PROMOTING AND ENHANCING EDUCATION AND LIFELONG LEARNING IN AND THROUGH ARTS, CULTURE AND HERITAGE DEVELOPING WIDER OPPORTUNITIES FOR CULTURAL ACCESS MAXIMISING THE SOCIAL BENEFITS OF CULTURE.

One measure of the quality of people's lives is the range and frequency of their opportunities to engage in, benefit from and enjoy cultural activity. Culture can be a social thread, uniting people and linking otherwise disparate parts of their lives.

Promoting and enhancing education promoting and enhancing education and lifelong learning in and through arts, culture and heritage

A learning culture
Education and culture are inextricably linked, whatever the educational setting. We all learn throughout life and learning about culture and learning through culture complement each other. Culture, in the forms of play and expressive and aesthetic activity, has an established place in the pre-school and school curriculum. Increasingly, schools are looking at ways of using art, music and drama to support the learning of a wide range of pupils across the curriculum. Good practice needs to be identified so that the benefits of this kind of work can be extended to pupils more generally. Effective creative, cultural and media education cannot be reduced to a checklist of facts, experiences and time allocations. It is the quality of each young person's experience which needs to be paramount.

In its recent consultation on national priorities for school education, the Scottish Executive emphasised the importance of ensuring our children have opportunities to gain a broad range of skills and knowledge. Culture is significant, not only for its specialist content and knowledge, but also because many cultural activities enhance other important skills such as creative thinking and interpersonal abilities like team working and communication.

Schools and Creativity
Our schools are centres of creativity. There is no tension between promoting creativity and promoting attainment; realising young people's creative potential is complementary to realising their potential in other areas and in establishing self-esteem, a prerequisite for effective learning. Creativity should not be restricted to a few subjects, but should be central to children's and young people's experience across all aspects of the curriculum. In some local authorities, such as East Ayrshire and North Lanarkshire, schools are working to increase the contribution of arts and culture to raising pupils' attainment. Cultural activity has a key contribution to make to the development of inclusive schools where learning and achievement for all are celebrated.

National guidance on the curriculum recommends that all young people should have a progressive and continuous experience of expressive arts or creative and aesthetic activity, both in pre-school and throughout the eleven years of compulsory schooling. In all subjects and at all secondary school stages, creativity should be developed as one of a number of key capabilities.

It is recognised that many important activities occur outside the formal curriculum, some supported through the Excellence Fund and the New Opportunities Fund. These activities complement the formal curriculum and can provide helpful links to ensure that young people continue to participate after leaving school, which is often a cause for concern. There is considerable scope for building on these developments.

We shall also pilot the appointment of cultural co-ordinators in schools who will liaise with arts and cultural organisations, including the heritage sector, and organise activities which ensure that our national cultural resources are used to the advantage of all young people. These pilots will start in 2001.

Learning a musical instrument
Music and instrumental tuition, like art and design, drama and physical education, including dance, are the responsibility of education authorities and schools. Education authorities are not under statutory obligation to make particular levels of provision. A recent report published by the Scottish Council for Research in Education set out the following strengths of existing provision:

• Most children in the primary years, and in the first two years of secondary school, receive instrumental tuition within class music lessons, in line with National Guidelines 5-14
• Many children at these stages can also choose to receive additional specialist tuition
• Pupils who choose to study music at S3 and beyond receive specialist tuition in one or more instruments.
• Examine opportunities for developing other artistic skills and techniques in children and young people.

In responding to consultation on the National Cultural Strategy, some young people, parents and teachers said that more should be done to provide instrumental tuition in some areas and in particular instruments. The research also indicated some disparity in the provision of instrumental tuition across Scottish local authorities. Some education authorities have introduced charging for specialist tuition. We shall work with education authorities to maximise opportunities for instrumental tuition in schools, free to those unable to pay. Working with authorities we shall:

• Produce guidance on best practice for local authorities on provision of instrumental tuition services
• Consider ways of extending young people's opportunities to learn to play a musical instrument outside the school setting or through after-school clubs
• Evaluate the extent to which all pupils are included in opportunities to benefit from local provision for instrumental tuition
• Ensure the national network of specialist schools operate effectively as centres of excellence.

Lifelong learning
Post-school learning takes place in a variety of settings and contexts. The gradual erosion of distinctions between formal and informal learning and removal of obstacles to lifelong learning encourage greater participation. The Scottish University for Industry, now called Learndirect Scotland, will provide access for everyone to information and advice about learning opportunities. Across Scotland people will be able to visit a network of learning centres branded by Learndirect Scotland, in colleges, companies, universities, libraries, community centres as well as in places such as shopping centres and football stadiums. Local authorities are developing community learning plans and they provide many opportunities for exploiting the educational potential of culture. In Glasgow, for example, 'Real' Learning Centres have been established to build upon the existing library network. Many employers now recognise the place arts-based activities can play in developing the diverse skills required by employees in the modern working environment, and include them in their training and development programmes.

Many youth groups in the voluntary and statutory sector focus directly on dance, theatre, music and the arts more generally. However, the value of integrating cultural activities within a broader informal curriculum may not be fully appreciated by the youth work sector at large. The introduction of the new community learning agenda, of which engagement with young people is a key part, provides an excellent opportunity to review the content and approach of youth work, including the challenge of picking up ideas from this strategy. The youth work sector is very diverse and may deal with vulnerable groups, including offenders, where working through an arts base has a strong track record. The sector could gain by sharing views and experience with those groups where cultural activities are at the core of their involvement with young people.