NCAS-Resources

National Core Arts Standards (NCAS)

International Arts Education Standards: A Survey of the Arts Education Standards

and Practices of Fifteen Countries and Regions

The

utlines existing international standards and/or benchmarks for arts education in more

than a dozen of the world’s most educationally advanced countries. This report includes summaries of stand-

ards and practices and includes a cross-referenced chart of common themes and ideas from Australia, Austria,

Canada, China, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, Sweden, United King-

dom, United States, and Venezuela. The arts standards of these countries were identified by NCAS as exempla-

ry resources for the coalition’s writers and reviewers in their upcoming standards revision work. While the lan-

guage used in different nations may vary, most standards for arts education seem to be grouped in three

broad areas:

Both the history of standards in the United States and comparisons with our international colleagues confirm

that a complete education system must include significant and well-designed programs in the arts and that

well-designed standards play an essential role in delivering quality curriculum, instruction and assessment.



Generating/Problem solving; this corresponds to the American formulation of “Creating.”

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Expressing/Realizing; this corresponds to the American usage of “Performing.”

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Responding/Appreciating; this corresponds to the American “Responding.”