Adult Learner’s Week ~ 12^th-18^th May 2012

The UK’s largest annual festival of learning, helping and encouraging adults to discover how learning can change their lives. This can be for helping to get a job, trying something you always wanted and intended to do, or to help your children and grandchildren to learn and do homework

This year’s Adult learner’s week has seven themes: Firstly we will look at:

• Learning through Art and Culture ~

Art and culture includes a vast range of activities, covering topics which include painting, sculpture, poetry, drama and music, making jewellery and visits to places of artistic or cultural interest like new places or museums and art galleries

(photo credit: Oscar D. via photo pin cc )

Art is a visible history lesson, especially in relation to history, geography and science; in fact so many forms of art are a means to learning. How else would we know what historical figures looked like? Take the huge portly paintings of Henry VIII …and there are endless other examples of where a painting is the only remaining evidence to give us a suggestion of what somebody looked like...or a painting of an historical event...paintings were the photography of their day. Today we learn a lot about other cultures from artistic displays, music of course…
and drama

                                                    ( photo credit: lisby1 via photo pin cc)

I had assumed that History of Art was something studied at University by people wanting a career in some form of Art or design, until that is, I studied my first Open University module, making Sense of the Arts. The course covered the Art, poetry and history of protest and used the subjects of The First World War, The Suffragettes, and Chartism, interpreted through art, historical documents and poetry. Learning through art and culture can be exciting and inspiring, and indeed hands on ‘messy play’ is one of the ways that young children learn best...but its great fun at any age!!

                                          (photo credit: UK Parliament via photo pin cc )

Arts and culture of course includes drama, which is a wonderfully liberating way to gain confidence skills and improve other skills such as public speaking and knowledge of subject’s like history and literature. Many adults with special educational needs confidently take part in drama groups. Art and culture opens up all sorts of opportunities and chances in life. Taking part in such activities, an art group, a drama class, are great additions to a CV and also include such skills as team work as well as communication skills

Music is proven to improve mathematical skills. Studying the arts improves confidence and motivation through fun and the enthusiasm for it, which in turn encourage us to go on to further learning.

The benefits of the forms of Arts used in therapeutic treatments are well known and proven. Stroke patients and those with memory loss and mental health issues have been seen to benefit greatly from many various forms of art therapy, through assisting cognitive abilities, improving coordination and confidence etc

So much can be learned of other cultures through studying the arts and greater awareness of cultural practices leads to better understanding of our backgrounds, differences and indeed our similarities

Excellent links and further inspiration can be found at:

• http://www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk
• http://www.transformationfund.org.uk/explore/what/arts-and-culture
• http://www.tidec.org/further-reading-reflections/exploring-cultural-identities-through-art
• http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/comment/01032012-museums-can-help-address-inequality

The employ-ability of students who study arts subjects is higher and they are more likely to stay in employment