Australia

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) announced that all schools would be required to enroll in dance, drama, media arts, music and the visual arts until year 10 under a draft new national curriculum released yesterday.  However, schools would have some discretion as to how they teach them.  In conjunction with the announcement, the Education Minister, Peter Garrett, said “making the arts a key part of the new national curriculum would have ‘huge’ positive impacts for students.”  For instance, teaching such subjects inspires creativity, encourages young people to think critically, boosts self-esteem, aids the development of their sense of identity and can provide great benefits for learning in other core areas.