So why engage in the arts? : the relationship between learning in the arts and other key learning areas and the development of skills in key workplace competencies

As a result of the Dawkins Green Paper Strengthening Australia's Schools and the Finn Report the Mayer Committee was convened to develop a set of Key Competencies which could be used to measure young Australians' capacity to apply knowledge and skills in the work place and therefore to measure their employability. This paper examines the relationship between learning in the arts and other key learning areas in a preservice teacher education course and outcomes in the key competencies. It examines whether the different subjects preservice teachers complete teach only content specific to that subject, or if students learn generic skills, knowledge and values which assist them in a lifetime of work. The results indicated that overall, between 55% and 82% of students felt that they had learned 'quite a lot' or 'SO MUCH' about each Key Competency, with the competencies of Communication of Ideas and Information (81.3%) and Planning and Organising Activities (80.2%) being the most highly rated and the competency of Using Mathematical Ideas (56.7%) receiving the lowest rating. In comparing students' perceived learning of each skill within each of the Key Learning Areas, they indicated that they had learned the most about each competency within the Creative Arts KLA, except for the competency of Using Mathematical Ideas, where Creative Arts ranked second (71.9%) against Mathematics (75%).