The Place of Lower Secondary Art within the Secondary Curriculum Art is essential in equipping students for the
21CC while developing them holistically for life. The
Lower Secondary Art syllabus is especially critical as it is the final phase of students’ general art
education in which students are equipped with essential visual literacy skills and cultural awareness
– to learn and communicate visually, and to engage with society culturally. It should also allow
students to advance their art education beyond the lower secondary level if they so aspire.
It is
therefore important that students enjoy the full extent of the art curriculum and curriculum time,
and that their achievements in art are duly recognised.
The requisite curriculum time for Art at Lower Secondary is between 70 – 80 min per week. As the syllabus is planned for 48 weeks over 2 years, any changes in the curriculum time will compromise students’ learning and attainment. Art is an examinable subject at the Lower Secondary levels for Express and Normal (Academic)
courses. This means that students’ achievements and talents in Art are recognised to be of equal
weighting to other examinable subjects, such as the languages, mathematics, sciences and
humanities in the computation of students’ overall marks. This is an important tenet in our
commitment to a holistic and balanced education, and to developing diverse talents in our students.
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S ECTION 2: C ONTENT Art Learning Framework & Outcomes
Big Ideas
Connecting Learning Components