With funding from the Macquarie Group Foundation, The Song Room commissioned a three-year research project with a range of university and research partners, including leading educational researcher, Professor Brian Caldwell, and Dr Tanya Vaughan from Educational Transformations (ET) to investigate the impact of its programs on disadvantaged children.
The research demonstrates the positive impact of The Song Room’s arts-based intervention on improved school attendance (65 per cent less absenteeism with participation in longer-term TSR in comparison to those that have not participated), higher academic achievement (including the equivalent of one year gain in NAPLAN literacy for longerterm schools compared to equivalent schools), as well as enhanced social and emotional wellbeing.
The groundbreaking research by ET has made an important advancement in demonstrating that arts education not only has intrinsic value, but when implemented with a structured, innovative and longterm approach, it can also provide essential extrinsic benefits, such as improved school attendance, academic achievement across the curriculum as well as social and emotional wellbeing.
Having demonstrated a significant and quantitative impact of an educational intervention, this research is of international significance. There is nevertheless a particular relevance to the Australian context, given our challenges of disparity in educational outcomes for students such as those who participated in this research, including low socio-economic, high Indigenous and non-English speaking backgrounds as well as those at high risk of juvenile crime. It also provides topical evidence on an effective model of delivery in light of the current development of a new national curriculum to include the arts.
These improvements are critical not only to educational and learning outcomes, but are also key factors in reducing risk and addressing the large social disparities and prospects for disadvantaged and marginalised young people in Australia.
The research was conducted in a region of low socioeconomic status, with a high proportion of Indigenous and non-English speaking background students, and that is a region of high juvenile crime, where multiple risk factors for young people in relation school completion, future employment, crime and disengagement are present.
The research findings provide evidence that schools participating in The Song Room programs outperform those that are not participating on most indicators selected for investigation, including significant improvement in academic achievement (school grades and NAPLAN), school attendance and student well-being. The implications for policymakers at all levels and for school leaders are significant.
The research demonstrates the positive impact of The Song Room’s arts-based intervention, including a number of significant improvements, including:
- Improved school attendance (65 per cent less absenteeism with participation in longer-term TSR in comparison to those that have not participated)
- Higher academic achievement (including the equivalent of one year gain in NAPLAN literacy for longer-term TSR schools compared to equivalent schools)
- Enhanced social and emotional wellbeing
The research points to the importance of providing innovative arts education to all Australian children, but also points to the way in which support for community-business-school partnerships can assist in ensuring that all children have access to high quality, diverse and tailored educational opportunities to give them every opportunity for success, regardless of their social, cultural or economic background.
As a not-for-profit organisation, The Song Room is very grateful for the generous support of the Macquarie Group Foundation, the exceptional research expertise of the team from Educational Transformations as well as the contribution of the participating schools, students and teachers who all made this project possible.
It is hoped that these findings will assist in realising The Song Room’s vision that all Australian children have access to the arts to improve their education and development.
View or download a copy of the Executive Summary here: https://songroom.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Bridging-the-Gap-in-School-Achievement-through-the-Arts.pdf
