Specialized+Programs+and+Art+Integration

//Specialized Programs and Art Integration //
 It is widely believed that Arts integration is difficult at the Secondary School level. While it may be true for larger schools, it can be easier in smaller school where a teacher may teach several different subjects, including art.  That said, there are some “alternative” programs, increasingly offered at Ontario secondary schools, which allow for a greater integration of subjects, including (and especially) the Arts.

The first of the said programs is the so-called Specialist High Skills Majors or Majeure Haute-Spécialisation. The Ministry of Education has developed the said program to allow students to specialize themselves in high school for their future careers or studies in set domains. While certain specializations were offered in the “old curriculum”, these are relatively new and fill certain voids in different sectors. One program in particular, the SHSM in Arts and Culture, allows students to have a multi-disciplinary program geared to their interest, allowing them to gain the experience required to study/work in that domain after high school. One school, Collège catholique Franco-Ouest in Nepean Ontario, a suburb of Ottawa, offers the said program with further specialization in the Media Arts. The program, which officially began in August 2010, allows students to register in several courses geared towards the Media Arts, particularly Visual Arts (especially Media Arts and Photography), Communications Technology as well as an Interdisciplinary course. The teachers of the program are specialists in their domain and work together to ensure a greater integration of the Arts. Once the basic course of study completed (usually in the 11th grade), students will then complete a COOP place. Success there, as well as in the courses, is required to obtain the Specialist mention (which is emblazoned in red) on their Secondary School Diploma, as well as their transcripts, which will then be sent of to the colleges and universities of their choice.

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 * Link for the SHSM/MHS in Arts & Culture **

 A second “specialized” program, also offered at Collège catholique Franco-Ouest allows for greater integration, especially with the Arts: The International Baccalaureate. The Middle Years Programme (or Programme du premier cycle du secondaire), like their two other programs, are geared towards an “international” education, “[which] develop[s] the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world” (International Baccalaureate), allows teachers to work together in order to create authentic tasks, which will then be evaluated for the Ontario requirements, as well as the IB’s requirements. In fact, the multi-disciplinary/interdisciplinary approach is endorsed by the organization and is used, at least to an extent, in each of their member-schools. Once completed, the tasks (including a predetermined number of student examplars) must be sent out for evaluation, where there teacher(s) will obtain feedback from the “examinators”. There, the task will be evaluated to see if it adheres to the IB principles, that the task corresponds with the curricular demands and that the grading was proven to be adequate - a greater “precision” when it comes to grading. The Language Arts, the Humanities (which would include History and Geography), the Sciences and the Arts are often subject to the multidisciplinary approach. The teachers, all specialists in their own domain, work together to ensure a truly multidisciplinary and integrated program.

 International Baccalaureate []  Specialist High Skills Majors []
 *  Links: **