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Competencies gained through creative subjects in high school
– what are the competencies and are they used?

Ulf Hjelmar and Rikke Plauborg, March 2010

Summary

The study was prompted by a general wish among creative high schools to develop art, drama, media studies and music to ensure that students develop relevant competencies in these subjects. In addition, the high school reform that came into effect on 1 August 2005 has resulted in creative subjects being given lower priority than previously. The creative subjects now have weaker timetable slots and unlike before the high school reform, students attending general high schools are no longer automatically sure of access to creative subjects. There are therefore grounds for taking a closer look at the nature and relevance of the competencies students acquire in the creative subjects. What competencies do students acquire in creative subjects and can it be demonstrated that these competencies are important to the students and are used in their subsequent educations and careers?

The study is based both on qualitative and quantitative data. The purpose of the qualitative survey was to identify which competencies students develop in the creative subjects at the four KULT high schools (short for ‘culture’ in Danish) and whether the labour market appears to need these types of competencies. The survey was based on seven focus group interviews with current students, four focus group interviews with graduate students and a double interview and two individual interviews with employer representatives. The purpose of the quantitative survey was to map the extent to which graduate students from the four KULT high schools use the competencies they have acquired from the creative subjects in their further educations and careers. This part of the survey was based on Statistics Denmark’s registers of all students in the high school years 1997-2000 and 2003-2005 in Denmark.

The study is a pilot project, as its main objective has been to identify potential links in the area that can be studied in more detail at a later date. Consequently, the study has been unable to explore all the areas in detail but has been forced in some cases to underline the need for more analyses in this field. While the study focused specifically on identifying the components of the competencies in the creative subjects (interviews with current and graduate students), there has been less focus on the extent to which the competencies are put to use (interviews with employers, and register survey).

Generally, the study showed that while at high school, students acquire a range of relevant competencies from the creative subjects that they build on during their subsequent educations and careers. The relevance of the competencies is supported by the testimony of the current and graduate students, employer representatives and the statistical survey.

The competencies that students acquire through the creative subjects can be summarised as four core competencies: cooperation skills, discipline, the ability to perform and ability to see new opportunities.

Cooperation skills are one aspect of the core competencies students acquire from the creative subjects. Cooperation skills refer to the ability to actively participate and engage in close and binding cooperation concerning a given task. The creative subjects refine the ability to independently explore and leave a personal impression on an area. Often creative subjects also require that students cooperate, give each other space and listen to each other. Drama is one example that deals extensively with interaction and reacting to each other’s performance, where ‘the whole’ is more important than the individual. Discipline is another core competence that students can acquire from the creative subjects. Discipline refers to the ability to focus and complete a given task. The creative subjects train this and other abilities, as several of the subjects include large amounts of homework, and self-discipline is therefore required for performing well in the subject in question. Media studies is a prime example. Several of the students expressed that the subject requires a clear focus and the determination to succeed, e.g. while filming, when the students themselves are responsible for the sets and all the practical aspects this involves.

The ability to perform is another core competency that students typically acquire from the creative subjects. The ability to perform means an awareness of how the students can express themselves and the means they can use to show this to others. The creative subjects typically strengthen students’ ability to perform, e.g. in drama or music, where a central element of these subjects is to perform in front of an audience.

The ability to see new opportunities can also be seen as a core competency that students acquire from the creative subjects. This ability relates to the basic resources a student relies on when improvising and trying out solutions within given frameworks and sets of rules. The creative subjects exercise this skill extensively, as these subjects place more importance on various potential interpretations and students’ expression of attitudes and feelings while focusing less than other subjects on obtaining an answer. In art, for example, students are trained in defining the goal for their pictures or artwork and the ability to achieve this goal.

The competencies that students acquire from the creative subjects are also obtained to some extent from other high school subjects. The study does not provide the basis for evaluating the extent to which the other subjects contribute to developing the core competencies mentioned, but the interviews with current and graduate students include several examples of courses in other subjects at high school that have also contributed to developing these competencies.

The study also indicates that some degree of transference may take place, i.e. some of the competencies students acquire in the creative subjects can be used and further developed in other subjects at high school. For example, the ability to perform that students can acquire for the creative subjects can rub off on other subjects, which means the students benefit more from Danish, for example, a subject that relies heavily on oral expression. Additional research is required as a continuation of this study to reveal more precisely how this transference from the creative subjects at high school takes place and can be useful for teaching at high school.

A central question in this study is the extent to which the core competencies are actually used by the students during their further educations and careers. A quantitative survey of registers from Statistics Denmark was conducted to investigate this matter.

The study shows that the creative competencies students acquire in the high schools with creative images (the KULT high schools) are actively used in the students’ later career choices and subsequent careers. Almost twice as many students at KULT high schools compared with average high schools choose creative educations. The study also shows that a correspondingly large number of students in the KULT high schools progress to creative job functions. The study thereby documents that students from the KULT high schools actively use the competencies they acquire through creative and similar subjects in their further educations and careers.
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