

» Environment - e.g. non-threatening; empowering with autonomy and choice; and the context of the activity which may be competitive with self, competitive with others, collaborative in pairs

• Communication styles – the general disposition of the teacher’s communication style has an effect on the way students react and relate to the PE tasks that they have to do

» Consider the tone you use to address students - e.g. harsh and aloof, firm yet approachable

» Consider the language used - e.g. words with positive nuances or negative ones, words that cast labels

» Consider role modelling the appropriate attitude, affective competencies and expected behaviour

• Didactic interactions – specific approaches and interactions between the PE teacher and

a specific student or group of students to act or behave in a certain affective manner; or, a teacher-structured interaction between students or groups of students

» Establish a positive teacher-student relationship

» Facilitate student reflection through questions that help students consider how they or others feel about the situation, the impact and appropriateness of their actions or the actions of others, their next course of action, etc.

» Facilitate the positive reinforcement of success in learning - e.g. be specific when offering praise so students understand why they are receiving it and can maintain the behaviour, avoid using terms like “good job” or “that’s fantastic” without qualifying why it is so good or fantastic

• Teachable moments – unanticipated positive or negative events the teacher takes advantage of to reinforce a certain aspect of affective teaching

» Consider highlighting positive teachable moments and not just the negative ones

» Ensure that the learning within the teachable moment is facilitated - e.g. draw attention to the expected behaviour, get students to identify desired behaviour and state why it is desired, highlight links between skills and values within the moment and with application to real life

» Consider the planned tasks and try to predict possible teachable moments based on your experience so that you are better able to recognise and use them when they occur

Kok Boon LIM, Chor Howe TEO, Bee Lian KEHK, Victoria LOY

IntRoduC tIon

The capacity for art teaching in fostering values, social and emotional competencies, and creativity, has long been spoken for, debated and researched in the field of arts education (Eisner, 2002; Hetland & Winner, 2004). Despite diverse views on how creativity should and could be defined and measured (Sternberg, 2012; Sawyer, 2012), the benefits of an enlightening arts education to encourage creativity, whether in the context of schooling or beyond, is seldom disputed.

This chapter discusses how 21CC and student outcomes may be developed through the Art curriculum. Key existing ideas from the literature, information about the research questions, and case study methods, are presented. Lastly, this chapter discusses the findings from the crosscase analyses and their relation to current inservice professional development practices for art teachers, our Art syllabus, and pre-service teacher training.

21CC And ARt

The Art curriculum - referring to the content, pedagogy and assessment of art - offers opportunities for implicit and explicit teaching of values, affective competencies and 21st century skills. In schools, a thematic curriculum organised around social issues and concerns, and a favourable learning environment, has the potential to influence students’ attitudes, behaviours and values (Cummings, 2010). Likewise, a classroom atmosphere conducive to a continuous exchange of ideas, mutual respect, tolerance of differences, and teacher encouragement of self-reflection, discovery and learning in art, is likely to lead to students’ personal growth. The following areas reveal

what researchers have explored and discovered in relation to our study of how 21CC and student outcomes can be developed through the Art curriculum in schools:

Affective Learning

A classroom culture of care, trust, compassion and acceptance (Cummings, 2010; Nodding, 1995) is foundational and expected of good teaching. Sensations, feelings and emotions become stimuli for representation in art, and in turn, art can elicit an affective response. In fact, art making is a process of affective and cognitive synthesis (Abbs, 1989; Addison, 2011). As Sir Herbert Read (1943) puts it, art education possesses a sociocultural dimension capable of developing fully balanced personalities in children (Thistlewood, 1993). Art learning engages students in deep and meaningful inquiry. When opportunities for personal response to visual and social experiences are provided (Gude, 2000), art classes form an integral part of a holistic education.

Cross-cultural and Social Awareness

Access to images and description of artworks from around the world provide contexts for students to develop Civic Literacy, Global Awareness and Cross-Cultural Skills. As students learn about art-making and the contexts in which artists make art, they learn about other cultures. They gain an understanding of the unique contributions of artists in expressing social and cultural phenomenon of life from different settings through the artworks they create or study. As students experience art, in their making and talking, they learn also about themselves and the world around them. As Shimamura (2013) puts it, “art reminds us of the past and how we apply our own experiences

and recollections to interpret artworks”. If students are exposed to artworks that respond to social, economic, political, philosophical, environmental or cultural issues of today, they have the opportunity to learn beyond just art content.

Creative Thinking

The association between creativity and art education has long been substantiated by literature in the art field (Craft, 2001; Jewitt, 2008). While creativity is not unique only to the domain of art education, the activities that students engage in when they learn art are often strongly associated with aspects of creativity. For instance, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (non-verbal) assesses problem solving, unusual perspectives, generating and extending of ideas, and visual and drawing skills. These skills are also evident when an artwork is put together. In addition, research supports claims that art teaching can strengthen students’ critical thinking (Adams et al., 2006; Greene et al , 2013; Housen, 2001; Project Zero, n.d.) through facilitative questions, teaching of problem solving skills (Randi, 2010), and developing students’ imagination (Eisner, 2002a; Matthews, 1997; Randi, 2007). Project Zero’s famed Artful Thinking project and Visible Thinking projects have shown that different thinking routines can improve students’ critical thinking, and develop other thinking dispositions such as openmindedness, curiosity, reasonableness.

Critical Thinking

Critical and Inventive Thinking in Singapore

schools refers to a domain of dispositions and cognitive skills, consistent with literature claims. According to Scriven and Paul’s (1997) definition, critical thinking3 can be seen as having two dimensions: first, a set of processing skills that create information and beliefs; and second, an internalised habit to use these process skills to guide action and behaviour. From Lai’s literature review on Critical Thinking (2011), critical thinking can be taught and developed from a young age, and there are general and domainspecific skillsets; although explicit teaching is required for students to be able to transfer their learning and apply them in another domain.

According to Adams et al. (2006), observation and interpretation are two critical thinking sub-skills most often used by students when they looked at and talked about works of art. This is consistent with Greene’s et al. study (2013) which found a strong co-relation between improvements in critical thinking and conducting open-ended, student-centred tours at a museum and followon art classroom activities. As students engage in individual and group art-making, other subskills like evaluation, association, problem finding, comparison and flexible thinking increase in use. From John Matthews’ (1997) study, he found young children exercising and developing different critical thinking competencies when they draw. He proposes that children’s “scribbling” and drawing are evidence of children’s investigation of their perception and feelings. They are also children’s way of developing representational and communication strategies.

3 Defined as the “intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action” (Scriven & Paul, 1987).

Communication, Inter-personal Skills and Information Gathering

Teaching of art is apt to foster students’ Communication, Collaboration and Information Skills in three ways.

First, art is capable of serving as a conduit for self-expression and visual communication. Visual literacy is an outcome of art education of Singapore schools (CPDD, 2008). From Singapore’s primary and lower secondary art syllabuses, visual literacy is understood as the ability to analyse and appreciate an image, and the ability to communicate ideas, feelings and experiences through the creation of images (CPDD, 2008). It is commonly acknowledged that Art teachers can develop students’ visual literacy through two interrelated activities and encounters: first, the analysis and decoding of a wide range of visual stimuli; and second, communicating ideas through artworks, design and craft.

Second, teaching of art often entails assigning group work for a collaborative artwork, or a sequence of learning activities where cooperation and collaborative learning can take place. As teachers create opportunities for students to participate in group discussion and dialogues on art, they learn about art communally. Cooperative learning strategies, such as think-pair-share routines, are taught as part of teachers’ pre-service

training at the National Institute of Education. For cooperative learning to be effective, teachers create positive interdependence within the group, hold individuals accountable for the group’s progress and each other’s learning, model face-to-face interaction, and instil appropriate group processes that foster teamwork (Smith, Sheppard, Johnson & Johnson, 2005).

Third, the process of art-making frequently takes the maker through information gathering and ideas development. Art teachers have the opportunity to guide these processes by introducing different activities an artist might go through: investigating primary or secondary sources thoroughly and systematically, exploring materials and technical processes, and relating these to an artistic intent or a visual problem encountered. In the instance where internet-based research or images are used in these processes, the art teacher has the opportunity to guide students to sieve through information on the Internet, and the ethical and respectful use of Internet found images.

PuRP osE

While the literature review acknowledges that 21CC and student outcomes can be developed through the art curriculum, a research of Singapore art classrooms can provide details that could deepen our

As students engage in individual and group art-making, other subskills like evaluation, association, problem finding, comparison and flexible thinking increase in use.

understanding of the topic. The two research questions that guided the research were:

RQ1. What, why and how do Art pedagogical practices and principles contribute to effective fostering of 21CC and student outcomes?

RQ2. What resultant 21CC and student outcomes were observed in the Art classroom?

In this research, the definitions of 21CC and student outcomes follow those described by the Ministry of Education, Singapore (CPO, 2012). The next segment describes the research’s context and tools used for data collection.

ME thodologY

This research used a pragmatic, interpretivist position and based on an approach that recognises that knowledge is a human construct, and the subject imposes meaning on the object (Cohen et al., 2011, p. 15). This involves the belief that only by studying the individual’s accounts of how they made sense of what was happening, then can a researcher make sense of actions and events that unfold, and give an interpreted account. Also, as Booth, Colomb and Williams (2008) reminds us, “facts are shaped by those who collect them and again by the intentions of those who use them” (p. 135).

A case study approach was used to gain a deeper understanding of teaching strategies used and resultant student behaviours across a sample of classrooms of 12 art teachers in primary and secondary schools. The use of case studies was necessary as these are particularly suited to

capture the complexity of classroom teaching (Sternhouse, 1979), where the phenomenon and contexts are not easily separable (Yin, 2009). It would otherwise be impossible to make causality claims between art teaching and students’ emerging 21CC in a pre- and post- experimental research, given that other classes and opportunities beyond school have the potential to contribute to students’ emerging 21CC. Additionally, case studies, bounded by its real-world contexts, have the potential to provide rich descriptions or insightful explanations (Yin, 2012). The case study is useful for both generating and testing of hypotheses (Flyvbjerg, 2006) and generalisability, when strategic, critical cases are selected. In this research, a hierarchical theme of pedagogical practices that foster 21CC was identified. Examples of real-world practices that were “most likely” and “least likely” to foster 21CC were identified through multiple-cases.

Cases

In this multiple-case, instrumental study, the General Art classrooms from Primary One up to Secondary Two was chosen as the site, and relevant teaching actions and resultant student behaviours observed were chosen as the object of study. 12 qualified art teachers, eight from primary schools and four from secondary schools, were selected using purposeful sampling (Patton, 1990). Only general art classes from government and government-aided schools were chosen, rather than upper secondary art or “Advanced-Level” art classes, because these affected the most number of students in the education system, and the findings could inform teaching at other levels, through the lens of differentiated instruction.

The general art class observed in this collection of cases was typically an hour, where lessons were taught once a week over a year. Schools were guided by a national curriculum, with each school having autonomy to plan what was taught across the levels. The schools involved could be described as well staffed and the art programmes were generally well supported by school leaders, evident from the range of art-related school-based programmes, the resources available in the art classrooms, and the generous display of art pieces.

This collection of cases was selected so that it provided the structural representation that matched the research purpose. Having multiple cases, or collective case studies (Hamilton & Corbett-Whittier, 2013), allowed for more robust data collection and explanatory data to support subsequent generalization claims, providing greater confidence in our findings (Yin, 2009).

Professional Development Intervention

Over the course of this two year research, the 12 teachers also attended different types of professional development intervention. These were broadly categorised as:

• Pedagogy-based workshops to widen pedagogical repertoire by introducing teaching strategies that were new to teachers in this research;

• Studio-based, intensive art making workshops to deepen the understanding of the subject discipline and enhance ability to demonstrate art-making processes; and

• Sustained coaching and mentoring to provide timely feedback for teachers’ application of professional learning.

These opt-in professional learning opportunities were recommended to teachers in this research based on their professional learning needs. These professional learning needs were determined after the Baseline study, which found that art instructional lessons were generally overly teacher-centred, despite the best intentions and positive teaching attitudes.

Data Collection

Data collection consisted of classroom lesson observations, interviews with teachers and students, questionnaires for teachers, and collation of artefacts, such as lesson plans and images of student artworks. These were used to examine the multifarious phenomena that constitute the art pedagogical practices and principles, and 21CC student outcomes, and allowed for data triangulation. The data collection across cases, and standardisation of field-notes and observations, was guided by a research guide. Besides the subject team and three teams of lesson observers, a specialist group providing external perspectives to the subject team was also convened. This consisted of two overseas renowned educators, three local pedagogues from institutes of higher learning, and one school Principal. This formed an expert consensus panel, or International Panel, providing the measurement standards for this new domain of knowledge, namely, 21CC in art teaching in the context of this research.

Data Analysis

The data analysis followed an inductive process, beginning with individual cases. The data collected was organised into a code matrix; with notes and memos written to find patterns in the data. Emerging themes and sub-categories of noteworthy practices (well performed or missed opportunities), and contextual relationships to 21CC conceptual categories were made. To utilise the rich data collected, interview transcripts, field-notes and videorecorded lesson observations were read against the preliminary list of emerging themes that developed from initial coding memos. For the cross-case analysis, a matrix of collated ratings and qualitative comments from each lesson observation were compared, and commonalities and differences that surfaced were used for extensive discussions by the research team.

The data analysis process was iterative, moving back and forth from categorising, connecting and contextualising strategies. Coding and matrices were combined with narrative summaries (quotes and images) to achieve an understanding of the classroom activities; that neither could have provided alone. An effort was made to distil what was observed to explain unique art pedagogical practices. The resultant findings from the cross-case analysis could be evaluated as theory building or a “working hypothesis” (Cronbach, 1975; Flyvbjerg, 2006), which could build other new case studies or lend itself to generalisation of application to other art classrooms.

To address the trustworthiness of the qualitative components of this case study, a review and

summary of findings was conducted at each phase of the research. Meetings were conducted within the subject research team, as well as with the International Panel. These summary findings were shared with teacher-participants to check on the trustworthiness of the interpretation, ensuring respondent validation of findings. These also allowed the researchers to gauge the internal generalisability of the findings; whether the findings applied to other general art classes beyond those directly studied. At the end of the research, the findings were also shared with a purposeful sample of teacher-leaders, as a way of verifying the findings, and checking the external generalisability of the findings beyond the boundaries of the cases.

Researcher bias and reactivity were minimised as the research team consisted of members from different backgrounds and institutional affiliations. Values and expectations of the researchers were debated before coming to a consensus on shared assumptions, refining the contents of the research guide to reflect these. The presence of the overseas educators further provided an external cultural lens to examine classroom practices that kept researcher bias in check too.

REsults

A. Findings on Art Pedagogical Practices and Principles (RQ1)

From the Baseline study, it was observed that teachers had established strong rapport with their students and were able to demonstrate appropriate introductions, art-making and

discussions, and lesson closures. However, art instructional lessons were, in general, overly teachercentred. This contrasts with the findings in the Final phase. After a series of professional development interventions were conducted, it was observed that practices changed incrementally over the span of one and a half years, with marked improvement in the application of student-centred teaching strategies.

The statistical analysis of the quantitative ratings by the International Panel, and the coding of qualitative comments recorded in the field notes, validated the correlation between student-centric teaching principles and students’ development of emerging 21CC across art lesson units and over time. In particular, two notable things stood out:

• Teachers’ ability to make learning relevant by contextualising art lessons was associated with students’ development of facets of Civic Literacy, Global Awareness and Cross-Cultural Skills; and

• Teachers’ ability to facilitate creativity was strongly associated with students’ development of facets of Critical and Inventive Thinking Skills.

We delineated two sets of inter-related pedagogical practices across the cases:

a. effective Art Teaching Practices: subject specific teaching practices that resonate with art-making practices, and therefore, were intuitive to art teachers; and

b. effective Teaching Practices: nonsubject specific, foundational teaching practices that were readily identifiable by any experienced classroom teacher.

In general, opportunities for students to develop aspects of 21CC were provided across many lesson units over time. To develop 21CC intentionally, teachers ought to be able to design appropriate performances tasks and learning activities, contextualise learning from multiple entry points, and use big ideas to frame inquiry.

effective Art Teaching Practices

I. Encourage ideas generation and conceptualisation of artistic work Teachers who placed emphasis on the process of generating ideas and conceptualising artistic work were more likely to develop students’ critical and inventive thinking skills. Observed teaching practices included:

• Using sketchbooks, designing worksheets and other strategies (e.g. questioning strategies) to generate ideas;

• Designing activities for peer interaction and learning;

Teachers who placed emphasis on the process of generating ideas and conceptualising artistic work were more likely to develop students’ critical and inventive thinking skills.

• Incorporating “serious play” as a way of setting the stage for creative thinking;

• Allowing time for exploration of and experimentation with materials in order to generate ideas;

• Using knowledge from other content areas or research to deepen understanding of concept, theme or idea; and

• Orchestrating in-process peer feedback.

Effective teachers were able to build understanding of an art form through multiple entry points. They were able to connect students’ experiences and appreciation of the art form, its materials and processes within and across lesson units. They had the ability to probe student responses and help students come to their own conclusions. They commonly used selective questions, instead of posing many questions that had a tendency to disrupt students’ thinking and action (i.e. flow, or “init-ness”). This all supported a higher level of artistry, which hinged on exploration and play, as opposed to excessive instructional teaching that could limit opportunities for students to learn from exploration and experimentation with materials and processes.

To aid students in conceptualising artistic work, effective teachers used themes, big ideas, questions, metaphors, “problems” and concerns to frame investigations rather than media or formal concepts (Elements of Art, Principles of Design). Themes and big ideas were frequently used and there was a conscious attempt to link them to students’ lives. For example, terms that were used to evoke relevance included

“playground”, “family and peer relationships”, “local food”, “self-representation”, “storytelling” and “emotions”. However, there seemed to be an over-reliance on “identity”. Teachers could consider more extensive themes connected to Science, society and culture, local and global contexts. For less effective teachers, there were mismatched themes to media, reflecting a lack of in-depth experience with the medium. To counter this, deeper research into the kind of imagery, themes and styles specific media, would elevate their effectiveness.

Art demonstrations and production of prototypes helped students envision artistic processes and work. Effective teachers used demonstrations to inspire possibilities, and not simply just showing how something was completed. Making prototypes allowed the teacher to anticipate what challenges students may encounter. It was encouraging to see more teachers making prototypes as a sign of personal investment and gaining experience with the media before introducing them to the class. To bring this to another level of effectiveness, these teachers also made greater use of students’ works as examples to demonstrate what was expected and what was possible. However, while there was a greater use of stimulus materials (i.e. tactile, visual, multimedia), their usage lacked critical engagement. Furthermore, less effective teachers were unable to gauge the effectiveness of the learning activity as they were not only new to the medium, but had also not attempted or familiarised themselves with the method and procedures demanded of the students.

Effective teachers developed and used questions to unpack prototypes and student artworks

to inspire and motivate students. These facilitative questions used by the teachers often focused mainly on techniques to decode the works. Yet, teachers could have spent more time on research and in finding suitable artist exemplars. They often fell back on discussing traditional artists, which could limit students’ exposure to the art world. As a way forward, teachers would need to use their chosen stimuli more effectively and critically. Instead of asking questions that required students to describe visual appearances of artworks only, the teachers would have been more effective if they were to ask more probing and thoughtprovoking questions.

There were missed opportunities to involve students in developing assessment criteria based on exemplars. Doing so would have empowered students to take ownership of their learning, by first understanding how the criteria were established, and how art-making might be evaluated.

II. Create a lively, visually inspiring art learning environment

Effective teachers used available space creatively, and often re-arranged classroom furniture to facilitate individual or group learning. Their art classrooms featured numerous displays of process and products. Displays included past and current students’ works, various types of visual stimulus in the form of books, charts, photographs, posters, printed images and objects. In some instances, displays included photographs and texts by students, illustrating the artistic processes they undertook to conceptualise an artwork and what they had learnt previously.

Effective teachers created a safe environment for learning and risk-taking. This encompassed a range of general teaching practices and strategies, including the use of classroom management routines, establishing strong student rapport, mutual respect, positive tone of voice and body language, and spending time learning about students’ background, interests and learning styles. Student voice was encouraged, accompanied by nonjudgmental teacher responses. These teachers also designed effective performance tasks that stretched students’ thinking and skills, and used on-going assessment and other strategies to advance students’ learning. Less effective practices tended to be largely procedural in nature and dominated by teacher talk. The teacher dictated the pace of learning, set art tasks that over-emphasised technical skills rather than creation, and resulted in disinterested and disengaged students.

III. Document teaching and learning as part of an artistic learning cycle

Effective teachers used observing and noticing as an active part of their instruction and ongoing assessment in the classroom. Process and products of learning were documented and shared. The use of documentation as a process requires the translation of observations, actions and verbal responses into tangible artefacts. As such, the act of close observation, active listening and recording conversations, and activities in the classroom, allowed teachers to understand their students in new ways. Documentation supported the building of conceptual knowledge and collaboration across and beyond classrooms. Making the ‘thinking’ of a learning group visible allowed

students to build on what others know. Less effective teaching practices failed to capitalise on documentation to review students’ prior learning. The following documentation practices were observed:

• Using students’ writing process and writings to formulate thinking and record thinking;

• Using student photographs to record instances of artistic process as part of the formative assessment strategy;

• Using student visual journals to encourage documentation of art learning; and

• Using worksheets with thinking routines, and other thought-provoking questions related to the learning activity to document studentreflection.

IV. Plan for group learning and collaborative artmaking

Effective teachers used various forms of artmaking and presentation that benefit from group learning and group perspectives. Where group learning was well guided, students could engage with a topic, and deepen their understanding of the subjects explored. To do so consistently and effectively, students have to be taught how to learn together. Teachers should therefore design tasks that benefit from group perspectives, facilitate conversations that deepen learning, and form groups intentionally.

Effective teachers allocated time and space for students to interact and learn from each other through discussion, questions, critique and working on the same task. While teachers planned group-based art projects, more could be done to foster deeper collaboration.

Effective teachers also used classroom displays and exhibitions to enhance group learning. Students can decide how an exhibition of student-work is to be put together, play complementary roles to organise the exhibition, and foster peer support in the entire process. As they interact, they share their strengths and develop their weaker skills. In small groups, they can develop their interpersonal skills, and learn to deal with conflict.

effective Teaching Practices

I. Understand learners and learning well Effective art teachers learnt about their students over time and used that knowledge to inform lesson design and classroom teaching. Designing developmentally-appropriate instruction should be based on knowledge of artistic, aesthetic, social, emotional and cognitive development of the learner. This principle holds that the art teacher should strive to know students’ prior knowledge and skills, family and cultural background, interests and learning habits, and where they are at in their learning process. Doing so helps in the following ways: (a) Informs the lesson design (e.g. choice of stimulus, selection of specific instructional objectives, pacing, and task design); (b) Explains students’ challenges (e.g. identification of common misconception); and, (c) Guides the next instructional step (e.g. feedback, next lesson design).

Effective art teachers established good student rapport and relationships, and showed genuine care and concern for students. Good teachers saw themselves as role models, modelling good learning behaviours, humility, and inquiry. Teachers and students had mutual respect and trust, which enabled them to learn from each

other; thus making teaching and learning both dynamic and satisfying.

Effective art teachers explicitly modelled how experts learn. Good teachers modelled and demonstrated how skilful artists approached learning, new ideas and information. When teachers talked about their own inquiry process, note taking or where they found answers to their own questions, the students were led to see how learning could be hard or messy, even for experienced learners. This brought some enlightenment, assurance and confidence to the students for their own learning journey.

Effective art teachers embraced learnercentred teaching, placed learners in the centre of the learning process, shaping the content, activities, materials, and pace of learning. Students were able to do more discovering when teachers practised student-centred art teaching, as opposed to restrictive rote learning. These traits were observed:

• Students had autonomy to shape their task, art form or material, and their “approach”. This is consistent with literature on choice-based art teaching, where providing choice encourages students’ cooperation and ownership.

• Teachers provided students with opportunities to learn independently or from one another, and helped

students develop skills to learn independently.

• Teachers took advantage of “teachable moments” or “readyto-learn moments”. Asking apt questions encouraged students to confront and respond to what they were doing, address misconceptions, or to deepen learning.

II. Understand the curriculum and content well

Effective art teachers were observed to be purposeful; aligning learning objectives, assessments and instructional activities. Effective art teachers designed lesson units more carefully. They identified and scaffolded differentiated instruction for key concepts, ideas, and skills in art, for different groups of students. The instructional activities and performance tasks served towards what was intended, cognisant of students’ artistic, cognitive and psychomotor developmental stage. These art teachers managed to design performance tasks that helped students build and demonstrate their understanding.

Effective art teachers used on-going assessment that informed both teachers and students about the students’ current understanding and how to proceed with subsequent teaching and learning (Black, et

Effective art teachers learnt about their students over time and used that knowledge to inform lesson design and classroom teaching.

al., 2003; Blythe et al., 1998). Good on-going assessment practices observed were:

• Having good situational awareness of students’ learning, based on behaviour and work-in-progress of students;

• Criteria for performance tasks were clear, relevant and public. These were listed on presentation slides or printed as hand outs; and

• Feedback occurred frequently in conjunction with performance of understanding during class time. Feedback provided students with information not only about how well they had carried out their performance task, but also how they might improve it.

B. Findings on Student Behaviour and Student outcomes (RQ2)

Making art with a suitable theme and focus in mind lends itself well to bringing out students’ awareness of themselves. Contextualised art themes that focus on identity (e.g. Portraiture), relationships (e.g. friends and family), and places (e.g. playgrounds), lend themselves well for students to explore and reflect upon their emotions, strengths, weaknesses, and values. In effective classes, students were able to articulate their own emotions and feelings, and empathise how their peers thought and felt about artworks with strong subject matter, colour, lines, and shapes. Students learnt about their peers and showed respect for different viewpoints by responding appropriately to peer comments. By responding appropriately to questions of identity, purpose, and aspirations,

students gained greater self-awareness and social awareness.

We observed different ways of demonstrating Civic literacy, Global Awareness and Crosscultural Skills (CGC), Critical and Inventive Thinking and Information, and Communication Skills in the art classroom, depending on the age of the students. These were different from the examples initially conceptualised by the research team. For example, an age appropriate indicator of “displaying socio-cultural awareness and sensitivity” (CGC) for lower primary students was finding out about their classmates through art-making and art discussion, and helping one another in aspects of social and academic learning. In instances where the theme for art-making drew from local culture, students’ sensitivity to national and cultural identity was observed to be developed.

Aspects of fostering active civic community life and global awareness, or deepening of students’ understandings in these domains, were not immediately apparent in the art lessons observed or lesson unit plans collected. However, as students learnt about art and artists from countries other than Singapore, they acquired, in small parts, an understanding of different cultural meanings ascribed to colour, objects, actions and images. “Seeing is not simply a passive reception of stimuli but also involves active construction of meaning” (Felten, 2008). This is consistent with research on students’ acquisition of visual literacy, where the active decoding of images from other cultures raised awareness of cultural associations affiliated to these images (Yenawine, 1998).

In general, there were opportunities provided for students to display 21CC across a lesson unit that stretched over weeks rather than in one lesson. In instances where Civic Literacy, Global Awareness and Cross Cultural Skills (CGC), and Communication, Collaboration and Information (CCI) were not observed, they were not intended learning outcomes. Despite this, aspects of cordial cooperation, respect for peers, and turn taking to speak were observed, and this pointed to evidence of communication and collaboration skills being exercised. Teachable moments were put to advantage, reminding students of the intricacies of working together and experiencing success from collaboration. Likewise, verbal communication skills were not emphasised, since student presentations were evaluated for art ideas, rather than the metacognition behind their instrumentation. The use of Information and Communication Technologies in learning was absent from classroom teaching. Instead, these were implied or carried out as research homework, or in some instances, the scope of research was bound by what the teacher could provide in the form of pre-printed images, sampled from the Internet.

For all aspects of 21CC to be developed intentionally through art, performance tasks and learning activities would need to be designed with 21CC intent in mind. Teachers ought to be able to contextualise learning from multiple entry points, and use big ideas to frame inquiry, while mitigating constraints of time. Authentic CGC could perhaps be nurtured when a range of related artefacts, artists, and artworks from diverse cultures, are deliberately selected,

investigated, discussed, and drawn from as inspiration for art production. While art-making allowed students to communicate visually and express themselves artistically, CCI would be fostered when meaningful, collaborative art tasks are guided by contemporary community art exemplars. Similarly, personal inquiry from primary sources through drawing, documentation, ideation, exploration, and experimentation over a period of time in an extended project, would lend itself for students to acquire information management skills, guided by the teacher through artistic processes, methods, and tools.

Effective art teaching naturally lends itself strongest to nurture students’ Critical and Inventive Thinking by challenging students’ thinking through authentic inquiry and personal engagement in art. Data collected suggests that students were engaged in critical thinking, decision-making and metacognition when the art task was engaging and challenging, which is consistent with other empirical research (Adam et al., 2006; Greene et al., 2013). Additionally, challenging and engaging art tasks provided students the opportunity to manage complexity and ambiguity, where they do not have the immediate solutions to a visual, material, or conceptual problem. The qualitative data suggested that teachers’ and peers’ probing questions helped individual students overcome these problems. Moreover, where visual exemplars were available, they allowed students to tinker and experiment with different solutions to a problem. These were also attributed to a safe environment for learning and risk-taking.

ConClusIon And IMPlICAtIons

Art educators

Art, when taught well, offers a unique platform for students to develop 21CC. To this end, strong student-centric teaching practices are more likely to provide opportunities to nurture 21CC. In general, these opportunities bear the best results when provided across many lesson units over time. To foster 21CC is likely to require enculturation (Ritchhart & Church, 2011) over the duration of compulsory schooling, and across disciplines and domains. In order for this to be successfully carried through, teachers need to see themselves as connectors to help students make connections between different domains of knowledge. They will also need to embrace complexity, ambiguity, and challenges that different classrooms have, and even see themselves as instigators, who set high expectations and challenge their students to take things further (Marshall, 2005).

Based on research observations and STAR’s brief professional development interventions with teachers, the following factors relate to pedagogical change and improvement necessary to see the development of 21CC through the teaching of art:

• Professional development should focus on shifting teacher-centred educational beliefs to learner-centred educational beliefs;

• Applied practice, evidence, and experience over time, is likely to change the way teachers

view and think about effective art classroom teaching; and

• Establishing a common language amongst art teachers by moving tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge is essential. Descriptions of effective art teaching could contribute to networked learning and resultant constructive feedback, as well as professional reflection.

There should be a common understanding that achieving emerging 21CC outcomes should not be limited to art classes, but should be an endeavour that permeates the school’s culture and all subject disciplines. Likewise, the aims and purposes of art education should be honoured, instead of simply pursuing only 21CC student outcomes.

Art Syllabuses

In the context of Singapore in which national syllabuses provide the curricular directions for the different subjects, the art syllabuses could make explicit alignment of the emerging 21CC to the syllabus aims and learning outcomes. Clearer articulation of the content in terms of knowledge, skills, and values, in relation to the syllabus outcomes and the 21CC could help teachers scope and design the kinds of learning activities and experiences the students should go through. Illustrative lesson exemplars and student outcomes could be incorporated into the resource packages to support teachers in planning and implementing their art lessons. While all these seem logical and important from a curriculum perspective, there are assumptions, tensions, and challenges that need to be examined. For instance, on “who decides what are important aims and outcomes

or the content of the art syllabuses?”, the relationship between the curriculum planners, teachers, and other stakeholders require constant negotiation and calibration in order to ensure the fidelity of the syllabuses’ implementation.

There is also the on-going debate on the rationale, outcomes-based model of curriculum design predominant in many education systems, including Singapore’s, which oversimplifies education into a scientific activity that focuses on pre-determined ends and to change behaviours (McKernan, 2007).

Educational objectives and outcomes could be argued as “end points”, an end to itself, or “turning points”, where there is an opportunity to learn new, learn anew, and behave differently.

Dewey advocated the latter, “They are not ends or termini of action at all. They are terminals of deliberation, and so, turning points in activity” (McKernan, 2007, p. 73).

Teachers have to see themselves as decision makers and curriculum planners, not “implementers” (Harnack, 1968), in order to create turning points for every student. As such, in their planned and enacted curriculum, their students should and must always be placed in the centre of teaching and learning. The focus should then be the active engagement of their students’ minds and developing the thinking dispositions to connect

the complexities and ambiguities they face; and in the process create their own meanings and make sense of the worlds they experience. As Dewey (1956, p. 9) stated:

The child is the starting point, the centre, and the end… Moreover, the subject matter never can be got into the child from without. Learning is active. It involves reaching out of the mind. It involves organic assimilation starting from within. Literally, we must take our stand with the child and our departure from him. It is he and not the subject matter which determines both quality and quantity of learning.

Pre-Service Teacher Training

The development of students’ 21CC demands that art teachers must be well aware of the nature of visual arts and possess understanding of the deeper meanings and values of art in society. In addition, teachers must be able to translate and represent these skills, knowledge, and values of art to their students appropriately. What this suggests for pre-service teacher training is that trainee teachers need to have a good command of subject knowledge. They need to understand what practice in Visual Arts entails and be engaged in first-hand experiences so that they can in turn provide quality art experiences for their students. However, the challenge with pre-service training in art is the constant debate on what constitutes

Descriptions of effective art teaching could contribute to networked learning and resultant constructive feedback, as well as professional reflection.

“foundations” in art. The vast multitude of art forms coupled with limited curriculum time often means that only certain art practices can be introduced to trainee teachers.

Ensuring that trainee teachers have both breadth and depth of the subject knowledge is critical and that their experience in art learning be relevant to school context cannot be overstated. This foundation in subject knowledge will serve as an important base from which pedagogical content knowledge can be developed since research has shown that teachers’ grasp of subject knowledge can often influence their pedagogical content knowledge (Carlsen, 1987; Carlsen, 1997; CanbazoĞLu, DemİRellİ & Kavak, 2010).

Unfortunately, there is no consensus among researchers on how best to develop teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) during pre-service training. Some argue for PCK to be taught distinctively, separate from subject knowledge (Kapyla, Heikkinen & Asunta, 2009), while others (Lederman, Gess-Newsome et al., 1994) opine that compartmentalising these two knowledge bases actually indicates the weak understanding of PCK itself. The latter group believe that PCK is developed with more teaching experiences and increased use of the knowledge structures that exist within the domain itself. This current research in fact managed to associate improved student-centred teaching approaches, seen in the second phase of the research, with effective professional development intervention. Certainly, art education methods classes should be made more prominent in trainee teachers’ pre-service training to provide trainee teachers with a basic understanding of various studentcentred teaching approaches. Practicums can

be a critical link between theory and practice. Trainee teachers should be given the space, support, and guidance during their practicums to put into practice what they have learnt during their pre-service training. Thus, the current practicum support structure will need to be reviewed to provide better opportunities for such learning.

Limitations

The real challenge that remains for this research team is that of translating the research findings into practice. Although we have endeavoured to synthesise relevant findings triangulated from different data sources, the evidence collected may limit the research claims for the following three reasons. First, lesson observations were snapshots of classroom teaching, and might not fully represent teachers’ teaching competencies. Deeper longitudinal data could yield different identified principles and leverages. Second, the research team acknowledges that research is a complex learning task, where the iterative data analysis process means that the information is synthesised, and nuances of each case may be lost. The “thick description” (Geertz, 1973) may be of interest to some readers, but are unavailable in this report. Third, the detailed findings are bound by the context of the cases, and generalising the application to other classrooms would require adaptation and remodelling to suit new contexts.

New empirical research studies could deepen our understanding of art teaching in the context of Singapore art classrooms and address gaps from this research. First, research on how art learning is sustained across levels (i.e. Primary One to Six) could give insight to strategies art

teachers use on the ground to scope and sequence their instructional programme. This research could also identify challenges and issues faced on the ground and inform professional development policy and course content. Second, it was observed that different teachers had different benchmarks for how they evaluated their students’ work and what they defined as “aesthetic qualities”. We could benefit from a deeper understanding of what constitutes “aesthetics sensibility” and how it can be nurtured. Third, while learner-centred teaching is advocated, little empirical research is conducted on how group learning can overcome large class sizes for specific art forms.

Such research could provide support for art teachers interested in providing personalised learning but are daunted by large class sizes.

The ultimate goal of describing the effective practices in this chapter began with the hope that they will make their way into the pedagogical repertoire of Singapore art teachers. We hope this chapter provides the granularity and detail of interest to educators within and outside the field, providing an invaluable snapshot of what counts as quality art teaching today, and how these might apply in other classroom teaching contexts.

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tRAnsl AtIng thEoRY into PRAC tICE

Lesson planning is critical to set the stage for learning. Teachers need to design units of lessons that challenge students’ thinking by providing opportunities for authentic inquiry. Through personal engagement in art, students can become more confident, self-directed in learning, and empathetic toward social and cultural issues. From the findings presented in this chapter, the following are tips to create art classrooms that best develop students’ emerging 21CC over time.

encourage ideas generation and conceptualisation of artistic work

Strategies include:

• Use sketchbooks, worksheets and other strategies (e.g. questioning strategies) to generate ideas;

• Design activities for peer interaction and learning;

• Incorporate “serious play” as a way of setting the stage for creative thinking;

• Provide multiple entry points to build students’ understanding of an art form;

• Use themes, big ideas, questions, metaphors, “problems” and concerns to frame investigations;

• Allow time for exploration of and experimentation with materials in order to generate ideas;

• Use art demonstrations and make prototypes;

• Develop and use questions to probe thinking;

• Use knowledge from other content areas or research to deepen understanding of the concept, theme or idea; and

• Orchestrate in-process peer feedback.

Create a lively, visually inspiring artlearning environment

Strategies include:

• Create a safe environment for learning and risk-taking by employing strategies such as the use of classroom management routines, establishing strong student rapport, mutual respect, positive tone of voice and body language, and spending time learning about students’ background, interests, and learning styles;

• Treat the art classroom like an art studio or art laboratory, where creative teaching and learning happens. Allow lesson structures to mirror how artists learn and work, such as facilitating art demonstrations, art making, art discussions, and exhibitions; and

• Use available space creatively and often re-arrange classroom furniture to facilitate individual or group learning.

Document teaching and learning as part of an artistic cycle

Strategies include:

• Use observing and noticing as an active part of instruction and on-going assessment in the classroom;

• Use students’ writing process and writings to formulate thinking and record thinking;

• Use student photographs to record instances of an artistic process as part of formative assessment strategy;

• Use student visual journals to encourage documentation of art learning; and

Use worksheets with thinking routines, and other thought provocative questions related to the learning activity to document student-reflection.

Plan for group learning and collaborative art making

Strategies include:

• Allocate time and space for students to interact, learn with and from each other through talk, discussion, questioning, critique, and working on the same task; and

• Plan art tasks, or art making and presentations that benefit from group learning and group perspectives.

Adopt a growth mind-set and critically examine how well your lessons are carried out and received. Find opportunities to try a strategy described in this chapter that is new to you, and find opportunities to learn about how other teachers have allowed their aesthetics sensibility to be sharpened as they continue to deepen their experiences in art making. Take time to rekindle your understanding of the aims and purposes of art education.

Remember that effective art teaching naturally lends itself strongest to:

• Nurture students’ Critical and Inventive Thinking by challenging students’ thinking, through authentic inquiry and personal engagement in art; and

• Inspire students to communicate/express themselves visually about self and about their world-views.

Siew Ling CHUA, Hui Ping HO, Chee-Hoo LUM, Chai Jing TAN

IntRoduC tIon

The focus on student-centricity and the nurturing of 21CC (MOE, 2010a/2010b) has received increasing attention in Singapore in the past five years. At the MOE Work Plan Seminar in 2011, then Minister for Education Heng Swee Keat pointed to ‘student-centric, values driven education’, which marked a shift in education priorities, articulating the need to “make our education system even more student-centric and sharpen our focus in holistic education” (Heng, 2011). With this focus, the professional development of music teachers, through the work of the Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR), has sought to examine how formal music pedagogies such as Kodály, Orff and Dalcroze, as well as informal and non-formal music teaching approaches, could be delivered with a student-centric orientation. Some music teachers have also worked with the academy on action research and applied an eclectic use of music teaching approaches to engage students. The efforts of these music teachers have been documented in essays that feature studentcentric practices (Chua & Ho, 2013; STAR, 2014). At the Ministry level, the music component of the PAM research was conceptualised and implemented to study the impact of music pedagogies on the delivery of 21CC and music learning outcomes.

This chapter presents the key findings for the Music component of the PAM Research, which was guided by the following questions:

a. What, why and how do Music pedagogical practices and principles contribute to effective fostering of 21CC and student outcomes?

b. What resultant 21CC and student outcomes are observed in the Music classroom?

This chapter also describes the methodology of the music component of the PAM research, and presents both the quantitative and qualitative findings of the pedagogical practices that contribute to the fostering of 21CC through learning music. It will also introduce the supporting literature associated with these findings. The discussion is intended to stimulate further ideas of how music lessons could be made student-centric and engaging for our 21st century music classroom in Singapore.

ME thod

The focus of the case-study research (Yin, 2009) was to examine the teaching practices of 12 music teachers (seven primary and five secondary) of varied teaching competencies and experiences in relation to the proposed seven guiding principles of student-centred arts learning. These principles were derived from lesson observations (local and overseas) by STAR, feedback from Arts Education Branch (MOE), and dialogue with music teacher-leaders from October 2011 to May 2012. The principles were:

a. Knowing students (psychology and development in music);

b. Making learning relevant through contextualising learning of the arts;

c. Providing choices and empowering students to make decisions (in the arts processes, learning goals, and criteria of success);

d. Facilitating reflection-in-action, reflectionon-action and critical thinking;

e. Facilitating creativity in art and musicmaking;

f. Creating a ‘flow’ (fluency, pacing, aesthetic flow); and,

g. Creating a conducive arts learning environment (e.g. organisation for instruction, collaborative learning).

Since the research question required an examination of students’ outcomes in relation to pedagogic practices, data was collected through observation of both the teaching strategies as well as students’ behaviours, questionnaires for teachers, and interviews with teachers and students. While the observation of the teaching was guided by the principles above, the observation of student behaviours was guided by a framework developed by the music subject team for this research project, which mapped the General Music Programme (GMP) syllabus learning outcomes to the 21CC. The observable student behaviours specified in the framework are listed below:

Civic Literacy, Global Awareness and CrossCultural Skills

Most students are able to:

• Sing/play music from local, regional, and global music traditions/genres/styles

• Make reference to ideas and stylistic features from different traditions/genres/styles in music-making (performing or creating)

• Distinguish and describe musical features of different music traditions/genres/styles

• Engage in and show respect for the music repertoire they work with

Critical and Inventive Thinking / Communication, Collaboration and Information Skills

Most students are able to:

• Listen critically and make observations of music elements/features, and/or compare music performances/creations

• Individually generate and experiment with sounds and musical ideas (e.g. using ICT tools)

• Reflect upon their singing/playing/creating and make adjustments so as to improve on their fluency and expression in singing/ playing/creating

• Evaluate ideas generated and use them to develop further into larger musical ideas or pieces of music

• Collaborate with others respectfully in group setting to work towards a group goal (e.g. performing/creating a piece of music)

• Communicate and manage musical ideas responsibly, including those from digital sources, through performing, creating and responding, individually and in groups

A Music International Panel comprising both international and local music pedagogues, and school leaders with music training, was set up to observe the participating teachers in three stages over a one-and-a-half-year period: Baseline (January to March 2013); Interim (July – September 2013); and, Final (July to September 2014). Observations were guided by an Evaluation Guide which outlined the indicators of teacher delivery and observable student behaviours based on the above guiding principles and framework. Each International Panel member gave a rating to the level of evidence observed for each principle, and then

agreed on the ratings that must be supported by qualitative descriptions of the lessons observed. Their ratings were also informed by other data including: (a) Teachers’ self-perception of their practice in terms of each of the principles through a questionnaire; and, (b) The International Panel members’ interview with the music teacher and a group of students at the end of each lesson so as to achieve a better understanding of the lesson in the context of the teacher’s practice and the curriculum, as well as students’ experiences in their music lessons. The process allowed for a moderation of perspectives by members of the International panel as they weighed in with their own knowledge and experiences, using the Evaluation Guide as a starting point for their discussions.

As part of the research process, professional development interventions were conducted for the 12 teachers in response to findings and recommendations at each stage of the research. For example, at the Baseline Stage, professional development was focused on broadening perspectives and pedagogical repertoire to facilitate creativity and critical thinking, and to deepen understanding of musical and creative processes. At the Interim Stage, Assessment for Learning became a focus area to provide participants with the tools and strategies to monitor and assess student learning more effectively. The professional development

intervention worked on strengthening teacher beliefs that underpin a student-centric music education through discussions, workshops, lesson observations, and mentoring by the professional development team at STAR.

dAtA

And REsults

Comparing the responses of the participants at the Baseline and Final stages of the research, the results showed a statistical significance in the improvement of ratings in four of the seven principles (contextualising learning, empowering students, facilitating critical thinking and reflection, and facilitating creativity). In addition, there was a statistically significant improvement in the overall scores.4 Comparing students’ observed emerging 21CC behaviours between the stages, the results also showed a statistically significant improvement in ratings of the overall observed 21CC behaviours 5 .

The results were analysed using linear regression to identify the extent to which the delivery with student-centred principles predicted the development of each of the emerging 21CC. The results6 from the study of the case study participants indicated that: a. Facilitating critical thinking predicts the

4 The results from the one way ANOVA test were: Contextualising learning, F(2, 27) = 3.47, p = .04, r = .45; Empowering students, F(2, 27) = 7.36, p = .00, r = .59; Facilitating critical thinking and reflection, F (2, 27) = 5.04, p = .01, r = .52; and Facilitating creativity F(2, 27) = 11.05, p = .00, r = .67). There is a statistically significant improvement in the overall scores F(2, 27) = 4.42, p = .02, r = .50.

5 The result was F (2,27)=3.795, p = .035, r = .47

6 There was multi-collinearity observed in the principles (knowing students and creating a conducive environment) for the tests conducted. It suggests that these variables have some shared characteristics and are confounding. Hence, they are removed from the computation.

development of critical and inventive thinking7; and,

b. Facilitating creativity and creating a flow predicts the development of communication, collaboration and information skills8.

It was observed that the more effective and engaging music lessons tended to be the ones that created aesthetic experiences for students, rather than the pursuit of technical knowledge and skills. These tended to be lessons that provided opportunities for students to encounter music in ways that allowed them to express ideas musically, manage creative ambiguities, as well as discern quality and articulate qualitative dimensions of music. Such learning experiences gave voice to students to communicate their expressive selves in musically authentic ways.

MusIC PEdAgogICAl

PRAC tICEs thAt nuRtuRE 21CC

Based on the three stages of lesson observations and interviews with students and teachers, the team concluded that there were music pedagogical practices which were effective in the fostering of 21CC and student outcomes. From the seven principles of student-centred arts learning, four of them emerged from this research as pedagogical leverages, which work in tandem towards nurturing the musical voice of students. They are represented in the framework given in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1: Music Pedagogical Leverages for Developing Emerging 21CC

a. Musical Communication and Cultures

Music embodies culture and is a natural leverage to provide exposure to a variety of local and global repertoire, making explicit connections between music and its larger socio-cultural contexts. These engender the emerging 21CC of Global Awareness and Cross-cultural skills. Music is also a valuable means by which students express themselves, communicating their ideas through performing, creating and responding.

b. Critical Thinking in Music

To develop critical thinking in music, teachers empower students to respond to, interpret and analyse musical works and concepts. They also use critical thinking strategies to help students reflect on the creative decisions that they make. As musical experience is fundamentally a qualitative one, critical thinking in music is also about discerning quality, understanding the qualitative dimensions of, and making judgements of music.

c. Musical Creativity

As a means of expression, Music is a natural avenue to develop creativity. To reap the benefits of creativity, teachers plan for the entire creative process (generating, clarifying, developing, refining, evaluating ideas) and allow sufficient time for the process to take place over a series of lessons. They make room for open-ended tasks through exploration within parameters guided by learning objectives, which allows for diversity of outcomes and differentiated learning. They encourage students to provide alternative musical interpretations through performing, responding and creating.

d. Musical Collaboration

Musical collaboration is an authentic musical practice found across cultures around the world. In a music ensemble, students experience collaboration for which music naturally provides the context, and develop collaboration skills such as establishing group goals and tasks, listening attentively to themselves vis-à-vis the whole ensemble, giving feedback, as well as group accountability. Teachers become facilitators and co-learners in the social dimensions of learning. They systematically teach students the organisational structure, approaches and processes to successful group work, and nurture collaborative skills.

The above pedagogical leverages need to be ensconced in a safe and vibrant learning environment with students experiencing a ‘flow’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) of musical experiences, where the focus is on aesthetics dimensions as students listen, perform and create music. The

following section will elaborate on each of these pedagogical leverages and how they resonate with scholarly literature findings, as well as present examples of classroom practices from the case studies that were observed.

Musical Communication and Cultures

Music embodies culture and there is a variety of local and global repertoire for which teachers could make explicit connections between music and its larger socio-cultural contexts, hence contributing to nurturing of cultural awareness. This perspective resonates with scholarly writings on the valuing of cultural diversity in music teaching. For example, Banks’ et al. (2001) articulation of essential principles for teaching and learning in a multicultural society pointed to the need for teachers to “help students acquire the social skills needed to interact effectively with students from other racial, ethnic, cultural, and language groups.” In approaching world musics in education, Campbell’s (Campbell & McCarthy, 1996) concentric circles model (beginning with the inner circle of the musical self moving out towards musical training and musical outreach) serves as a critical reflection on how music teachers can deal with issues of diversity and inclusion within the music classroom. The musical self is primarily concerned with the teachers’ familiar musical heritage alongside a valuing of students’ musical preferences and heritage. The key is in the acknowledgement of every individual’s own musical identity.

Ethnomusicologists (Wade, 2012; Bakan, 2011; Miller, 2012; Schippers, 2009) and music educators (Volk, 1998; Campbell, 2005) have also articulated several ways of engaging with world music that develop students’ musical knowledge in inclusive and active ways. Schippers (2009), for example, has suggested a Twelve Continuum Transmission Framework for understanding music transmission in culturally diverse environments. This framework aims to raise awareness of choices the teacher could take in

the teaching of any music with an understanding of issues such as context, modes of transmission, dimensions of interaction, and approaches to cultural diversity.

Articulations by students who participated in the research study served to illustrate an approximation to musical communication and culture.

Some of our classmates are not really into music but when we do things together (in music class), they are exposed to different types of music so maybe they will start having an interest in music.

Beyond using a varied repertoire of world musics and active music-making in collaborative settings to motivate and interest students in music classes, a student also pointed out that,

We learn how to respect the cultures…when we hear the music we can understand what problems they face in the country.

Clearly, students are getting a sense that music is about understanding culture and about opening their minds to respect the diversity around them. Students through their experiences in music classes, also begin to value the pervasiveness of music and how “music is a big thing in many countries, something in their everyday life when they’re working or doing celebrations” and appreciating that they have their own musical culture to share with others, “to reach out to people in other countries” (student interviews, 2013).

Critical Thinking in Music

In broader literature discussions of critical thinking, the concept has evolved over time and its roots can be traced back to the Socratic

Method from 2,500 years ago.

Etymologically, the word ‘critical’ is derived from the Greek words: ‘kriticos’ (meaning discerning judgement) and ‘criterion’ (meaning standards), which implies the development of ‘discerning judgement based on standards’. Critical thinking has been variously defined (Lipman, 1995; Ennis, 1987, Kuhn, 1999; Paul, 1989; Scriven & Paul, 1996) and has been associated with problem solving, higher-order thinking, reasoning, abstract thinking and reflection. Recent discourse regards critical thinking as context-specific, and involves diverse sets of thinking skills that operate within a particular domain of experience (Woodford, 1996). Thus, in music instruction, this view of critical thinking suggests that music teaching ‘is less about teaching general and/or specific thinking skills and knowledge than it is about fostering in students a disposition to develop their musical individuality’ (Woodford, 1996, p. 29). This view is also associated with a sociological perspective that critical thinking in music is connected with the construction of one’s musical identity as one engages in making musical decisions and explorations.

Observations from classroom practices in the case studies found that critical thinking strategies have been used to help students reflect on creative decisions and empower them to make informed judgements in creating, making and presenting music. One

strategy observed was the facilitating of critical thinking through openended and intellectually engaging questions. Another strategy observed in the case studies was the facilitating of metacognition where students were made “aware of one’s thinking as one performs specific tasks and then using this awareness to control what one is doing” (Jones & Ratcliff, 1993, p. 10). For example, a teacher modelled by ‘thinking aloud’ the guiding questions as she worked with the students on a class composition task. This provided a model for the students who periodically referred to the guiding questions demonstrated by the teacher when they created their music in groups.

The observations from the case studies brought to mind Gardner’s (1993) useful reminder that “musical thought is more than thinking about music, it is thinking in music”. Hence, when designing music tasks, teachers needed a high level of understanding of the connections between musical concepts and principles, and musical compositions (Wiggins 2001). This would enable students to achieve their learning objectives and goals as they engaged in performing, listening and creating. The following table summarises suggested strategies where the case study participants could have considered alternative ways to explore how critical thinking in music could be extended:

oBSeRVeD APPRoACheS ALTeRnATIVe APPRoACheS

Teacher sets clear objectives when designing a music listening task which requires students to listen for a particular musical feature of the work. Students complete a worksheet on what they had heard.

Teacher provides a specific parameter for a music creating task in which students are to compose a rhythmic ostinato for a piece of music using rhythm notation (e.g. ta and ti-ti). Students must be able to notate the rhythmic ostinato.

Teacher teaches the class a new piece of music by asking students to repeat the piece line by line. Once the piece is learnt, teachers decide on how it should be performed.

Teacher decides on the specific criteria for assessment for the music task, with assessment often carried out by the teacher.

Musical Creativity

Teacher sets clear objectives when designing a music listening task which requires students to listen for a particular musical feature of the work. While the focus is still on the musical characteristics of the piece they heard, students represent their understanding through movement or graphic notation.

Without restricting students to just the simple application of notation, students could also explore and experiment ideas which include more complex rhythmic patterns, and present these through a performance and/or a combination of graphic and conventional notations.

Teacher facilitates students’ identification of melodic contours and formation of new pieces of music through analytical listening. Teacher also facilitates students’ decision on how it (the new piece of music) should be performed.

Teacher co-constructs the assessment criteria for the task with the students and provides positive models and samples. To actively engage students in their learning, they are involved in peer and selfassessment.

Discussion on creative thinking in music by music educators has been vibrant. Using the 4Ps framework of Person, Process, Product and Place (Rhodes, 1961; Runco & Pagnani, 2011, Hickey & Webster, 2001; Odena et al., 2004), this section discusses the observations from the case studies in relation to the development of creative thinking in music. The multi-faceted contributions from the field of music education include understanding the composing strategies

used by students (e.g. Kratus, 1991; Younker, 2000); their compositional thought processes (e.g. Burnard & Younker, 2004; Younker, 2000; Wiggins, 2002); the developmental pathways of their creative output (Swanwick & Tillman, 1986); as well as assessment of creativity in compositions and improvisation (Rusinek, 2012; Fautley, 2005; Hickey, 2001). Bolden (2009) looked at the teaching-composing practices through a case study, while Welch and Odena (2012) examined music teachers’

perceptions of creativity. In terms of Singapore’s music classrooms, Dairianathan and Lum (2013) noted that there was less focus on the creative music-making activities compared to performing activities.

Definitions of (musical) creativity abound and are still being debated (Ryan & Brown, 2012; Webster, 1990). Guided by the research questions and Singapore’s GMP syllabus, this study takes ‘creativity’ to denote new concepts or ideas (Rhodes, 1961; Csikszentmihalyi, 1996; Eisner, 1971, cited in Odena et al., 2004), and more specifically, “imagination successfully manifested in any valued pursuit” (Odena & Welch, 2009, p. 417; cited in Ryan & Brown, 2012). In a musical context, this would be ‘musical imagination’ and the ability to think in sound. Webster proposed for creative thinking in music to be seen as the “mental processes associated with creative production” (1990, p. 22).

While musical creativity is often associated with composing or improvising activities9 – the act of creating musical materials - it is not limited to them. As Burnard puts it, “the presence of music is not a necessary condition for having creativity, but having creativity is a necessary condition for having music” (2012, p. 8). Creativity can pervade all aspects of musical activities where students are given the flexibility to make decisions about the music that they listen, respond to, and perform; such as through movements or stories.

Person: Value the creative potential of students

The idea that creativity is the domain of ‘special’ and ‘creative people’ is a thing of the past. Research supports that every child has creative potential and thus “the technique of getting ideas can be learned and can be taught” (Rhodes, 1961, p. 306)10. In order that the creative potential in students “manifest as performance” (Runco & Pagnani, 2011, p. 64), valuing what students bring into the music classroom is crucial. This therefore means taking on a student-centric orientation towards music teaching-learning, which puts the focus on drawing from students’ prior experiences, skills and knowledge, as well as their responses during lessons.

Process: Broaden notions of and give time to the creative process

Scholars have in the past investigated the processes of creativity and one such model is the four-stage creative process by Wallas (1926), which has been adapted by music educators for composing (Hickey & Webster, 1990; Burnard & Younker, 2004). The four-stage creative process includes: Preparation (which is the gathering of materials or ideas, observing, and defining the creative problem); Incubation (which involves thinking about parts and relationships, stepping away from the creative problem to create ‘think time’ for the assimilation of ideas); Inspiration/ Illumination (which is the ‘aha’ moment when a

9 For the purpose of this study, this report takes improvisation to be music “which is model-bound, rapidly created, and simply conceived,” and composition is viewed as “music which is carefully thought out.” (Nettl, 1974, p. 17; cited in Campbell, 1990, p. 44).

10 One can read more about the differences between eminent creativity, labelled as “Big C” creativity, which designates the “monumental and socially lauded accomplishments of eminent individuals” (Runco & Pagnani, 2011, p. 64) and “small c” creativity, used to describe more routine endeavours that pervade everyday life, which can be argued for musical expression and creation, as a human endeavour.

great idea is surfaced); and Verification (which is the bringing together of ideas and trying out of the creative product). Reconceiving the model so that it is less linear, Burnard and Younker (2004) also proposed a more cyclical and organic adaptation of the four processes (preparation, incubation, inspiration and verification) to mirror more closely the music composition pathways.

Recent discourse on the creative processes called for rethinking of musical creativity and put forth the notion of multiple creativities in music (Burnard, 2012). For instance, musical creativity could be observed beyond the musical composition, as there are differing musical practices in the world of musics where creativity is not observed in formal acts of composition (Finnegan, 2007; Burnard, 2012). The sociocultural view of musical creativity proposes that situated musical creativity is generative and involves acts of creation or co-creation in social contexts (Lave & Wenger, cited in Burnard, 2012). Examples included collaborative creativity (where ideas are generated from joint creative endeavours), empathic creativity (where it involves the ability to have emotional and experiential responses to the feelings of others), and performance creativity such as in improvisational genres (Burnard, 2012, p. 15-16).

Observations of lessons in this research suggest that teachers need to see the creative process beyond music composition, and to provide time and space for students to incubate and develop their ideas, and to work collaboratively in the creative process. When creative projects are conceived in authentic and holistic ways, they could allow for the creative process to pan

out more fully. Such projects are often more meaningful and engaging for students (Wiggins, 2002).

Product: Design authentic creative tasks that focus on thinking in sound

A key principle of music teaching-learning is that ‘sound comes before symbol’ (Swanwick, 1999). Wiggins (2002) pointed out that “students need opportunities to conceive of their original music as it will sound and not as it will look on paper” (p. 86, original italics). The key for music educators to consider is how holistic compositional and improvisational tasks could be designed to foster such creative thinking, and thinking in sound. Bolden (2009) suggests that composing assignments need to connect students to the ‘real world’, in order that they be meaningful to them. Wiggins (2002) cautioned against tasks that require students to ‘think about music in an isolationist rather than holistic manner’ (p. 85), such as using only certain pitches or rhythmic fragments, as ‘students thinking in sounds are often unaware of which pitches or rhythms they are using. They are simply singing ideas in their heads’. For Wiggins, the best creative problems are “those that deal with the parameters of the context, where teachers set some of the characteristics of the context, and students are free to develop what they perceive to be appropriate thematic materials to fill that context” (ibid)11. Examples of creative tasks include creating music to convey a particular mood expressed in a short silent video, and creating a jingle composition to advertise a product.

11 Some examples of holistic creative problems Wiggins (2002) gave included creating a piece that generated a particular mood or audience response (e.g. happy, scary) or to compose or improvise in a particular form, texture, meter or mode.

Place: Create environments that facilitate interactions

The environment is an important third teacher (Eillis & Strong-Wilson, 2007). Based on the findings from this research, a conducive environment facilitated peer-to-peer and teacherstudent interactions for creative tasks.

The set-up of music rooms, with sufficient space for music-making in both large and small group settings, encouraged group interactions. By conducting music-making in a circle, for example, the teacher created an inclusive environment that gave voice to students.

Musical Collaboration

In the context of the general music classroom, musical creativity is closely related to musical collaboration. As mentioned above, more recent studies have looked at the social dimensions of musical creativity: “musical creativity arises in and as social practices” (Burnard, 2012, p. 7). Collaborations in music practices recognise the diverse cultural perspectives of musical creativities (Campbell, 1990; Rusinek, 2012). Music is frequently created and performed in collaboration with others in folk and popular genres.

Collaborative music creating takes as its basis, both social learning theories and social perspectives of learning (Wenger, 2009; Vygotsky, 1978). This notion puts forth that learners coconstruct their understanding through

the broader social relationships that they build with those in their community and environment. Therefore, students are not solitary constructors of their knowledge, but they learn through social interactions as members of their prevailing cultures (Gray & MacBlain, 2012). As active agents of learning, they learn best while actively constructing their own understanding, rather than being passive receivers. In other words, “... learning should be partnered with creative activities that allow students to demonstrate command through action” (Webster, 2011, p. 422).

Another important notion is Vygotsky’s ‘Zone of Proximal Development’, which points out the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help. Students learn when assisted by a ‘More Knowledgeable Other’, who could be a peer or a teacher. In a collaborative setting, such learning takes place naturally. Miell and MacDonald (2000) observed more successful musical collaborations when there was friendship in the groups of their study, because of the high level of mutual engagement facilitated by that friendship (cited in Rusinek, 2012, p. 188).

Barrett (2006) distinguished between cooperative and collaborative relationships, suggesting that in the former, “each makes specific contributions to a shared task”, while

…teachers need to see the creative process beyond music composition, and to provide time and space for students to incubate and develop their ideas, and to work collaboratively in the creative process.

collaborative activities are those in which “participants see themselves as engaged in a joint task” (John-Steiner, 2000; cited in Barrett, 2006, p. 198). Sawyer (2006) highlighted that a characteristic of collaborative creativity of a group is when the result cannot be associated with any one person, where the “whole is greater than the sum of the parts” (p. 148). In the vignette described below, the collaboration led to a composition, which was organically put together by all the students through listening to one another, responding to what they heard, and contributing to the ensemble at the same time. Other pedagogical approaches such as informal learning (Green, 2008), and nonformal approaches (Mok, 2011; D’Amore, n.d.), as observed in teachers’ lessons in the research process, are examples of how collaborative learning could take place in the music classroom, mimicking real-life practices of musicians and much of music transmissions across many cultures. Through musical collaboration, students are given opportunities to participate in musical experiences authentic to ensemble music-making, while learning skills and concepts such as watching the teacher/conductor/student leader, listening, and responding to one another.

Aesthetic Musical Flow

Scholars have acknowledged the importance of the centrality of the music experience in music teaching and learning (Swanwick, 1999; Reimer, 2003; Elliott, 2005; Barrett & Webster, 2014), and such experiences include listening, creating and performing music (Wiggins, 2001). These processes of music allow our students to interact with music and “necessitates the constant discovery and rediscovery of ways of making and taking music” (Jorgensen, 2008).

A key educational significance of music and arts education is the development of aesthetic sensitivity. Aesthetics is linked closely to the arts in terms of its association with imagination, perception and sensation (Allsup, 2010, p. 43).

Reimer (1965) has defined aesthetic sensitivity as the ability to “(1) perceive the artistic content of works of art, and (2) to react feelingfully to this content” (p.34). Thus, developing aesthetic sensitivity through the arts can be considered a part of the humanising process, of perceiving and responding to artistic experiences with a depth of feeling (George & Hodges, 1980).

Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) notion of flow, “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it” (p. 4), presents itself as a possible way to think about how aesthetic sensibility might be approached in the music classroom. Some key elements in achieving flow include: (i) Clear goals every step of the way; (ii) Immediate feedback to one’s actions; (iii) Balance between challenges and skills; (iv) The merging of action and awareness; (v) Distractions being excluded from consciousness; (vi) No worry of failure; (vii) The disappearance of self-consciousness; (viii) A sense of distortion of time; and, (ix) The activity becomes an end in itself (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

Csikszentmihalyi pointed out from his study on talent development (1996) that flow, which provided students with optimal experiences, ‘motivated students to keep improving in hopes of achieving the same intensity of experience again’ (p.253). If one translates this flow experience through engagement in the arts, then an arts flow experience locked onto imagination,

perception, reception and ‘feelingfulness’, which results in an intense and optimal aesthetic experience, might likewise motivate students to keep developing their artistry in hopes of achieving the next intense aesthetic experience. The term ‘aesthetic flow’ might be used to describe such an engagement process.

To facilitate aesthetic flow in the music classroom, the music teacher would first need to ensure that the musical experience provided for students consider key elements of flow already mentioned above, like having musical challenges appropriate to the musical skills of students, having clear musical goals, providing immediate feedback to students’ musical actions, and helping students to merge their musical actions with their musical awareness.

Beyond an attempt to facilitate a flow experience for students, in order to allow music-making and music learning to approach and embody an aesthetic sensitivity (to imagine, to perceive and respond, and to feel), the music teacher needs to consider a number of factors other than providing knowledge about concepts and elements of music to students.

A key factor in this facilitation is the manifestation of musically expressive behaviours by the music teacher both in modelling for students and in activating or facilitating students’ music-making. Being musically expressive is more than a function of technical music proficiency as it also involves an engagement with the imagination and emotions. This can involve the use of gestures, visual imagery and metaphors by the music teacher to excite

students in the musical experience, to make clear the music concepts and elements taught, and to engage students’ imagination and emotions while they respond to, create, and perform music.

Swanwick’s (2012, p. 38) view of music as a form of discourse laced with metaphorical functions: “(i) transform tones into ‘tunes’, gestures; (ii) transform these ‘tunes’, these gestures into structures; and (iii) transform these symbolic structures into significant experience”, serves to further illuminate perhaps a more linear processing towards aesthetic flow with which a music teacher might engage students through “materials, expression, form and value12” to approximate aesthetic sensitivity. Other considerations include the setting up of a physically inviting environment in the music classroom that is suited to the musical genre being introduced and ensuring that transitions between musical activities are seamless and well-thought out so that the musical flow is not disrupted.

The above resonates with the International Panel’s observation that the more effective and engaging music lessons observed tended to be the ones that created aesthetic experiences for students, rather than just the pursuit of technical knowledge and skills.

Vignette of a Music Lesson

The following vignette describes a segment of a music lesson observed in this research, where the above pedagogical leverages are inter-woven with an aesthetic musical flow.

12 According to Swanwick (2012), awareness and control of (a) sound materials include “distinguishing between timbres, levels of loudness, duration of pitches, technical management of instruments or voices”; (b) expression or expressive character is shown in “atmosphere, musical gesture, the sense of movement implied in the shape of musical phrases”; (c) musical form is shown in “relationships between expressive shapes, the ways in which musical gestures are repeated, transformed, contrasted or connected”; and (d) personal and cultural value of music is shown in “autonomy, independent, critical evaluation and sustained commitment to specific musical styles” (p. 71).

Creating a Rainforest

In this 12-minute segment of the lesson, the music teacher led the class in creating the soundscape of a rainforest, an activity to relate the soundscape of a rainforest to the cultural context of Venezuela.

Sound Exploration

While seated in rows, the teacher asked, “Can you have a think through, how could we possibly create sounds of rain drops?” A student snapped his fingers. “Show me again”, as teacher walked towards him, and mirrored him in clicking her fingers. “Thank you very much! Anybody else?” Chuckling sounds and soft whistling heard in the background.

Teacher aide pointed to another student, who offered tongue-clicking sounds. “Tap lightly on the floor”, another student offered. “Very nice”, teacher responded. “What else?”

“Whistle? For the birds? Show me?” teacher asked. Several short whistles were heard.

Then teacher started musicking, asking students to start with finger snapping (the whole class started) and progressed to tapping the floor. She then asked the class to try a student’s suggestion of tongue clicks, and with different vowels. Students were not sure how to do that. Teacher explained and demonstrated how to click the tongue, while voicing different vowels. Students watched with engaged attention, and were then able to replicate the sounds.

“Not too bad…any other ideas, how can we create rain sounds?” Mid-way through one of her sentences, the teacher gasped and pointed to a student, “Haa! Show me!” A student demonstrates a soft clap (with three fingers on the palm). Teacher then led the class to clap with three, four fingers, and experimented with intensity.

“Not too bad, not too bad...” teacher responded, then asked students to get into double circles.

Scenario-setting

Teacher described a scenario of a rainforest, and told the class that the task was to re-create the soundscape of a rainforest. She started reciting a simple story and invited students to build on that. “Imagine you are walking in the rainforest, and suddenly you hear a raindrop, and it goes “splat” on a very huge green leaf, and it goes “cluck” <clicked tongue>. And as you walk a little more, you hear another raindrop fall into a puddle behind you <clicked tongue>. As you walk a little more, you feel more raindrops falling on your head and your body, and on the plants around you. Without you realising it, suddenly, it becomes a huge, huge downpour, and it wouldn’t stop until a few seconds later. Slowly the rain stopped and tapered off. The sun starts to shine between the leaves… and all is well!”

After reciting the story, she took out a rain stick (“Ms Ng and I made it”) and sat at the centre of the circle, and encouraged the class to “give it a shot”. “Let’s start off with a few rain drops, I leave it up to you if you would like to use finger taps, tongue clicks, snaps <snapped finger>. Let’s try to start off with a very slight drizzle.”

Leading the Soundscape Creation

As the class quietened down, she counted them in. As and when students felt ready, they started to join in with a variety of sounds. “Take your time”, teacher said. “What’s the difference if your rain drops fall on a leaf, or what’s the difference if it falls on a puddle of water?” She encouraged students to explore different timbres.

“What if your rain got a bit heavier, your rain drops got a little fatter? Suddenly your raindrops get more intense!” Students responded by creating louder, faster claps and clicks. Some were tapping on the floor. “A little bit more!” the teacher coaxed, and a crescendo of raindrops was created.

“And soon we have a very heavy downpour!” Most students were tapping on the floor by then. The volume did not get any louder, and gradually the students stopped tapping as if it was part of a musical flow. “And then it stopped?” the teacher asked.

Revision / Re-creation

“I like how you started the rain drops…” The teacher took this moment to reflect on the sound creation of the stage of ‘heavy downpour’ and asked if they had other ways of creating even heavier rain drops. “What’s the difference between clapping like this <three-fingered clap> and this <a fullpalm clap>?” “Sounds like thunder”, a student responded.

“Shall we try to the highest point and let the rain dwindle to a drizzle?” She led the class through a downpour, but stopped the class mid-way to address the fact that everyone was doing full-palm clapping. She encouraged the class to still keep to a variety of timbres (clicks, snaps, claps).

Conclusion

Upon the next try, the sounds were much more varied, and she then slowly led the rain to a drizzle. “Do it on your own”. The rain stopped gradually to a silence, which was broken by a student asking, “Are there birds in the forest?” The class laughed and the teacher suggested that the student could create the sound of a bird cooing.

In this activity, the teacher’s facilitation of a co-constructed soundscape gave students the opportunity to express themselves and communicate their ideas through performing, creating and responding. It was carried out in the context of learning about music in Venezuela, in which the teacher guided the students to experience the soundscape of rainforests, and thereby relating it to the landscape of the country.

The teacher scaffolded and led a co-creative process of music-making as she narrated a downpour in the rainforest, deploying what Burnard might have termed ‘collaborative creativity’ and ‘performance creativity’ in her approach. She created an inclusive and safe environment with students sitting in a circle, and invited responses from them through encouraging verbal and non-verbal language. The creative environment was further enhanced by her lively descriptions to help students visualise the rain in the rainforest.

By using the sound materials generated by her students (clicks, snaps, taps, claps), she valued their contributions as collaborator-composers. By giving them the autonomy to decide which sounds and when to contribute them to the collaborative composition, she generated a sense of ownership for the creative process. Wiggins (2002) talked about the ‘creative process as meaningful musical thinking’ (p. 79), and learning becoming meaningful when students feel that their ideas are valued and personalised.

While the creative process was brief for this lesson (which did not necessarily follow the fourstage composition process mentioned above), what is crucial to note is that the creative task

was conceptualised as a holistic one, where students had an oversight of the vision of what was to be created – a soundscape of a rainforest. The teacher set some characteristics for the context for composition and allowed students to respond with thematic materials to fit the context. The composition task was anchored in sound. She encouraged critical and creative thinking in sound, rather than starting from notation – “Music teachers should not miss an opportunity to encourage students to imagine sound” (Hickey & Webster, 2001, p. 21).

During the process, the teacher also engaged students in reflection and making modifications to their created sounds as they collectively imagined and produced the different elements of the rainforest. They were constantly making musical decisions and thinking in music.

Therefore, from the vignette above, one can see how these dimensions of critical and creative thinking in music, collaboration and communication were interacting organically in the lesson. That was perhaps why there was a sense of free-flowing musical thought, which generated an almost autonomous musical flow to the composition, as seen when the students decided, at one point, to pause the composition by themselves.

ConClusIon And IMPlICAtIons

At the heart of these pedagogical approaches is the focus on student-centricity and empowering the students’ musical voice, which is core to the development of a musical child. Autonomy and the student voice has been the focus in various

education initiatives as documented in Finney and Harrison’s (2010) book Whose Music Education Is It? Students’ musical voice can be empowered with teachers’ orientation for student-centricity, as well as an orientation toward evidencing students’ learning and responsive teaching.

When the students’ musical voice is the cornerstone of the pedagogical approaches, it entails that their musical choices and musical decisions are respected and valued. When they take ownership of their learning and develop autonomy, they are more likely to grow in confidence, as a self-directed learner and active contributor in terms of the 21st century outcomes. They are able to develop their own musical identities, hence, contributing to their overall holistic development as individuals.

Pedagogical leverages for the fostering of 21CC work in concert to nurture the musical voice of students. The music teacher is key in translating the pedagogical leverages, together with providing an enriched aesthetics experience for students. Being well-anchored in the discipline, as well as the ability to model musically expressive

behaviours, impacts the way a lesson is conceived and how the pedagogies are enacted in the classroom.

We can all play a part to furnish our students with quality music education, which can contribute to their holistic education. School leaders could create a supportive environment in engendering the pedagogical leverages, such as the provision of a music room that supports collaborative interactions of students, and time for quality music lessons to take place. In addition to this, both school leaders and teacher educators could also create time and space for teachers’ professional development and for music teachers to keep in constant contact with musical experiences; as teachers’ musicianship and pedagogical repertoire would impact the quality of students’ musical experiences. Music teachers could also engage in constant reflection on their own teaching practices with respect to the above pedagogical leverages and suggestions, and make positive changes to their practices each time. To this end, we can each make a difference to our students’ education and experiences.

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tRAnsl AtIng thEoRY into PRAC tICE

This section suggests music teaching strategies that relate to the four pedagogical leverages. It is recommended that these strategies be carried out in a safe and vibrant learning environment, with students engaged in a ‘flow’ of music experience. The strategies should contribute to a broader music curriculum plan with a focus on achieving the syllabus objectives, and as far as possible, be carried out with the intent to empower students and give voice to their musical ideas.

Knowing your students to create a safe and vibrant learning environment

• Administer questionnaire to understand your student profile;

• Learn the names of your students, calling upon different students by their names each lesson;

• Keep track of your students’ learning and make notes of where they are at in their learning process;

• Consider the variety of learning styles (e.g. kinaesthetic, visual) and general student profile to plan engaging learning experiences;

• Use strategies to check your students’ understanding during each lesson; evidencing their learning through a variety of modes such as through playing music, singing, notating or verbalising/writing of reflections; and

• Use the knowledge you have of your students to sequence and scaffold varied learning activities.

Facilitating music learning with the following pedagogical leverages

Musical Communication & Cultures

Provide Meaningful Choices & Empowerment

• Help students connect the music they learnt with: their daily lives; who they are; the larger socio-cultural context; other disciplines; and provide opportunities for real life application;

• Facilitate students’ expression of their music ideas through listening, creating and performing; and

• Facilitate students’ ownership of their learning such as providing choices (e.g. in tasks, selection of repertoire or instruments, participating in deciding how they could be assessed).

Critical Thinking in Music

Develop Reflection of and Responding to Music

• Facilitate with open-ended questions and intellectually engaging questions;

• Facilitate student improvisation to solve musical problems;

• Facilitate student reflection on the creative decisions that they make, or how their music should be performed;

• Facilitate student interpretation and analysis of music works (for example, observing and describing music elements/features);

• Facilitate student comparison of music performances or creations;

• Facilitate student development of music ideas/ concepts;

• Facilitate student planning or assembly of ideas into a whole;

• Facilitate different ways in which students could represent their music ideas such as through movement or graphic notation;

• Facilitate student co-construction of the assessment criteria, self-assessment and/or peer evaluation; and

• Facilitate student ability to make thinking visible through use of thinking routines.

Musical Creativity

Facilitate Creative Process

• Expose students to a variety of stimuli;

• Encourage students to generate ideas spontaneously such as through brainstorming or improvisation;

• Guide students to clarify the meaning or purpose of their ideas;

• Have students think about how each part relate to the whole in their creative work;

• Facilitate students’ exploration and experimentation of materials and processes;

• Provide students with time and space to develop their ideas;

• Facilitate students’ independent evaluation of their ideas; and

• Create an environment that allows students’ contributions to be respected and valued.

Musical Collaboration

Facilitate Collaborative Group Work and Musical Ensemble

• Have students collaborate in creative projects or performances; and

• Develop collaboration skills amongst students (for example, establishing group goals, listening to one another).

engaging students in a ‘flow’ of music experiences

• Pre-empt problems that students might face which might lead to disengagement and prepare strategies to deal with them;

• Design lesson activities to build upon or evolve from earlier activities in a lesson;

• Pace the lesson so that the momentum of the learning is built;

• Plan transitions from one activity to another (for example, musical routines);

• Use fillers to prevent disruption of momentum;

• Prepare to modify lesson to cater for on-thespot needs of students during the lesson;

• Use an appropriate level of music challenges to motivate and engage students throughout the lesson; and

• Provide authentic learning experiences (e.g. tasks that have opportunities for real life application; opportunities to collaborate; tasks that allow diversity of outcomes and perspectives; tasks that integrate listening, performing and creating) that are relevant to the times.

05 ConClusIon

Siew

Ling CHUA, Kok Boon LIM, Hanif ABDUL RAHMAN

The PAM research study sought to discover the impact of Physical Education (PE), Art and Music pedagogies on the delivery of 21CC and PE, Art and Music student outcomes. The process, which involved lesson observations by three International Panels comprising local and overseas pedagogues, academics, and school leaders in the respective subjects, provided a moderated outside-in perspective of the PE, Art and Music lessons in Singapore. The professional development (PD) interventions as a result of the recommendations by the respective panels, and the experiences of the PD team of teacher educators, consultants and mentors, provided much needed insights and learning for the PD work in the context of 21CC development.

In this publication, Chapter 1 has set the context of the research and outlined the research purpose, methodology and tools. After which, Chapters 2 to 4 have shared the findings of the PE, Art and Music research teams. In this concluding chapter, the common threads found in the respective studies are drawn together and presented here in three key ideas: first, the subject disciplines and their unique contribution to the nurturing of 21CC; second, the implications for PD; and third, the iterative process of changing teacher beliefs and teaching practices, and hence growing the professional identity of teachers.

ContRIButIon to 21CC

From the discussions of this research, the subjects of PE, Art and Music have unique, catalytic

contributions to develop students’ 21CC. When deliberately planned and well taught, PE, Art and Music have the potential to provide students with a spectrum of transferrable 21CC. The findings from this study have shown that PE instruction has the potential to develop students’ values, and social and emotional competencies, alongside the student outcomes in the PE syllabus. Equally, Art and Music teaching has the potential to develop many aspects of Critical and Inventive Thinking skills, Communication, Collaboration and Information skills, and Civic Literacy, Global Awareness and Cross-Cultural skills if they are planned for, and rationalised alongside the syllabus content deliverables. The subject teams have also outlined key pedagogical principles and leverages that could nurture the 21CC in the context of PE, Art and Music lessons in Singapore. Besides the suggested pedagogical principles and teacher actions, how well 21CC development could be facilitated and demonstrated is dependent on the teachers’ beliefs and students’ readiness.

At first glance, the pedagogical principles and leverages cited may seem generic (See Table 5.1). The resemblance could be attributed to the comparative use of the same MOE 21CC model, benchmarks, and affiliated Desired Outcomes of Education in the Singapore context. Additionally, it points to a common core of good teaching practices which were negotiated and recommended by the International Panels and subject teams after the two year research process.

Pe ART MuSIC

• Positive Learning Environment

• Effective Communication

• Engaged Learning

• Skilful Management

• Encourage ideas generation and conceptualization of artistic work

• Create a lively, visually inspiring art learning environment

• Document teaching and learning as part of an artistic learning cycle

• Plan for group learning and collaborative art making

Yet, scrutinising the description of the pedagogical principles and leverages outlined in the preceding chapters suggest specific nuances unique to the subjects. These pedagogical principles and leverages respond to how the subjects are taught in the context of our schools. Each subject requires certain disciplinary content to be taught in a certain mode, and being responded to in a certain way. In the context of the cases studied, they were identified to explain how the respective subject teachers might begin to undertake the task of actualising students’ potential for learning and facilitate the development of students.

In the PE chapter, while the Affective Learning Opportunities (ALO) contains elements of the ‘planned teachable moments’ as described by Komarnicki (2004), they extend beyond the mere reinforcement of a desirable character trait as he described. The research study has shed light on specific teaching strategies that PE teachers can use to enhance affective learning in their lessons. These strategies enhance a teacher’s repertoire of facilitation techniques when teaching to the affective domain intentionally, instead of an over-reliance on sporadic and spontaneous teachable moments that may not even occur during the lesson.

• Embody Musical Communication & Cultures

• Facilitate Musical Creativity

• Foster Musical Collaboration

• Empower Critical Thinking in Music

In the Art chapter, to document teaching and learning was akin to putting a teaching portfolio together. Yet, an artistic mode of documenting was shown to paint a more iterative process and place emphasis on the process, more so than the physical portfolio. Documentation can be an artistic process in itself.

In the Music chapter, the pedagogical leverages such as Musical Creativity or Musical Collaboration were situated in authentic musical practices. Facilitating musical communication highlighted the need for teachers to make explicit connections between how Music is construed, appreciated, and situated within a musical tradition, and its larger socio-cultural contexts. Critical thinking in Music was used instead of Critical thinking about Music to give emphasis on and valuing of critical thinking in the subject-specific area. For example, when students improvised through music-making activities, they were led to experience critical thinking in music. By noticing the subjectspecificity of these nuances at face value, if not in an imaginative way, we might find scope for improving current good teaching practices used in different contexts.

This research potentially advances our understanding of the complexities underlying

Table 5.1: Pedagogical Principles and Leverages across PE, Art and Music Teaching at a glance

the development of students’ 21CC. First, it possibly acknowledges the argument that 21CC consists of knowledge, skills and attitudes that have been honoured in good teaching before the turn of the century, as seen from the familiarity of the findings. We might argue that 21CC are the outcomes of a good curriculum, past and present, which prepares learners to be future facing. Second, the assessment of 21CC is complex and billowing. Researchers and educators must be prepared to articulate, with a certain amount of granularity and evidence, how their subject and instructional methods develop 21CC in practice and over time. Third, in our urgency to develop students’ 21CC, educators must remember the aims and purposes of the subject, instead of pursuing only 21CC student outcomes. In this way, we can claim to provide our students with a holistic education - a curriculum that provides equal opportunities and allows everyone to discover their strengths and talents.

IMPlICAtIons on PRofEssIonAl dE vEloPMEnt

The key central effort of the research’s intervention process has been the PD of teachers. Beyond just looking at the intervention as a treatment given to the research participants, the PD efforts were intended to grow teachers’ capacity to deliver better PE, Art and Music lessons, as well as to develop the pedagogies to enhance students’ 21CC development through these subjects. As teacher academies, with the main responsibility being to deliver and facilitate PD of PE, Art and Music teachers, there are two

big implications for PD that both PESTA and STAR learnt from the research experience.

Firstly, the PD of teachers in this area cannot be explicitly exclusive to 21CC development. Our experience showed that pedagogies relating to the development of 21CC must be situated within acceptable good pedagogies of the subject itself. Deep knowledge on the subject discipline, good understanding of the syllabus content, and strong awareness of the subject disciplinarity that entails the forms of human activity to seek, develop and produce knowledge (Minati & Collen, 1997), serve as foundation for good teaching to take place. Teachers must not lose focus on the need to deepen their subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge to deliver the learning outcomes pertaining to the content. Thereafter, the development of 21CC ought to be layered over the students’ learning experiences. The physicality of PE, and the artistic and musical experiences of Art and Music, should remain key to students’ learning.

Secondly, the PD of teachers is enhanced when situated in communities of practices (CoP). Being in a group with like-minded and interestdriven teachers allows for a forging of a common identity, which in turn allows teachers to maintain connection with peers, have an understanding of the expertise within their community, identify opportunities that are specific to their interests, and allows knowledge to be shared (Wenger & Snyder, 2000). In the PE project, the existence of the three teachers within the same school allowed for a CoP to exist within the school itself. Thereafter, the two primary schools were brought together to form a larger CoP. As the project extended, the primary and secondary school teachers combined to form an even larger CoP. The teachers were able to share and learn

from one another’s experiences, while gradually moving from a small and less-threatening environment, towards embracing a larger and richer CoP. The Art and Music teachers were also members of a larger CoP respectively. Similar to the PE CoP, the Art and Music teachers were provided access to new knowledge, collaborated directly, used one another as sounding boards, and even ‘taught’ one another. This fostered trust and a greater sense of common purpose.

tEAChER BElIEfs

Implicit in the insights gained from the PD work in this study, is the understanding that teachers have strong beliefs and rationale for how they teach, and that their perceived identities as PE, Art or Music teachers influence their classroom instruction. The need for the teacher to maintain discipline and control in the classroom, for example, affected the extent of exploration and experimentation that their students were empowered with. However, teacher beliefs and their identity as PE, Art and Music teachers were constantly being reconstructed and renegotiated through social interactions and practices (Burke and Tully, 1977; Hargreaves, Miell & Macdonald, 2002). How teacher beliefs changed with their teaching practices in the course of PD over the three phases of the study are described below.

In the Art study, Baseline observations revealed that some teachers in the case studies underestimated the potential of students, which resulted in low expectations for student performance. This was possibly due to the uneven entry level of students. In addition to this, the lesson observations were made in the

beginning of the year, which made the teachers more cautious, setting their expectations low. Notably, the art tasks and activities set in the secondary classes over-emphasised basic technical skills, resulting in unimaginative art making processes and art products. Teachers felt that it was more important to regulate and pre-determine the outcome of the art products to achieve the objectives of their art lesson plans, giving little time for students to explore materials and ideas. In most instances, students were not given ample opportunity to articulate their ideas, thoughts, and reflections. However, the Interim stage of the study observed some changes in these teachers’ instruction practices. These could be attributed to teachers’ critical reflection in their review of their own videorecorded lessons, and their focus on making small changes to their practice, facilitated by the PD team. In instances where teaching practice were less student-centric, the content of the lesson was relatively new to the art teacher. By the Final phase of the study, lessons observed were visibly more student-centric. The change observed in these teachers’ practice over the three phases was likely the result of their eagerness to learn, their positive attitude for student-centred lessons, the critical reflection of their own practice, and the growing confidence of their teaching. This resulted in a shift in their conception of effective art instruction. By the end of the study, the teachers had greater confidence in themselves and their students, and were willing to set higher standards accordingly.

In the Music study, one concern at the start of the study had been the lack of musically engaging experiences in music lessons. Observers found that students could be more musically engaged if teachers paid attention to creating an aesthetic experience for their students as a result of music-

making. The teacher educators at STAR began to focus on providing the teacher participants with experiences of creative and collaborative musicmaking, and how these could be facilitated in music lessons. By the Interim phase of the research, the International Panel observed that teachers took more risks to incorporate creative and collaborative classroom work, but the focus was sometimes slanted towards non-musical creativity instead of musical creativity. Much of the creative work did not go beyond the stage of idea generation. By the Final phase of the research, the International Panel observed that while teachers believed in the notion of studentcentricity and empowering their students’ musical decisions, what needed strengthening was the facilitation of an aesthetic musical flow in music lessons, for a musically engaging lesson. How this could be facilitated might be a complex combination of teachers modelling musically expressive behaviours, focusing on the aesthetic dimensions of music, developing a repertoire of strategies and musical routines to support smooth transitions, and stepping back and allowing aesthetic learning to take place in the students without unnecessary interference. These recommendations suggested that music teachers need to be able to weave musicianship into their pedagogical practice, and that could perhaps be achieved by setting sights on conceiving their professional identity as a ‘musician-teacher’, one who facilitates musical understandings through direct experiences with music, to engage students more deeply through meaningful and authentic artistic experiences.

For the PE study, it was observed at the start of the study that while all teachers involved believed that PE provided an authentic platform for the affective development of students, the reasons why they did not plan structured

affective development in their lessons were that psychomotor learning outcomes were seen to be of higher priority in PE lessons, and affective development through PE was perceived as best achieved through teacher role modelling and capitalising on teachable moments. There was uneven understanding amongst the teachers of what affective development in PE meant. For example, some teachers understood social and emotional learning and values inculcation as synonymous with ensuring character development. Teachers’ perception of their students’ level of social and emotional competencies also affected the types of instruction and practices used during lessons. For example, direct instruction and teachercentred practice were used to maintain control over student behaviour in instances where teachers perceived their students as having a low level of social and emotional competencies. As such, there was a lack of planning and delivery of affective development amongst the case studies at the Baseline stage. By the Interim stage, teachers attempted to include affective learning in their lesson plans, but were usually not very successful in implementing them. They seemed to require content-specific knowledge and skills that could facilitate higher affective development in the different learning areas of the PE syllabus. However, by the end of the Final stage, most teachers were confident in planning for and embedding explicit teaching of the affective domain into their lessons. The teachers also reflected that their participation in the study had strengthened their belief that PE was an authentic platform for 21CC development, and that their students were able to develop affectively. While some of these teachers remained unequivocal in their belief that psychomotor learning remained their first

priority in the PE lessons, they were able to successfully layer affective development within their lessons without compromising students’ psychomotor development.

From the above PD experiences for PE, Art and Music, it can be seen that the journey to change pedagogical practices was a complex one, since it involved shifting and renegotiating teacher identities, which were linked to their beliefs and influenced by their pedagogical experiences, as well as their self-perceived abilities and confidence to execute the teaching strategies. As the research findings show, constant critical reflection and the iterative process of making small changes to their teaching practice upon reflection, in addition to exposure to various other practice and strategies, could change the way teachers view and think about effective classroom teaching. Such a process would likely require sustained coaching and mentoring through lesson observations or co-teaching. Although it would entail time and resources,

references

to embark on this would be a worthwhile journey that respects teacher agency and professionalism.

ConCludIng REMARks

The research study has affirmed MOE’s position that PE, Art and Music are subjects that contribute in their own unique ways to the development of 21CC. Hence, strengthening the quality of PE, Art and Music education in schools is a commitment to providing a holistic education that would prepare students to thrive in a fast changing and highly connected world. Professional development efforts will need to take a longerterm view to grow PE, Art and Music teachers’ professional identity, even as small and iterative steps are taken to develop competencies and strategies to enhance the teaching of these subjects.

Burke, P. J., & Tully J. C. (1977). The measurement of role identity. Social Forces, 55(4), 881-897.

Hargreaves, D. J., Miell, D., & MacDonald R. A. R. (2002). What are musical identities, and why are they important? In R. A. R. MacDonald, D. J. Hargreaves & D. Miell (Eds.), Musical identities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Komarnicki, J. W. (2004). How to teach toward character development. United States of America: Infinity.

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Wenger, E., & Snyder, W. (2000). Communities of practice: The organisational frontier. Harvard Business Review, 78(1), 139-145.