Research shows positive impact of art on children’s education and development

New research from University of Northampton (UON) highlights the importance of art with children’s educational and personal development.

The research comes from the University’s Centre for Education Research. It springs from the Take One Picture, a programme from The National Gallery for primary schools to inspire a lifelong love of art and learning.

By taking an old master painting – such as The Finding of Moses by Orazio Gentileschi – children and teachers from schools in Northampton Primary Academy Trust Partnership visited the Gallery (in-person or online) to investigate and comment on the painting.

The children then created their own art works and talked and wrote about their experiences.

UON’s Professor Jane Murray then led research to investigate how beneficial the programme has been to the children and teachers.

Some key findings at the end of the programme include improved outcomes in teaching of art (+71%), children’s learning of art (+80%) and the children’s self-belief, motivation, empathy, and critical thinking (+25%).

An extra 44% said they had also visited an art gallery since.

A separate strand to the research involved students from UON’s Fine Art degree who acted as ‘Artists-in-Residence’ supporting the teachers to give them extra confidence to develop their flair with a paintbrush.

Teachers were asked whether they felt the programme had benefitted them, including teaching art. They felt their knowledge (70%), skills (81%) and confidence (61%) in this area had all increased.

Chloe Smith has graduated from her UON degree in Fine Art and was one of the Artists-in-Residence (AiR). She talks about what she did and why she thinks art is important: “I wanted to go into teaching and this opportunity allowed me to experience that and share my knowledge with primary school students. This was especially significant as I discovered most students had not experienced many art lessons due to COVID lockdowns, so it was thrilling to give them an insight into painting and clay sculpture.

“Art is a subject that can celebrate our identities and individuality in creative thinking. Art is driven by passion and effort, which is why I think it is important that everyone shows their appreciation of art by supporting artists, being creative themselves and for the education system to highlight the importance of subject diversity. Art provides an outlet and therapeutic practices that can support anyone and everyone.”

An exhibition of the children’s work is at NN Contemporary Art until Thursday 13 April.