Why arts education? Summary and conclusions

In this concluding chapter, we summarise the methodology and main findings of the report, propose an agenda for future research and explore some policy implications of our findings. The first section sets the policy context and gives a brief overview of the skills needed in innovation-driven societies. The second section presents the main findings of our review of the impact of arts education. The third section suggests an agenda for future research on arts education. And the final section argues that the main contribution of arts education to innovation societies lies in its development of broad habits of mind. We conclude by arguing that the value of the arts for human experience is a sufficient reason to justify its presence in school curricula.