1. BACKGROUND

On the initiative of the Minister of Cultural Affairs and the Minister of Education, Research and Church Affairs, cooperation has been established with a view to building up aesthetic subjects and enhancing the cultural dimension in basic school. This is one step in the follow-up to Reports to the Storting no. 61 (1991-92), Culture in Our Time, no. 40 (1992-93), Us Little People, with its emphasis on culture for children and adolescents, and no. 29 (1994-95), Concerning Principles and Guidelines for the 10-year Basic School - the new Curriculum, and to the treatment of those Reports in the Storting.

1.1 Culture in schools - schools for culture

Schools are culture. The importance of school as a mediator of culture to children and adolescents is emphasised in Report no. 61 (1991-92) to the Storting, Culture in Our Time. In its comments on the Report, the Storting stated that "The Committee's majority wishes to underline that the manifold and overall qualities of Norwegian cultural life can be strengthened by, among other things, the position of art and art subjects in school, by attaching greater importance to cultural activities among children and young people, by a practical division of labour and cooperation between cultural institutions, and by close contacts between amateur and professional artists". (Recommendation no. 115 to the Storting, p. 2.)

Report no. 40 (1992-93) to the Storting, Us Little People, presents a cultural reform in which more of the activities in the local environment, from handicrafts to art, become part of schools' everyday life. Report no. 29 (1994-95) to the Storting, Concerning Principles and Guidelines for the 10-year Basic School - the new Curriculum, states that: "The aim must be for education to help to transmit the national cultural heritage, to encourage the use of local culture, and to inspire children and young persons to be active and creative themselves in the cultural sphere. New knowledge must be rooted in the pupils' experience and in their local environment" (Chapter 4.1.1., "Community", p. 18). It is a natural consequence of this view for art and cultural life to be integrated in schools and similarly for schools to seek contact with local artistic and cultural activities.

1.2 Cooperation between the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs

As a result of the initiative taken by the two Ministers, a plan of action has been drawn up which, by initiating specific measures at all levels, will ensure a full follow-up on the treatment by the Storting.

At the start of its planning, the Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs carried out a review of political documents and studies relating to the cultural and school sectors. Special importance has been attached to the following documents, which also laid down guidelines for the ongoing work:

• Report no. 61 (1991-92) to the Storting, Culture in Our Time
• Recommendation no. 115 (1992-93) to the Storting
• Report no. 32 (1992-93) to the Storting, A Media Policy for the 90s
• Report no. 40 (1992-93) to the Storting, " Us Little People": Concerning 6-year-olds in school - consequences for the curriculum and guidelines for its contents
• Recommendation no. 234 (1992-93) to the Storting
• The Core Curriculum for Primary, Secondary and Adult Education in Norway (1993)
• Report no. 29 (1994-95) to the Storting Concerning Principles and Guidelines for the 10-year Basic School - the new Curriculum
• Consultative document: Draft curriculum for subjects in the 10-year basic school (L97)

Importance was also attached to surveying various advisory documents which ought to influence the development and implementation in schools of aesthetic subjects and the cultural dimension, including:

• Impressions, expressions, imprints. Plan of action for building up the aesthetic subjects at school. The Norwegian Council for Culture and the National Council for Primary and Lower Secondary Education, 1991.
• Culture in school - the school in culture. UNESCO, 1992.
• The integrated library. Plan of action for school libraries. The Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs, 1992.
• Architecture and surroundings - a school project. The Norwegian Architects' League and the Central Office of Historic Monuments, 1993.
• Surroundings as culture. Report by a working party appointed by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Oslo, 1992.
• Concerning day-to-day work in day care centres for schoolchildren. The Secretariat for Day Care Centres for Schoolchildren. The Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs, 1994.
• Report on the Villa Grande project. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs, 1994.

The work of the Ministries on this plan of action has generally been confined to dealing with cooperation between basic school and the professional and/or public art and culture sector. Children and young people must be given the opportunity to make use of various forms of artistic expression. Both cultural institutions and schools face a big challenge in developing existing and new forms of cooperation, new joint measures, and forms of mediation capable of stirring children and young people and stimulating their own activities and experience. The plan of action is intended to contribute towards such development.

1.3 The basis for the planning work

A plan of action relating to cooperation between the cultural and educational sectors should be drawn up in close contact with both the users and the suppliers of educational measures. This was the reason for appointing a national reference group with the following members:

• Ingvild Sørensen,
  Nord-Trøndelag County National Education Office
• Elen Lein,
  Director, the Møre og Romsdal County National Education Office
• Svein Helge Treimo,
  Østfold County Municipal Cultural Affairs Department
• Frode Sannum,
  Head of the Oppland County Municipal Cultural Affairs Department
• Lise Gustavsen,
  The Norwegian Film Institute
• Liv Wahlstrøm/Øyvind Amundsen,
  The Norwegian State Foundation for Nationwide Promotion of Music
• Jeanette Eek Jensen,
  The National Touring Exhibition
• Knut Skoe,
  The National Touring Theatre
• Knut Jevnaker,
  The Norwegian Federation of the Arts in Education.

The research institutions Noseb (Norwegian Centre for Child Research) and Ungforsk ("youth research") were engaged to coordinate the input from the reference group and to survey the knowledge and experience obtained in the existing cooperation between the cultural and school sectors. Against this background, the objective for the work was defined as

• highlighting existing activities and cooperation between the school and cultural sectors
• pointing out obstacles to the ongoing work
• propose ways of making better use of existing facilities
• propose measures to stimulate cooperation between different art forms
• propose ways of increasing the participation of children and young people in the planning and implementation of measures
• propose measures to encourage schools to make more use of outside cultural activities.

Noseb and Ungforsk contacted a sample of 55 schools and 17 municipalities in a total of 9 counties. At the schools, principals and teachers of aesthetic subjects took part in an inquiry. In addition, municipal and county school administrations and cultural services completed a separate questionnaire. The inquiry was carried out in January 1995.

The aim was to examine the position in today's schools of aesthetics, art and the cultural dimension, and in particular the encounter of pupils with professional art and how cooperation between schools and professional art is handled by the authorities. The inquiry also looked into cooperation between schools and amateur art. The latter is of great value at the local level and offers an extensive local network for cooperation between the school and cultural sectors. Amateur culture is also a necessary supplement to and potential source of cooperation with professional art, and must be included in a full all-round introduction to the art world for children and adolescents.

The survey showed that the most important features of the aesthetic disciplines were held to be the contributions they make to pupils' own development and to their experience of art. According to the schools, the aesthetic subjects have the same status as other subjects, but little attention is drawn to their relevance to other subjects, subject areas, or daily life. Nearly half the schools in the sample stated that they made use of external artistic competence in their teaching and had found this valuable. Nevertheless, cooperation with institutions tended to consist of one-off events rather than systematic mediation.

The research institutions presented their report on 1 March 1995. Its contents included the results of the above-mentioned survey and proposals for areas where short-term and long-term efforts ought to be made.

1.4 Contents of the plan

The plan of action in its present form was drawn up by the Ministry of Education, Research and Church affairs and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs jointly, drawing on

• reports from Noseb and Ungforsk
• interviews with key informants in cultural and school circles
• input from the reference group
• political and advisory documents
• trial and development work under the auspices of the Ministries and their subordinate bodies

The plan's emphasis on action is principally to be found in Chapter 2, "How to build better bridges". Measures aimed at improving the contents of the aesthetic disciplines and the cultural dimension in schools have been grouped under eight headings. Some measures lend themselves to implementation in several areas, but to save space are only mentioned once.

Parts of the reports from Noseb and Ungforsk are presented as separate annexes to the plan of action, and are the opinions of the respective institutions. A reading list has also been prepared, of books, booklets and articles in the art and culture field.

1.5 From plan to action

The plan of action emphasises the need for a concerted effort across sector boundaries and administrative levels. It accordingly proposes measures at the local, county and national levels. In connection with the publication of the plan, the Ministries are arranging a nationwide conference on the implementation of the various measures proposed in it. Some funding will also be reserved for conferences at the local level. The aim is for the plan to be a useful tool in the local introduction of the new basic school curriculum. The most important thing now will be to take the step from plan to action.