Art Education

in the
Philippines
W h a t i s
a r t?
 "Art Education"
-as a term is used in the
Philippines-refers to the teaching
and learning of the visual arts, i.e.,
drawing, painting, sculpture and
etc. This is to distinguish it from
education in other artistic fields,
such as music, dance, and theater.
A Short History of Art
Education in the
Philippines
Santiago (2013) defines Art Education in the
country as being comprised of three distinct
periods:

• T H E E X P E R I M E N TA L P E R I O D
(1915-1935)
-during this time, Art
Education was primarily
drawing, where the students
learned via imitation, and the
instructional methods were
"dull and authoritarian".
• Today, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCAA)
is the primary policy-making body for Philippine culture and the
arts.
• Today, art education has been integrated into the Basic
Education Curriculum under the Music, Arts, Physical Education
and (MAPEH) subject, which recieves 4 hours of instruction
weekly from Grades 1 to 10 (Department of Education 2012). In
2016, the Department of Education introduced a specialized Arts
Track for senior high students under the K to 12 program with
approximately 4,400 students nationwide as of 2017 (Geronimo
2016: Samodio 2017)
 • THE NEWER MOVEMENT (1950-
PRESENT)
-it was in 1950 that "Drawing" became
"Art Education" and when Pablo
Vi c t o r i a , a n a r t p r o f e s s o r a t t h e
Philippine Normal College, pioneered
integrating art with other sujects in the
curriculum. His 1959 book, Art in the
Elementary School, clarifies and
elaborates on the role of both teachers
and learners in art education.
 • THE NEW MOVEMENT (1935-1950)
- Vi n c e t e D i z o n i s c r e d i t e d b y S a n t i a g o
with starting the New Movement in Art
Education, characterized by a growing
understanding of the desired
philosophy for teaching art not only in
the elementary grades, but also in
high school and college, and an
increasing practically in the teaching
of art.
 BENEFITS OF ART EDUCATION

The Seneca Academy (2017) lists ten benefits to having Art as part of school Curriculum:

1.Working in the arts helps learners develop creative problem-solving skills.

2. Teaching through the arts can present difficult concepts visually,, making them more easy to
understand.
3.Art instruction helps children with the development of motor skills, language skills, social
skills, decision-making, risk-taking, and inventiveness.
4.Visual arts teach learners about color, layout, perspective, and balance: all techniques taht
are necessary in presentations (visual, digital) of academic work.
5.Integrating art with other disciplines reaches students who might not otherwise be
engaged in classwork.
6. Arts experiences boost critical thinking, teaching students to take time to be
more careful and thorough in how they observe the world.
7. The arts provide challenges for learners at all levels.
8. Art education connects students with their own culture as well as with the
wider world.
9. Young people who participate regularly in the arts (three hours a day on three
days each week through one full year) are four times more likely to be recognized
for academic achievement, to participate in a Math and Science fair, or to win an
award for writing an essay or poem than children who do not participate (Heath,
Soep, and Roach 1998)
10. Greater arts education leads to fewer disciplinary infractions and higher
attendance, graduate rates, and test scores (Missouri Alliance for Art Education
2010).
• According to 1993 study made by the Ats Education
Partnership working Group , the many benefits of a
strong arts program in schools include "intensified
students motivation to learn, better school attendance,
increased graduation rates, improved multicultural
understanding, and the development of higher-order
thinking skills, creativity, and problem-solving abilities.
• These findings are further echoed by Burton, Horowitz,
and Abeles (1999) and by Bamford and Wimmer (2012),
where they argue that learning "in the arts" (i.e., learning
how to draw, paint, sculp, etc) can increase skills, such as
exploring, imagining, observing, and reflecting. They also
argue that learning "through the arts" (i.e., using artistic
activities in learning nonartistic concepts and skills)
makes a range of other subject areas more attractive.
• These findings are more prompt to us to believe that the
value of art in the curriculum doest not lie solely in its
skills and knowledge that are directly transferable and
applicable in other subjects, but in all skills, from all
suject that are applied broadly everywhere. Thus, no
subject has priority over any other subject, and so "to
diminish one is to diminish all" (Burton, Horowitz, and
Abeles 1999)
Issues in the Philippine Art Education

• Art educators in the country face an

uphill battle as they navigate the
educational system and its need to
prioritize its resources-often not in favor
of the arts. However, there are other
issues facing art education in the
Philippines, some of which are much
closer to classroom. 
Problems in Artistic Values

4 BROAD CATEGORIES
ARE IDENTIFIED HERE:

• Teacher Issues
• Art as a Subject
• Student Discipline
• Art as luxury
 Teacher Issues
• it should come as no surprise that teaching as a whole
is not the career of choice for a majority of Filipinos,
which many of its practitioners a victimof the "mag-
teacher ka na lang!" mentality in the culture.
• art educators in the country face a number of self-
esteem issues, expressed through statements like "I'm
not talented enough to be a eal artist" or "There's no money in
the arts, so I teach in order to make a living."
• most immediate issue when it comes to art educators is
the lack of good training.
 Art as a Subject

• because of its initial, utilitarian roots as "drawing", art in

the curriculum is still often viewed as a "subject" rather
than an avenue for self-expression. This results in a
teaching of art that is overly academic, focusing on facts
about art rather than on the practice and creation of art.
 Student Discipline

• stemming from a utilitarian view of art, many students

struggle with motivation issues due to an unecessarily
vicious cycle of criticism from family, peers, and ill-
equipped teachers, thereby limiting their willingness to
invest the hours needed to master the skills needed to
create art.
• another issue noted by the teachers is the lack of
student respect toward art materials.
 Art as a Luxury

• the popular view on art in the country is that it is a

luxury--"Pangmayaman lang yan"--nice to have, but
nonessential to the average working Filipino.
 MATERIALS, RESOURCES, AND
WORKSPACES

WORKSPACES
MANAGEMENT ISSUES
LIMITED MATERIALS • many schools have no dedicated
• due to lack of adequate support, art space for art classes, let alone • there is also a severe lack of
materials are scarce in the average extracurricular artistic pursuits. awareness as to how to manage
classroom, with art educators relying on the and organize an art class in order
students themeselves to provide the to maximize learning and ensure
necessary art supplies the class requires. students' safety.
The Artist Mindset in the
Early Grades
Inspired by Daily Experiences and
Encounters

• EXPOSURE- the ability to see beauty

every does not appear out of thin air:
it often takes someone else explaining
to us how something simple and
commonplace can be beautiful, and in
terms that are appropriate for our
developmental stages.
cont..

• Context- it is almost  a cliche

to say that beauty is
subjective; that is, what is
beautiful depends on the
individual. 
cont..

• Age-  children are naturally drawn to

the novel, the unusual, and the
exciting. Bigger, bolder, faster,
brighter, louder are a guaranted
formula to gain the interest of
children. 
cont..
• Constantly Curious- while curiosity is often
cited as a characteristics of scientist, it is also
an essential part of being an artist, albeit that
while a scientist might be curious as to what is
in the design of a bird's wing that enables it to
fly, an artist might be curious as to how to
make the wing "look alive" even when
rendered in a static, unmoving work of art.
cont..

• Open-Minded- it is the quality of not

being "locked down" by a particular set
of rules or principles for the sake of
tradition, but rather a willingness to
wrestle with ideas and ways of doing
things that might be very different from
our own-all with the attitude of learning
new things to add to one's "toolbox" of
techniques and perspectives. 
cont..
some areas where an open mind is an
artistic asset are:

• lack of resources
• the idea of perfection
• criticism
cont..
• Art as an Authentic Self-Expression-art can be defined as
any expression of the inner desire to create beauty.
Thus, the desire to create something that is beautiful is
beautiful is the defining feature of the artist--i.e., it is
what makes an artist an artist--and any work of art that
an artist produces is but an expression of that desire.
Since beauty is varied and multifaceted--a thunderstorm
can be beautiful, just like a pastoral landscape--art can,
thus, be varied and multifaceted.
cont..

• Art as Self-Expression- we see that teaching

art is not limited to a simple technique--the
how of art--but must also include teaching it
as a means for students to communicate
feelings, expriences, interests and desires--
the why of art. We can see this idea at play
in the tension between "being true to
oneself" vis-a-vis "giving the people what
they want."
cont..

• Valuing Authenticity-  wrapped up in the

mind and heart of an artist is a desire for
affirmation--some outside validation that
the work we produce is, in fact, beautiful in
the way the artist intended it. That is, artists
want to know that what they wanted to
express via their art has indeed been
expressed. 
cont..

• Enjoyment  in the Process- it would be very

strange for an artist to not enjoy the
process of creating art--after all, this is one
of the reasons why he or she is an artist. An
artist must enjoy the process, plain and
simple--or else pursue something  other
than art. 
The K to 12 Elementary
Art Education Both the Music and the Arts curicula focus on the learner as recipient
of the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for artistic expression

Curriculum and cultural literacy. The design of the curricula is student-centered,

based on spiral progression of processes, concepts and skills and
grounded in performance-based learning. Thus, the learner is
empowered, through active involvement and participation, to
effectively correlate music and art to the development of his/her own
cultural identity and the expansion of his/her vision of the world.

Conceptual
Framework
 As Music and Arts are performance-based disciplines, effective
learning occurs through active experience, participation, and

Conceptual performance, creative expression, aesthetic valuation, critical

response, and interpretation. The skills that are developed include

Framework reading/analyzing, listening/observing performing, singing, using

musical instruments, movement, acting, and playing, using
different art materials, techniques and processes, responding,
composing, and creating.
 Philosophy and
Rationale

• The focus of the K to 12 Art

• Teaching Art to students is one Curriculum is PHILLIPINE ART,
way for them to process and CULTURE and HERITAGE,
interpret the barrage of images
appreciating the student's identity of
and sounds, in a critical and
being a Filipino, before he/she is
intelligent manner.
introduced to the art of other
countries.
 The Arts is a visualization of a people's history and uniqueness, a
reflection of their creativity and accomplishments, and a visible
expression of their distinct way of thinking, communicating,

Philosophy and reasoning, and worshiping. It is expressed in a unique symbol

system that is visual, kinetic, and tactile..Arts develop a distinct

Rationale way of seeing, thinking, communicating, and creating in a person.

Furthermore, Art develops and increases a person's ability to
apply creative and new solutions, for new problems in our world.
Schools, therefore, need to develop the multiple intelligences of a
student through the arts.
Elements, Principles, and Processes of
Art Education
 Standards
Learning Area Standards
The learner demonstrates an understanding of basic concepts and
processesin musicand artthrough appreciation, analysis and performance
for his/her self-development, celebration of his/her Filipino cultural identity
and diversity, and expansion of his/her world vision.

Key Stage Standards for K-3 and 4-6

The learner demonstrates an understanding of fundamental processes
through performing, creating, and responding, aimed towards the
development of appreciation of music and art, and acquisition of basic
knowledge and skills.
 These observations imply the following:

• Art is simply to be done in Grades 1-3. There is no

emphasis on the students identifying anything. They
simply do art via "performing, creating, listening,
and observing, and responding."
• In Grade 4, students learn to identify the things that
they have been doing since Grade 1. The term
"formal education" implies an explanatory element to
art lessons covering the what, the how, and the why
of artistic principles and processes.
• In Grade 5, students are expected to
explore the range of artistic
experiences they have been given
thus far, executing the learned
processes at a higher, more refined
level of proficiency but also in
evaluating and critiquing the works of
others. 
• In Grade 6, students are now
expected to apply all of their skills
and knowledge in the creation of
original works.
The Curriculum and the Classroom
As the curriculum guide lists all of these per grade level and per quarter, we
are only reproducing the guide for Grade 1 for the first quarter (pages 9 and
10) for the sake of illustration and discussions:
 Group 1 members:
JAYPEE BALASTA
RALPH AARON BRAGAIS
MARIVIC ALBURO
MERA FE AROGANTE
ANGELICA BEA
JESSABEL BONAGUA Thank You!
AGGIE B. BRAGAIS
RICA BROQUEZA
CARLA MAE CANTOR
JOVIE CANUA