Downplaying art at school

Changes planned for the NCEA art curriculum have teachers and the art world worried about the down-grading of the subject, Newsroom reveals. A proposal to amalgamate three separate artistic disciplines – sculpture, printmaking and painting – into a single subject at NCEA levels 2 and 3 has infuriated art teachers. High school art teacher Esther Hansen says, “The focus of education has definitely shifted… [but] the arts play an important part in developing creativity, engagement with the world around them… it’s more than a skillset.”