Unit 1: Art Education in the Elementary Grades

Topic Overview:
Lesson 1.1. Art Education in the Philippines
Lesson 1.2.The Art Mindset in the Early Grades
Lesson 1.3.The K to 12 Elementary Art Education Curriculum

Lesson 1.3 K-to-12 Elementary Art Education Curriculum

Learning outcomes:
At the end of this lesson, you must be able to:
1. familiarize yourself with the K to 12 Curriculum Framework for Art Education being used by the DepEd
for Grades 1-3; and
2. familiarize yourself with the DepEd’s overall philosophy and approach to Art Education in the early
grades.

Discussion
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road can take you there.”
– Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to C.S. Lewis
Conceptual Framework
Both the Music and the Arts curricula focus on the learner as a recipient of the knowledge, skills, and values
necessary for artistic expression and cultural literacy. The design of the curricula is student-centered,
based on the spiral progression of processes, concepts, and skills, and grounded in performance-based
learning. Thus, the learner is empowered. through active involvement and participation, to effectively correlate
music and art to the development of his/her own cultural identity and the expansion of his/her vision of
the world.
Source: K to 12 Arts Curriculum Guide May 2016 pp. 2

The essence of the conceptual framework for the Art Education curriculum is the “spiral progression of
processes, concepts, and skills”. What this means in the classroom is that the same topics are taught at
each grade level, but increase in detail, complexity, and performance standards. The motivation behind this is to
give students the opportunity to truly appreciate and understand the concepts being taught as their applications
increase and broaden with each grade level.
Right away, this poses a question to would-be teachers: “Do I understand a concept thoroughly
enough to teach at different levels of complexity?" For example, take the concept of composition: How can it be
taught to a first grader? How will the same concept be taught to a second grader? What will my lesson on
composition look like by the time I teach it to sixth graders?
Such questions should help teachers in their lesson planning by limiting how much is taught at each
grade level. Do not be surprised if, after careful consideration, a lesson in composition will only take half an hour
once we have boiled the concept down to its essence for the consumption of very young learners.

As Music and Arts are performance-based disciplines, effective learning occurs through active experience,
participation, performance, creative expression, aesthetic valuation, critical response, and interpretation.
The skills that are developed include reading/analyzing, listening/observing, performing, singing, using musical
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 instruments, movement, acting, and playing, using different art materials, techniques, and processes,
responding, composing, and creating.
Source: K to 12 Arts Curriculum Guide May 2016 pp. 2

Here we see that the primary means of teaching art is through "active,” i.e., hands-on experience:
learners must do art in order to learn the art. This straightaway relegates teaching via lecture and discussion to
the minimum, implying that a teacher of the arts must actually be skilled at said art and artistic
techniques in order to demonstrate them for every student to then imitate and thus learn. Every concept we
wish the learners to understand, and every attitude we wish for them to develop must be taught in the context
of hands-on activities and by going through the process of experiencing art.

Philosophy and Rationale

The philosophy and rationale of the curriculum are the country's answer to the question, “Why teach art in
basic education?” According to paragraph 2 of page 3.

The Arts is a visualization of a people's history and uniqueness, a reflection of their creativity and
accomplishments, and a visible expression of their distinct way of thinking, communicating, reasoning,
and worshiping. It is expressed in a unique symbol system that is visual, kinetic, and tactile... Arts
develop a distinct way of seeing, thinking, communicating, and creating in a person. Furthermore,
Art develops and increases a person's ability to apply creative and new solutions, to new problems in our
world. Schools, therefore, need to develop the multiple intelligences of a student through the arts.
Source: K to 12 Arts Curriculum Guide May 2016 pp. 3

As we read here, Philippine Arts and art by Filipinos are a visual manifestation of what makes us Filipino-
it is an expression of our identity as a people and a nation. This identity informs how we think and behave from
day to day, and so DepEd views the teaching of art in basic education as a worthwhile endeavor.
The curriculum acknowledges that the 21st century is a unique period for the arts. Nearly all information
has a visual aspect to it which is easily accessible via the Internet. To address this, the curriculum philosophy
states in paragraph 3:

… Teaching Art to students is one way for them to process and interpret the barrage of images and sounds, in
a critical and intelligent manner.
Source: K to 12 Arts Curriculum Guide May 2016 pp. 3

As a final point, the philosophy statement in paragraph 4 reads:

The focus of the K to 12 Art curriculum is PHILIPPINE ART, CULTURE, and HERITAGE, appreciating the
diversity of our local artists, our arts, crafts, and indigenous materials to strengthen the student's
identity of being Filipino before he/she is introduced to the art of other countries.
Source: K to 12 Arts Curriculum Guide May 2016 pp. 3

Here we see the how of the what: art is to be taught in basic education in a manner that informs,
enlightens, supports, and promotes Philippine culture. It is up to the teacher to take the content standards and
competencies listed in the curriculum guide and then deliver them to the students in a way that places Philippine
art, culture, and heritage in a place of prominence in their minds.

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Elements, Principles, and Processes of Art Education

The elements and principles listed on the left can

be thought of as the “Theory” component of Art
Education; that is, the big concepts the
learners must come to understand. The processes
on the right are the things to be done in order to teach
concepts on the left. Notice that there is no big
difference between them: the principle of imitation
(creating a thing again) is taught via imitation. The
skill of critical analysis is taught by analyzing Art
with a critical eye. This nearly one-to-one
correspondence reinforces the philosophy of Art
Education that learners learn art by doing art, not by
Source: K to 12 Arts Curriculum Guide May 2016 pp. 6
merely talking about it.

Standards
When reading the DepEd curriculum guide, it is important to bear in mind that standards refer to what
the program is trying to teach, defined at four levels: the Learning Area Standards set the learning
goals for the entire Art Education endeavor in basic education; the Key Stage Standards define these goals for
the K-3, Grades 4-6, and Grades 7-10 levels; the Grade Level Standards break them down further per grade,
and the Content and Performance Standards define these goals at the classroom level. For the purposes of this
text, the first three standards are quoted here from pages 7 and 8 of the curriculum guide:

Learning Area Standards

The learner demonstrates an understanding of basic concepts and processes in music and art through
appreciation, analysis, and performance for his/her self- development, a celebration of his/her
Filipino cultural identity and diversity, and expansion of his/her world vision.
Source: K to 12 Arts Curriculum Guide May 2016 pp. 7

Key Stage Standards for K-3 and 4-6

The learner demonstrates an understanding of fundamental processes through performing. creating, and
responding, aimed towards the development of an appreciation of music and art, and acquisition of basic
knowledge and skills.

Source: K to 12 Arts Curriculum Guide May 2016 pp. 7-8

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The Curriculum and the Classroom
Beginning on page 9 of the curriculum guide, we get into the specifics of what topics are to be taught, what
learnings should the learner gain from them, and how these learnings are to be demonstrated in class as evidence
that learning has taken place. As the curriculum guide lists all of these per grade level and per quarter, we are only
reproducing the guide for Grade 1 for the first quarter (pages 9 and 10) for the sake of illustration and discussions.

Grade – First Quarter

Content
1. Elements 2. Principles 3. Process
• Lines • Balance Drawing
• Shapes • Proportion • Portraits
• Color • Variety • Family Portraits
• Texture • Persons
• School, Furniture
• Animals, Plants
Content Standards
The learner…
demonstrates an understanding of lines, shapes, colors and texture, and principles and balance,
proportion, and variety through drawing
Performance Standards
The learner…
creates a portrait of himself and his family which shows the elements and principles of art by
drawing
Learning Competencies
The learner...
• tells that ART is all around and is created by different people; distinguishes and identifies
the different kinds of drawings:
1. portraits
2. family portraits
3. school ground
4. on-the-spot
5. drawings of home/school surrounding
• observes and sees the details in a person's face/body, in a view, to be able to show its shape and
texture;
• identifies different lines, shapes, and textures used by artists in drawing;
• uses different drawing tools or materials: pencil, crayons, piece of charcoal, a stick-on on
different papers, sinamay, leaves, tree bark, another local materials to create his drawing;
• creates a drawing to express one's ideas about oneself, one's family, home, and school;
• shares stories related to his or her drawing;
• draws different animals (pets) showing different shapes and textures;
• creates a viewfinder to help him/her select a particular view to draw; and
• draws different kinds of plants showing a variety of shapes, lines, and color.

Taking this as our example and following the table from left to right, we see the topics to be covered in the
first column, followed by what the learners should learn via those topics in the second column. In the Performance
Standards column, it defines what the learners must do as proof that the desired learning has taken place in this
case, create a portrait of themselves with their families in a way that demonstrates the elements and principles
listed in the first column. This can be thought of as the "final activity" which, if the learners can do it, proves that
they have learned all that was intended for the first quarter.
Lastly, the Learning Competencies column specifies the various behaviors that students should exhibit in
the classroom in response to the learning activities put forth by the teacher. In a somewhat oblique way, these also
specify the kind of activities the teacher is expected to conduct in the classroom.
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 If all this seems confusing, that is because it is confusing; not to mention that at a number of points, the
Learning Competencies contradict the Grade Level Standards. Take items 2 and 4, for example, where the learner
is expected to identify elements of art, whereas the Grade Level Standards specify identification as a
competency for Grade 4.
To navigate these confusing and sometimes contradictory statements within the curriculum guide, the
student teacher is advised to keep in mind that the curriculum guide is a guide-it was never intended as the be-all
and end-all of what takes place in the classroom. A teacher trained in the arts can and is expected
to interpret the standards and competencies according to what is most appropriate for his or her
learners and his or her school and classroom contexts and environments. The competencies listed
merely serve as a kind of lifesaver for the teacher who somehow does not know what to do-an all-too-
common occurrence in the Philippines where teachers trained in one particular discipline find themselves
having to teach another.
Remember this fundamental truth: The curriculum guide is useful and important,
but it is not the teacher –– you are.

Supplementary Readings
K-to-12 Curriculum Guide for Art Education
Study and read the curriculum guide through this link.
https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Arts-CG.pdf

References:
• Republic of the Philippines Department of Education K to 12 Curriculum Guide ART (Grade 1 to
Grade 10). (2016). https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Arts-CG.pdf

• Tizon & Ignancio (2921). A Course Module for Teaching Visual Arts in the Elementary Gades.
Rex Book Store

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