Attitudes and Motivation Students’ attitudes, interests and liking for a subject have a strong bearing on their achievement. The Art Survey sought information from students about their curriculum preferences and their perceptions of their own achievement. The questions were the same for year 4 and year 8 students. The survey was administered to the students in an independent session (four students working individually on tasks supported by a teacher). The questions were read to year 4 students, and also to individual year 8 students who requested this help. Writing help was available if requested. Visual Arts Surveys The survey included one item which asked them to select three preferences from a list, 13 items which asked students to record a rating response by circling their choice, one item which asked them to tick boxes to indicate frequency of activities, and one which asked them to list preferred activities.

Students first were asked to select their three favourite school subjects from a list of 14 subjects. Among the year 4 students, physical education was the most popular subject, listed as first, second or third choice by 51 percent of year 4 students. Visual art came second (41%), maths third (34%), art fourth (32%) and reading fifth (27%). Music rated seventh (23%), dance eighth (18%) and drama ninth (16%). With drama and dance added to the subject list used in 1999, the percentages in 2003 and 1999 are not directly comparable, but it is noteworthy that while physical education attracted about 50 percent support in both years, and art and maths were in the 30s both times, visual art has dropped in “top three” support from 80 percent of students to 41 percent of students. This largely may be accounted for by addition of two other art forms to the subject list, and by the term “art” being used in the subject list in 1999 but “visual art” in 2003. The sum of the percentages for all four art forms is nine lower than the sum for art and music in 1999, suggesting that the large decrease for visual art was not caused entirely by the addition of dance and drama.

In the corresponding results for year 8 students, physical education was first in popularity (61%), technology second (44%), visual art third (32%), drama fourth (25%), maths fifth (24%) and art sixth (21 %). Dance rated seventh (16%) and music eighth equal (15%). The percentages choosing physical education, technology, mathematics and art have stayed almost the same as in 1999, but the percentage choosing “visual art” in 2003 is 24 lower than the percentage choosing “art” in 1999. On the other hand, the sum of the percentages for all four art forms in 2003 is nine higher than the sum for art and music in 1999. The drop for visual art has been more than equalled by the gain from adding drama and dance.

Students were asked an open question: What do you like doing most in art in your own time? Drawing was easily the most highly rated activity by both year 4 and year 8 students (59 and 69 percent of students, respectively), followed by painting (about 30 percent for both years).

Responses to the 13 rating items are presented in separate tables for year 4 and year 8 students, together with students’ perceptions of the relative frequency of 10 different art making activities in school. The corresponding results from 1999 are shown alongside.

The year 4 results suggest that art remains a popular activity, both in school and out, with about three quarters of the students choosing the highest rating for their enjoyment of art at school and wanting more art at school. About half were similarly positive about art activities in their own time and about continuing to learn art when they grew up. The most notable changes from the 1999 results were moderate increases in the percentages of students who said they didn’t know how good they were at art or how their teacher or parent viewed their ability at art, and a larger decline in the percentage of students who believed their parents were very positive about their ability in art.