Creative Education
2012. Vol.3, No.8, 1419-1425
Published Online December 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ce) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2012.38207
Achieving the Objectives of Arts and Cultural Education in
Slovenian Pre-Service Teacher Training
Olga Denac1, Branka Čagran2
1Department of Pre-School Education, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
2Department of Primary Education, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
Received October 1st, 2012; revised November 5th, 2012; accepted November 16th, 2012
The paper presents the results of research involving students from across Slovenia, exploring opinions on
whether the objectives of arts and cultural education in their higher education have been met so far and
their attitude towards education and the arts. The results of the research show that the general aims of arts
and cultural education were more frequently incorporated in the study process than the aims relating to
developing an attitude towards cultural heritage. Students from various study programs agree in particular
on the need for team planning of the learning process, and on the importance of art education in the de-
velopment of the individual’s creative potential. However, they agree less on measures aimed at improv-
ing the quality of art education and viewpoints relating to the content of future preschool and school
teacher higher education. The results relating to the research aims also display statistically significant dif-
ferences between study programs. Arts and cultural education in the education system was given higher
importance by students of social sciences, preschool education and class teaching than by students of
natural sciences.
Keywords: Education; Arts; Culture Educations; Objectives of Arts; Cultural Education
Introduction
In accordance with lifelong learning competences, in par-
ticular the competence relating to cultural awareness and ex-
pression, which includes extending personal growth, construc-
tive control of emotion, identity, innovation and creativity,
critical thinking and intercultural communication, arts and cul-
tural education serves as a starting point in the co-creation of
culturally conscious and aesthetically sensitive individuals (young
people). Because of the coexistence in the common European
region, we should also reconsider the role and the importance
of arts in education. “The changing society shows a need to
develop responsibility towards preserving and passing the cul-
tural capital from generation to generation” (Borota, 2008: p. 3).
As a result, arts and cultural education in the 21st century is
becoming one of the more important topics within education
and culture (PožarMatjašič & Bucik, 2008), which is corrobo-
rated by a number of documents, such as The Arts and Educa-
tion (2004), Road Map for Arts Education (2006), or Reinvest-
ing in Arts Education (2011). In Slovenia, these correspond
with the National Guidelines for Arts and Cultural Education
(2009), the Proposal of Arts and Cultural Education (2009) and
the National Cultural Programme 2008-2011. Moreover, The
European Commission has underlined the importance of crea-
tivity and innovation and the role of culture and creativity with
the report Communication on a European Agenda for Culture
in a Globalizing World (2007), the Work Plan for Culture
2008-2010 (2008) and by declaring 2008 the European Year of
Multicultural Dialogue and 2009 the European Year of Creativ-
ity and Innovation. Let us mention only some of the key rec-
ommendations in these documents: arts education should be
obligatory at all levels of education; arts classes should be
taught with the help of the latest information-communication
technologies; classes should be made more appealing by in-
cluding meetings with artists and visits to cultural institutions.
Taggart et al. (2004) point out that the majority of European
countries have arts education aims defined in their curricula,
while a comparative study by the Eurydice network (2009)
offers an insight into the planning and implementation of arts
education across curricula in 30 European countries.
It positions art in the curricula in the following two ways: as
an integrated single unit consisting of various arts subjects (art)
or as a series of individual arts subjects (fine arts, musical
classes, dance classes, drama, etc.) For this reason, countries
vary in the level of detail they use to define the aims and results
of arts education; however, the most common general aims in
the majority of European curricula are: developing creativity,
developing arts knowledge and abilities, knowing and under-
standing; developing critical evaluation and aesthetic judgment;
understanding cultural diversity and the importance of cultural
heritage and developing skills in personal expression. Besides
these learning aims, it is necessary to mention the general lear-
ning aims in the curricula that can be linked to arts and culture,
such as the encouragement of cross-curricular integration be-
tween the arts and other subjects.
The analysis of Slovene higher education training programs
for preschool and school teachers shows that both the content
and objectives of arts and cultural education are adequately
represented in the curriculum, although to varying degrees: to a
larger extent, naturally, in arts and humanities courses in pre-
school education and class teacher programs and to a smaller
extent in the natural sciences.
As arts and cultural education allows for numerous connec-
tions within a range of subjects, a didactic approach involving
cross-subject integration can serve as a starting point for the

O. DENAC, B. ČAGRAN
implementation of arts and cultural education aims within the
learning process. By including arts education aims, content and
methods of work in other subject areas, we develop an attitude
towards art (Schirrmacher, 2002; Thompson, 2006). Experience
shows that cross-subject integration allows pupils to develop
interest and motivation for learning and to deepen their under-
standing and use of knowledge. Besides this, they achieve
higher grades, develop better interpersonal relationships and
motivation for learning, and demonstrate self-confidence, mu-
tual cooperation and understanding; they are also able to better
recall and understand the learning materials and can transfer the
acquired knowledge and abilities between different subject
areas (Bevc, 2005). Although cross-subject integration in Slo-
venia is still to be fully accepted professionally, research sug-
gests that it is already often present in teaching.
It is increasingly obvious that state institutions and publica-
tions offer theoretical perspectives on the importance and role
of arts and cultural education, which are taken into account by
curriculum designers, but little guidance on concrete didactic
approaches. This raises the question of the extent to which the
teachers (class teachers, subject teachers of arts subjects, sub-
ject teachers of other subjects, such as, for example, history,
mathematics…, teachers in higher education) can implement
the aims of arts and cultural education in the present and future
school curriculum.
Teachers who teach arts subjects play a key role in develop-
ing pupils’ creative abilities (Zbainos & Anastasopoulou, 2012).
However, a study on the impact of culture on creativity (KEA
European Affairs, 2009), singled out teacher training as one of
the main areas that has to be improved in order to establish a
creative learning environment in schools, underlining why it
matters who teaches arts subjects and how well these teachers
are trained.
The quality of arts education is influenced by cooperation
between subject teachers, class teachers and recognized artists
(forms of partnership: visits to museums, galleries, musical and
theatre performances, visits by artists to schools, etc.), while
successful cooperation is based on mutual knowledge and un-
derstanding of given aims and mutual respect for competences
on both sides.
Another aspect of this issue that many authors have high-
lighted is the problem of ensuring good-quality teaching in the
field of arts and cultural education (Sharp & Le Métais, 2000;
Taggart et al., 2004; Bamford, 2006), and in the past, not
enough attention was paid to studies that monitored how well
the arts were taught. Since the effective planning and imple-
mentation of the educational process involving arts disciplines
depends mainly on the teacher, it was our objective in this ex-
tensive empirical research project on culture and art in the Slo-
vene educational sphere to analyse the opinion of students, i.e.,
future preschool and school teachers, on arts and cultural edu-
cation.
Aims of the Empirical Research
The research aims to establish:
 the opinion of students on achieving the objectives of arts
and cultural education in their former higher education; and
 the attitude of students towards education and the arts.
Concerning our stated primary goals, we wish to verify the
existence of differences in regard to study program (preschool
education, class teaching, natural sciences, social sciences) and
in terms of the students’ attitude, examine in particular the role
played by study interests.
Methodology
Research Sample
The survey involved third-year full-time students from all
three Slovenian universities (University of Maribor, University
of Ljubljana and University of Primorska). Among the students
who fully completed the questionnaire (n = 552) were students
of preschool education (n = 128), class teaching (n = 189),
natural sciences (n = 98) and social sciences (n = 137). The
applied sample of students is defined at the level of the applica-
tion of inference statistics as a simple random sample from a
hypothetical population.
Data Collection Procedure
The data were collected through a questionnaire in January
2012. The questionnaire for students comprised closed-type
questions (dichotomous questions, questions with verbal and
scaled answers) and a five-point Likert scale of viewpoints. It
was created in accordance with the following measurement
characteristics:
Validity is based on a rational assessment of the test ques-
tionnaire by experts for content- and format-related properties
(advisors on arts disciplines from the National Education Insti-
tute) and its pre-test use.
Reliability was ensured with detailed instructions, single-
meaning, specific questions and a comparison of the answers to
questions with similar content. An empirical test was also car-
ried out to verify the reliability of the Likert scale in measuring
attitudes. The calculation of Cronbach’s coefficient of reliabil-
ity alpha (α = .774) confirms the reliability of the scale.
Objectivity relies on the prevailing close-type questions.
Data Processing Procedures
The data were processed at the descriptive and inferential
levels. We used frequency distributions (f, f %), mean of degree
of agreement (
x
), parametric (analysis of variance) and
non-parametric tests (χ2-test, Kruskal-Wallis test).
Results and Discussion
Opinions of Students on Achieving the Objectives of
Arts and Cultural Education in Their Former Higher
Education
More than half of the students feel that their higher education
up to this point has often included the following objectives of
arts and cultural education: developing free and critical thinking
(58.3%), enhancing imagination (54.9%), raising awareness
about the natural and cultural environment (52.0%) and en-
couraging cross-subject integration (50.5%). On the other hand,
they categorised the following factors as seldom occurring:
developing aesthetic sensibility (66.7%), expressing one’s own
culture (64.3%), expressing other nations’ cultures (62.0%),
forming arts and cultural values (60.7%), developing an aware-
ness of cultural identity (60.3%), getting to know other cultures
(59.1%), developing critical attitudes towards culture and the
arts (57.1%), understanding cultural diversity (54.5%), getting
to know one’s own culture (55.1%) and connecting the pupil’s
1420

O. DENAC, B. ČAGRAN
emotional, intellectual, physical and creative abilities (50.9%).
The students’ opinions led to the conclusion that university
teachers pursued the general goals of arts and cultural education
in their teaching, such as developing free and critical thinking,
enhancing imagination, and raising students’ awareness of the
natural and cultural environment. They were, however, less
successful in achieving goals with which we help shape a posi-
tive attitude towards cultural values, expressing one’s own cul-
ture and expressing other nations’ cultures and towards aesthe-
tic sensibility, despite the fact that the study programme courses
in which most of the questioned students were enrolled offer
numerous possibilities for implementing the stated objectives of
arts and cultural education.
A statistically significant difference exists in the students’
opinions on the frequency of realization of the goals of arts and
cultural education during their university studies in relation to
their study program:
 The majority of students of preschool education estimate
that goals developing aesthetic sensibility (χ2 = 72.221, P
= .000), developing emotional intelligence (χ2 = 15.772, P
= .015), enhancing imagination (χ2 = 17.792, P = .007), de-
veloping critical attitudes towards culture and the arts (χ2 =
35.427 P = .000), forming arts and cultural values (χ2 =
29.764, P = .000), raising awareness about the natural and
cultural environment (χ2 = 26.331, P = .000), encouraging
cross-subject integration (χ2 = 24.020, P = .001), connect-
ing pupil’s emotional, intellectual, physical and creative
abilities (50.9%) (tendency of difference χ2 = 12.415, P
= .053), frequently occurred in their higher education,
 The majority of students of social studies estimate that the
goals related to getting to know one’s own culture (χ2 =
37.422, P = .000), expressing one’s own culture (χ2 =
21.620, P = .001), developing an awareness of cultural
identity (χ2 = 32.996, P = .000), getting to know other cul-
tures (χ2 = 28.451, P =.000), understanding cultural diver-
sity (χ2 = 30.391, P = .000), expressing other nations’ cul-
tures (χ2 = 19.922, P = .003), encouraging tolerance of dif-
ferent cultures (χ2 = 27.003, P = .000), developing free and
critical thinking (tendency of difference χ2 = 11.185, P
= .083), also frequently occurred in their education.
 The majority of natural science students, however, report
that the objectives of arts and cultural education were sel-
dom or hardly ever included in their former higher educa-
tion.
The results of our research show that university teachers who
teach students of preschool education strive to incorporate the
general aims of arts and cultural education as much as possible,
whilst university teachers in social sciences are largely aware of
the importance of the aims relating to the development of a po-
sitive attitude toward cultural values, towards expressing one’s
own culture and expressing other nations’ cultures and raising
awareness of the students’ cultural identity. This can also be at-
tributed to the significantly larger proportion of multicultural
content in the social-science study programs. Although this
content is also included in the syllabi of Class Teaching and
Preschool Education study programmes, the research results in-
dicate that teachers only seldom included them in the learning
process. Planning the objectives of arts and cultural education is
undoubtedly subject to the chosen study program, to the syllabi
and curricula of the subject fields. However, we would expect
of the teachers teaching courses in natural sciences to include
more goals of arts and cultural education in the learning proc-
ess.
Numerous studies on the effects of arts-integrated curricula
show that “arts integrated teaching has the potential to develop
many typically unmeasured facets of student development”
(Horowity, 2004 as cited in Russel & Zembylas, 2007: p. 293)
and that the effects of in-and-through-the-arts-learning are dif-
ficult to measure. The study “Learning through the Arts” (ibid.)
thus revealed that the effects of learning through the arts are not
reflected in the learning achievements in mathematics and lan-
guage. However, it is possible to determine the advantages of
an arts curriculum on the level of pupils’ motivation and their
emotional, physical, cognitive and social development.
If we understand the integration of arts as meaning “connec-
tions between two or more of the traditional disciplines or sub-
jects” (Russel & Zembylas, 2007: p. 289) and also as a “concep-
tual term to refer to activities that strive to infuse the arts across
school disciplines” (ibid.), then we can presuppose achieving
the aims of art such as, for example, developing critical think-
ing, enhancing imagination, care for the natural and cultural en-
vironment, creating individual creative potential, etc., in vari-
ous subject areas (including non-arts). It is important that inte-
gration of the arts is not seen simply as a transfer of the aims
and content of learning but as “a cultivation of habits of mind”
(Bresler, 2006). Such an approach, of course, first and foremost
requires professionally qualified teachers, as “teachers feel un-
comfortable when asked to teach in an integrated manner, un-
less they have had opportunities to develop deeper knowledge
in the subjects they are trying to integrate” (Russel & Zembylas,
2007: p. 296).
Students’ Attitudes towards Education and the Arts
Students used a five-level scale (5—I strongly agree, 4—I
agree, 3—I neither agree nor disagree, 2—I disagree, 1—I
strongly disagree) to express their attitude to four sets of atti-
tude, namely towards:
 the significance of arts education;
 measures for raising the quality of arts and cultural educa-
tion;
 contents for educating future teachers;
 team planning of educational work.
We analyzed both the individual statements and sets of atti-
tudes as a whole (see Table 1).
The point agreed on to the greatest degree among students
from different study programs is the need for the team planning
of education, in particular team work of class teachers and col-
laboration of teachers from various subject fields. They agreed
slightly less on confirming the importance of art education. The
rankings of types of individual sets of views and individual as-
sertions within them therefore indicate that students attach great
importance to the following benefits of arts education: the de-
velopment of the individual’s creative potential; the raising of
students’ motivation for studying; encouraging the understand-
ing of different social cultures; the development of personal and
collective identities; the development of interdisciplinary know-
ledge, skills and competences. However, they attached less im-
portance to arts education in resolving the problems of modern
society. A slightly lower, but similar general average rate of
consensus, was observed in the set of assertions relating to the
easures for raising the quality of arts and cultural education, m

O. DENAC, B. ČAGRAN
1422
Table 1.
Statements in individual sets of attitudes arranged according to mean of degree of agreement (
x
).
Importance of arts education Measures for raising the quality of arts
and cultural education Content of future teacher training Team planning of education work
Statements
x
Statements
x
Statements
x
Statements
x
Arts education allows
individuals to develop their
creative potential
4.172
Encouragement of partnership
between schools, artists and
cultural institutions should be
given more attention
3.882
Training at the faculty offers
future teachers good professional
knowledge
3.795
Planning the learning process at
class level should include
teamwork among class teachers
4.199
With a well-guided teaching
process, arts education raises the
level of pupils’ motivation and
active cooperation
4.014
It is necessary to provide
additional professional training
for teachers about arts education
3.857
Training at the faculty offers
future teachers good general
knowledge
3.759
Planning the learning process at
subject level should include
teamwork of teachers from
various subject areas
4.140
Arts education encourages
understanding between different
societies and cultures
3.915
Arts education aims should be
systematically planned across
various subject areas
3.708
Training at the faculty
encourages development of
future teachers’ creative abilities
3.524
Arts education strengthens
personal and collective identity 3.877
Primary schools should have
cultural coordinators to manage
arts and culture activities
3.705
Training at the faculty offers
future teachers information on
the importance of the
social-emotional competence of
teachers
3.388
Arts education encourages
development of interdisciplinary
knowledge, skills and
competences
3.870
Arts education can help solve
the problems of modern society 3.384
Total 3.8723.788 3.616 4.169
such as the promotion of partnerships between schools, artists
and cultural institutions; the need for additional professional
training; planning the goals of arts education in the framework
of different subjects with the cultural coordinator. Students are
also critical toward the content of the education of future teach-
ers at university level. While admitting that they had gained a
sound professional and general knowledge in the framework of
their university studies, they regretted that their creative abili-
ties and socio-emotional competences could not be fully ex-
pressed.
Therefore, the obtained results serve as a reminder that tea-
chers who prepare subjects and teach in the field of the arts
should possess sufficient pedagogical-didactic knowledge and
skills, the ability to create and perform works of art and the abi-
lity to analyze, interpret and evaluate works of art. They should
also have developed the personality potential and social and
emotional competencies that manifest themselves in a response-
ble view of the aesthetic development of students, in a positive
attitude towards culture and the arts, and in the expression of
joy and interest in a particular type of art.
Bresler (1998) thinks that the contexts in which the arts op-
erate in schools do not enhance pupils’ creativity; therefore, she
suggests a systematic approach to aim-oriented planning of arts
education. In line with Šuvakovič’s (2007) observations, it is
necessary “to replace the accumulation of positivistic knowl-
edge, dates and data with a critical analysis and a consideration
of the positive effects and the reception of a work of art; it is
necessary to emphasize pupils’ individual contributions, their
ability to self-organize and self-reflect, to replace the authorita-
tive teacher with a mass of critical and investigative actors, and
listen to the voices of culture and the art itself” (Šuvakovič,
2007: p. 14). Vasudevan and Hill (2008) ask what chance there
is for different learning at school after the media and media
texts have become part of the learning materials. Arts teachers
should be familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of
various media, new technologies and their use in the classroom.
Because teachers use the media as a way of expressing and
forming identity, the teacher should have a command of infor-
mation-communication technology. For this reason, teacher
training should familiarize teachers with the use of new techno-
logies for the purpose of artistic expression and provide them
with the chance to teach with internet help.
Students from different study programs differed in their atti-
tude towards education and art which is confirmed by the fol-
lowing results (see Table 2).
The assumption on the homogeneity of variances is violated
in the third section (the content of the education of future tea-
chers), which is why in this case we refer to Welch’s approxi-
mation F-test, and in the remainder we rely on the outcome of
the usual F-test. These results reveal the existence of statisti-
cally significant differences between students from different
study programs in their attitude to the importance of art educa-
tion (P = .005) and regarding the measures needed to improve
the quality of arts and cultural education (P = .000). Arts edu-
cation was given greater importance by students of social sci-
ences (
x
= 23.99), preschool education (x = 23.36), and stu-
dents of class teaching (
x
= 22.99) than by students of natural
sciences (
x
= 22.47). The latter, in other words students of
natural sciences, are also more reserved than students of other
study programs regarding measures for raising the quality of
arts and cultural education. Why students of natural sciences
place little importance on arts education can be found in the
nature of this science, and in the fact that the focus of interest at
elementary and secondary school level is more on natural sci-

O. DENAC, B. ČAGRAN
Table 2.
The results of the analysis of the variance in four sets of students’ attitudes with respect to the study program.
Sets Study program NumerousMean Standard deviationTest of homogeneity of
variances
Test of differences between
means
n
x
S F P F P
Importance of arts education
Class teaching
Preschool education
Natural sciences
Social sciences
189
128
98
137
22.9894
23.3594
22.4694
23.9927
3.06662
3.51540
3.64452
3.61471
1.603 .188 4.264 .005
Measures for raising the quality of
arts and cultural education
Class teaching
Preschool education
Natural sciences
Social sciences
189
128
98
137
14.9418
15.4531
14.1633
15.8686
2.39942
2.39376
2.54726
2.25185
.730 .535 10.865 .000
Content of future teacher training
Class teaching
Preschool education
Natural sciences
Social sciences
189
128
98
137
14.7090
14.4141
14.3265
14.2774
2.30055
2.76516
2.12387
1.99533
3.177 .024 1.252 .291
Team planning of education work
Class teaching
Preschool education
Natural sciences
Social sciences
189
128
98
137
8.4762
8.2422
8.2041
8.3358
1.25720
1.36172
1.47808
1.32422
.811 .488 1.216 .303
ences and less on arts and cultural education.
We were also interested in the extent to which the students’
opinions were conditioned by their willingness to make the
same choice of study program now as they did three years ago
(see Table 3).
In two sets (the importance of arts education, the content of
the education of future teachers), where the assumption of ho-
mogeneity of variance is violated (P < .05), we rely on the re-
sult of approximation, and in the remainder on the result of the
general F-test.
Concerning their willingness to re-enroll in the same pro-
gramme, a statistically significant difference occurred only in
the set of attitudes relating to the content of future teachers edu-
cation (P = .000). Encouraging the development of students’
creative abilities and offering a sound professional and general
knowledge at university level, alongside content on the impor-
tance of the teachers’ socio-emotional competencies in teacher
training programmes, were most strongly supported by those
students who would after three years have chosen the same
study program as before and least by those who would after
three years contemplate a different study program. This sug-
gests, therefore, that the decision of students on a career change
is conditioned by their restricted options for developing creative
abilities and socio-emotional competences, rather than by the
acquired professional and general knowledge.
The teacher indirectly and directly contributes to the rise and
fall of the quality of educational work. Certain properties such
as the teacher’s emotional warmth, correctness in communica-
tion, creativity, efficiency, patience, and consistency are, there-
fore, some of the most important factors in a successful educa-
tional process.
Conclusion
The results of this research serve as a reminder that teachers
at three Slovene universities often practice most of the general
goals of the arts and cultural education in the study process;
however, not nearly enough attention is paid to understanding
of cultural diversity and shaping attitudes towards cultural val-
ues. The findings also reveal that the students support a series
of measures aimed at improving the quality of arts and cultural
education in the education system. Their approval of team
(cross-subject) planning, the need for professional training of
teachers in cultural and art education, and the promotion of part-
nerships between schools, artists and cultural institutions, are
especially worthy of mention. Even though education policy re-
cognizes a number of educational, cultural and social benefits
of arts education, we can see that education in and through the
arts still remains in need of effective implementation in pro-
grammes (Bamford, 2006). This brings us to the problems of
training those who implement arts programmes (teachers and
artists), of providing access to relevant information, of setting-
up active partnerships between educational and cultural institu-
tions, of overcoming the borders between school and the after-
school environment and of flexibility in programme implement-
tation.
This raises the question of whether the aims of arts and cul-
tural education should be pursued in arts subjects as individual
subjects or in relation to other subject areas. The integration of
art into the education system no doubt requires a systematic
analysis of cross-subject integration on the level of aims and
content (Kalin & Kind, 2006; Larson & Walker, 2006). There is
still much to be done in order to fully develop concrete didactic
approaches or implement the aims of arts and cultural education
in other subject areas of the curriculum, not only in theory but
also in practice.
Last but not least, it is necessary to emphasize that, according
to students, faculties that train teachers offer sound professional
and general-education knowledge; however, they pay insuffi-
cient attention to the development of creative abilities and the
importance of the social and emotional competence of future
teachers. Results of studies concerning youth culture and edu-
cation (Heath, 2001) also caution that schools still insufficiently
exploit their potential as places of creativity and striving for
new art forms (Schacter, Thum, & Zifkin, 2006). The tradi-
tional channels of creativity and cultural participation of young
people in Slovenia are still present even today (e.g., creating
music, singing and dancing, artistic activities, watching films,

O. DENAC, B. ČAGRAN
Table 3.
The results of the analysis of variance in four sets of students’ attitudes with respect to interest.
Sets Interest NumerousMean Standard deviationTest of homogeneity of
variances
Test of differences
between means
n
x
s F P F P
Importance of arts education
Yes
No
Undecided
348
54
114
23.1563
23.0926
23.5526
3.48538
4.03414
3.00764
3.144 .044 .752 .474
Measures for raising the quality of arts and cultural
education
Yes
No
Undecided
348
54
114
15.2266
15.0926
14.9298
2.33225
2.92851
2.60944
1.334 .264 .660 .517
Content of future teacher training
Yes
No
Undecided
348
54
114
14.7734
13.0556
14.0965
2.15538
3.08629
2.14505
6.475 .002 10.874 .000
Team planning of education work
Yes
No
Undecided
348
54
114
8.3932
8.3148
8.1667
1.31035
1.27122
1.46291
.401 .670 1.267 .283
visiting museums, theatres, performances...); however, they are
no longer necessarily dominant (Kirbiš, 2010). Creativity and
cultural borders can no longer be examined simply through
conventional forms of participation. It is necessary to tackle the
diversity of cultural production and creativity which is, among
young people in particular, increasingly associated with infor-
mation and communication technology (ICT), especially the
Internet (Pronovost, 2002). For this reason, it is necessary to
consider a restructuring of education programs or appropriate
and effective training of future class and subject teachers. In ad-
dition to this, it would be beneficial to introduce a systemati-
cally designed system of permanent professional education that
would provide additional training and development of the abili-
ties, skills and knowledge required for the successful planning,
implementation and evaluation of the education process in va-
rious fields.
Studies of cultural education in Slovenia (Culture Education:
Accessibility of Culture and Integration Between Culture and
Education—A Search for Conceptual Solutions, 2005; Culture
Education—Evaluation Study, 2004) point out that schools re-
ceive cultural content; that there exists a one-sided relationship
between educational and cultural institutions that is not based
on partnership; that more attention needs to be dedicated to ef-
fective cooperation between institutions and further training of
pedagogical and cultural workers, as results demonstrate that
the inclusion of cultural content in schools depends on the ini-
tiative and resourcefulness of teachers. Students included in our
researchare also aware that we will have to do more to raise the
quality of arts and cultural education at all levels of education.
It is vital that the arts in education receive an equal, independ-
ent status compared to other subject areas. Supporters of this
stance see arts education as a way of encouraging pupils and
students to be the co-creators of the education process and not
only passive recipients of knowledge from others.
In Slovenia, intensive integration of arts and culture values in
the education system no doubt represents a long-term strategy
of more efficient arts and cultural education. In order to make
arts and culture values (once more) a criterion of modern edu-
cation, we need cultural programmes of better quality in educa-
tion and education programmes in culture, more appropriate
levels of financial support, a broader and better network of part-
nerships and coordinators of arts and culture activities, training
of professional workers in education and culture and examples
of good practice.
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