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Why the arts are not considered core knowledge in secondary education: a Bernsteinian analysis
Örebro University, School of Music, Theatre and Art. (Aesthetics, Culture and Media (ACCLAIM))ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7030-9925
2022 (English)In: Journal of Curriculum Studies, ISSN 0022-0272, E-ISSN 1366-5839, Vol. 54, no 2, p. 165-178Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

As a result of international neoliberal and neoconservative trends, the status of the arts has been devalued in secondary school curricula. This paper examines why the arts are not considered core educational knowledge in pedagogic discourse arising from the New Right policy agenda. In a case study analysis of Swedish educational policy debates, curriculum codes and their underlying principles of recontextualization are weighed as they bear on the arts. Discursive positionings and socio-political networking between political standpoints and stakeholders have been analysed based on official Swedish documents associated with the legislative process of curriculum revision.

Our findings show how justifications of arts education clash with coding orientations arising from a strong classification between what is presumed to be valuable and non-valuable knowledge, which in turn is due to an underlying principle of visibility. While advocates argue that artistic practices promote transversal competences and have intangible benefits, this same argument unwittingly strengthens the non-autonomous status of the arts. The illegitimacy of the arts also stems from the belief that they are only marginally related to visible market values. Taken together, the arts are not considered core knowledge because of their perceived relative unimportance for higher academic learning or vocational competence.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2022. Vol. 54, no 2, p. 165-178
Keywords [en]
curriculum theory, educational policy, recontextualization, arts education, Bernstein
National Category
Pedagogy
Research subject
Musicology esp. Musical Education
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-92317DOI: 10.1080/00220272.2021.1925971ISI: 000660942600001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85107749542OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-92317DiVA, id: diva2:1564172
Available from: 2021-06-11 Created: 2021-06-11 Last updated: 2022-05-11Bibliographically approved

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Lilliedahl, Jonathan

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CiteExportLink to record
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  • apa
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