Supporting personal and social development through child-led art projects in the early years settings

Abstract

Personal and social development is an important area which influences children's learning journey in all levels of education. Examining the impact of the arts in children's development, there are several studies that adopt this focus. However, the majority of them focuses either in primary or secondary education or in specific personal and social skills through a structured intervention, which is not compatible with the liberal context of the arts. Considering the importance of this area and the statement above, this research project was designed. The purpose of this paper was to examine the effects of a child-led art intervention in children's personal and social development in the early years settings. The intervention used the 'Play and Learn through the Arts' (PLA) programme for a full school year. The participants were from a case study of a Greek early years setting with 5-6-year-old children. Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study. The findings revealed a positive influence of the arts, and more specifically of the PLA, in children's personal and social skills.

Using different art forms to investigate the impact on children’s involvement in literacy activities

“…The literature review shows that there is a need for more research that examines children's involvement during school activities, especially in the early years, using an interdisciplinary approach with the arts. This argument and the findings of small-scale pieces of research with such a focus (see Theodotou 2017aTheodotou , 2017bTheodotou , 2017cTheodotou , 2015 were the motivating factors for this piece of research. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of 'Play and Learn through the Arts' (PLA) program on children's involvement during literacy activities.…”

An empirical study comparing different art forms to develop social and personal skills in early years education

“…(2011) did not include art activities in their intervention, these findings can inform an arts research project. The arts can contribute to a social-emotional curriculum as they provide opportunities for true expression in a child-friendly and child-led environment (Theodotou, 2017b).…”

“…Taking the above arguments into serious consideration, a previous research study was designed and implemented (Theodotou, 2017b) with the focus of using child-led art experiences to support children's social and personal skills. This research project was based on the argument that most pieces of research that use art experiences, most of the times adopt a teacher centre methodology instead of giving the opportunity to children to have a leading role in their learning and development.…”

“…However, what is missing from these studies is the examination of different art forms and their benefits in this learning area giving children the leading role in their learning journey. Trying to address this issue, the findings of a previous small-scale research study (Theodotou, 2017b) seem very promising as they demonstrate the positive effect on children's social and personal skills. Taking this into consideration, this research project was designed.…”

“…Using these findings as a steering wheel, a small-scale study was designed and implemented (Theodotou, 2017b), showing that when we give children the leading role in art activities, they will have a beneficial outcome in their social and personal development.…”