Abstract
People with a higher level of education are consistently over-represented among cultural participants. According to the instruction model, schools educate students to participate in cultural activities. The higher the level of education, the longer the period that is spent at school. This means that more highly educated people do in
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fact receive more instruction that enables them to obtain cultural competence. The selection model, on the other hand, argues that students in secondary education are selected by intellectual capacities, cultural interest and parental background. These mechanisms of selection each form (related) explanations for the over-representation of more highly educated people among cultural participants. Empirical support for neither of the models is conclusive. In 1999, of a new form of compulsory arts education was introduced in secondary education in the Netherlands. The course is called ‘CKV’ (in Dutch: ‘Culturele en Kunstzinnige Vorming’, which can be translated as ‘Cultural and Artistic Education’). CKV is directly aimed at stimulating students’ participation in cultural activities. The introduction of CKV offers a unique opportunity to examine the effects of education and schooling on cultural participation, because the course is compulsory for all students. In the past, arts education in the second stage of secondary school was offered only to those students who had chosen arts education as part of their examination courses – in other words, to those who already had an interest in the arts. In the case of CKV, we can more effectively disentangle the instruction and selection effects of arts education. The broad formulation of the examination programme allows schools and teachers much freedom to determine the contents and organization of the course. This provides an opportunity to study the consequences of different didactical approaches. In order to examine the effects of arts education on students’ cultural participation and attitude towards arts and culture during and after secondary education, we used a panel study. The study consists of data relating to 3897 students with and without CKV, from one of their parents and from their CKV teachers. The students come from 72 secondary schools in 14 municipalities in the Netherlands. Results show that CKV students do attend more cultural activities than those who are not following the course. This accounts to a large extent for participation in high culture activities such as visiting a museum, theatre, cabaret, classical concert and ballet, and to a lesser extent for participation in popular culture (e.g. films, pop concerts, DJ-VJ events and festivals). Under the influence of CKV, no transformation was seen in the students’ attitude towards arts and culture. No instruction effects of CKV on cultural participation have been identified in the period from two to six years after graduating from secondary education, nor were there any effects that can be attributed to variations in instruction by CKV teachers during the course. It seems that the effects of educational level on cultural participation cannot be attributed to arts education in secondary education. However, CKV1 neither reduces nor reinforces social inequalities with regard to cultural participation in society
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