艺术启迪 传续文明｜京领-苏州工业园区德威联合书院联合发布《2021国际学校艺术特色研究报告》

《国际学校艺术特色研究报告》目录

人们通常认为，充满艺术天赋的人会顺利地成为艺术家，成为精通艺术或是从事艺术的人，而事实并非如此。再令人艳羡的艺术天赋也需要被发现、激发的，而后在付出超乎寻常的努力后，才有机会取得令人无法想象的成就。而正在摸索人生的青少年，正是处在需要准确发现自身兴趣、长处甚至是超常天赋的阶段。学校，作为学生发展的重要场所，应当给予学生适当的自由发展的空间，不断鼓励学生去探索他们独特的一面，去探寻他们是否想要在未来不懈追求艺术理想。培养青少年对艺术的热爱是教育者的责任。一些青少年因为发现了自己的热爱而选择了对于艺术的终身追求，而另一些青少年因为艺术的熏陶激发了他们的创造力、想象力，实现全面发展，从而在自己的领域上傲视群雄。

鉴于艺术培养对于青少年的重要性，本文将对国际学校的艺术特色进行深度研究，总结分析中国国际学校艺术培养的发展趋势和特征，并对2022年中国国际学校艺术特色排行榜上的一些学校进行重点分析和展示，剖析当下学校在艺术方向的培养现状。希望通过阅读本研究报告，家长、学校和其他读者可以对于青少年艺术培养的发展趋势有更好的把握，更有效地挖掘青少年的艺术天赋，让青少年最大程度发挥和发展自己的能力和才华。

图片来自World Economic Forum

图片来源：QuoteHD.com

上海诺科学校成立于2011年，是一所学术性强、管理严格的“文理学院式”学校，在教育行业素有美誉。学校开设多门AP课程、A-Level课程，并与上戏艺术合作开设艺术特色课程，充分满足学生多层次、多目标、多专业的学习和升学需求；高质量的优秀教育团队营造了开放、包容的学习氛围，培养学生优秀的语言能力和跨文化理解力[11]。

正如其学校简介中所宣传的，学校将戏剧艺术课程作为其重点艺术课程。在上海诺科学校看来，留学的主人翁——孩子本身的发展是艺术教育真正的价值所在。艺术不是留学的出口，而是学生的发展方向或个人全面发展的媒介。学校的校长李健先生说，“现在，学生出国留学的专业选择不仅仅是出于生计考虑；家长们也越来越愿意支持学生的个性化选择和发展；更有越来越多的学生意识到‘我出国不是只可以学习数理化或者商科的，还有一个基于兴趣爱好的选项’。而艺术方面的培养，终将服务于学生对生活的感受和自身能力的提升，对于他们的职业生涯也有长期积极的意义；科艺双兴的实践和要求，会帮助学生成为一个更完整的人，实现生活上的幸福，事业上的卓越[12]。”从校长的话里可以明显看出，学校鼓励学生的个性化发展，并通过多元化的实践活动培养学生的领导力和协作能力。

2021年，上海诺科与上戏艺术公司联手，为学生的艺术发展创造更加专业、更加深入的学习机会。学校引进“上戏艺术特色课程”，打造“艺术爬藤”项目，通过将艺术特色课程与国际升学课程相结合，发挥双方特长，为诺科学子提供专业的艺术教育、顶尖的实践资源和广泛的社会关系，助力孩子们自由追求艺术梦想。作为上戏艺术公司在沪的首家“特色课程实验基地”，学校依托上戏艺术公司深厚的艺术资源底蕴和艺术人才培养经验，形成诺科特色鲜明的艺术课程体系，为诺科学子创造更多、更顶尖、更专业的艺术学习机会与平台，让学生能够“走出去，回得来”，助力更多学子发掘并实现艺术梦想。

除了新开展的“艺术爬藤”项目以外，学校自成立以来也一直坚持对于学生的艺术培养，秉承“科艺双兴，幸福卓越”的办学理念，为学生创造良好的艺术学习氛围和发展空间。学校的A-Level课程包含了四大艺术课程，分别是时尚类、视觉类、环境类、产品类，通过艺术老师专业、生动的指导，满足了学生多样化的艺术学习需求。同时，学校还开展了多种多样的艺术社团活动，让学生在轻松的氛围中欣赏、研究和讨论艺术，不断深化对于艺术的理解和感悟，在和同伴的沟通和交流中提高自己的表达能力和鉴赏水平。

上海诺科学校拥有非凡的艺术升学结果。2022届的毕业生分别被伦敦艺术学院艺术设计专业、纽约视觉艺术学院、马里兰艺术学院、芝加哥艺术学院、萨凡纳艺术设计学院等世界顶尖艺术院校录取[13]。这些卓越的录取结果离不开学生在学习过程中的主动探索，同样也离不开学校对于学生梦想追逐的支持与助力，离不开学校艺术特色课程和活动的设置以及专业老师对学生的激励与教育，这些因素让学生的思想和艺术技能得到了全方位的发展。

除了以上三所学校以外，其他上榜的七所学校也在艺术培养上各有特色，同样培养出了优秀的艺术人才。同时，除在榜上有名的十所学校，还有越来越多的国际学校在艺术特色教育方面投以重视，不断发展其特色项目和课程。在明年的中国国际学校艺术特色榜上，相信可以看到一些艺术特色教育发展的黑马校，同时，也祝愿近年来上榜的国际学校维持和持续发展其艺术教育。

2022中国国际学校艺术特色榜TOP10

随着国家经济和文化的高速发展，越来越多的家庭尊重和支持学生的个性化发展方向，鼓励学生在自己擅长的领域发展，将对艺术的热爱逐渐发展成职业方向。这种趋势也让国际学校艺术培养的开展逐渐普及。从艺术培养的重要性以及学校艺术特色教育的案例中，我们可以看到，艺术培养一方面可以让学生的创造力、独立思考能力、领导力、观察能力、表达能力等综合能力得到全方面的提高，从而更好地在其他学术领域进行思考和探究；另一方面可以让真正有艺术追求的青少年不被埋没，让未来的艺术家在早期艺术学习中得到自信，敢于自我表达和自我展示，对文化产生更深的理解，从而在未来有更高境界的艺术造诣。

少年有他的山海，有他的重重山影，有他的万里波涛。中学生正值年少，应当被给予更广阔的发展空间和领域探索的自由。一语不能践，万卷皆空虚。希望在未来，越来越多的国际学校可以开展多方面的艺术课程、艺术课外活动和艺术项目，让学生拥有艺术创造的机会，帮助学生的能力得到全面的发展，使他们的艺术光芒得以充分闪耀，激励学生追求自己所爱，为国家的未来培养更多优秀的艺术家。

Content of Research Report

on International School Arts Features

People usually think that people full of artistic talents will successfully become artists, become a person who is proficient in art, but this is not the case. Art talents also need to be discovered, and then after paying extraordinary efforts, there will be an opportunity to achieve unimaginable achievements. Students are exploring life in the stage where they need to accurately find their own interest, strengths, and even extraordinary talents. Schools, as an important place for students, should give students a certain amount of freedom to develop and constantly encourage students to explore the path they want to pursue in the future. Cultivating adolescents of artistic love is the responsibility of educators. Some teenagers have chosen the lifetime pursuit of art because of their love, while others have stimulated their creativity and imagination, and harvested their comprehensive development because of art inframe.

In view of the importance of art cultivation for adolescents, this article will conduct in-depth research on the artistic characteristics of international schools, summarize and analyze the development trends and characteristics of the art cultivation in Chinese international schools,  carry out key analysis and display for schools in the 2022 Kinglead China International School Artistic Characteristic Ranking, and analyze the current status of students in the artistic direction. We hope that by reading this research report, parents, schools and other readers can have a better understanding of the artistic cultivation of adolescents and better help them develop artistic talents.

Qatar's famous artist Amal al-Aathem said, "Art is everywhere." People generally think that a sensational movie is art, a unique song is art, and an elusive painting is art. They think art is mysterious and obscure, and it is difficult to understand the thoughts and theories behind it. However, the descriptions of unique or beautiful are subjective judgments, which are the distinction between artistic style, not the division of art and non-art. From this point of view, our daily life is surrounded by art, and art is subtly affecting our lives. We are also participants in art creation.

Art is a kind of expression. People convey their ideas through various forms of art. Many artists imply the ignored social problems or respond to some social facts through artworks. From a personal perspective, art is a way of emotional expression. From a macro perspective, art brings cultural exchange. Artworks integrate unique cultural identities of a specific society. Artists communicate their cultural identities through their art and creativity. Artworks not only symbolize identity and culture, but also develop social identity and culture to a certain extent. Art is a mirror of society, it reflects a certain cultural identity and develops it into a voice to the world. Therefore, art not only enriches people's hearts, but also gives people an emotional way, but also a symbol of social culture. The aspects of artistic exchanges and development will be explained in detail in the next part.

Zhao Bin has a comprehensive explanation of artistic concepts in his book Art Inscription. He pointed out that art production is to satisfy the aesthetic needs of people with aesthetic value of art. Aesthetic value is the most important and basic characteristic of art. The aesthetic value mainly includes aesthetic cognitive role, aesthetic education, and three functions of aesthetic entertainment. These three functions are also the most important social functions of art.

The aesthetic cognitive role of art mainly refers that through art appreciation activities, people can more profoundly understand nature, understand society, understand history, and understand life. Through the appreciation of art, people can understand the story behind the work and the history of the work. When appreciating art, people will bring themselves to the artist's perspective, which will produce the comparison of society and the current situation, such as social operation, environment, etc. This kind of concentration connects the personal emotions of art appreciators and artists when they face problems, stimulating their thinking and dialogue.

The aesthetic education of art mainly to refers that through art appreciation activities, people can be influenced by truth, kindness, and beauty. On a subtle level, people’s thoughts and ideological pursuit are changing during art creation and appreciation, so they can understand life and the world better. Appreciating an excellent artwork is like interacting with the artwork or the artist, which can connect your thinking with what the artwork expresses. This connection will not only stimulate thinking, but also contribute to positive changes in action.

Source: World Economic Forum

The aesthetic and entertainment effect of art means that art appreciation activities can meet people's needs of aesthetic. Creative activities can help people reduce stress, promote communication, and prevent cognitive disorders.[1]

In short, art creation and appreciation can promote people's thinking and expression, affect people's self-awareness and social cognition, and finally promote people to change themselves and even change society and the world.

Zhao Bin said in his book Art Inscription that art education is the core content of aesthetic education. It is also the main way of implementing aesthetic education. Art education has a profound impact on people's morality and intellectual development. It can enrich people's imagination and perception, deepen people's understanding, enhance people's creativity, and cultivate people with comprehensive development.

Young students still keep their childhood curiosity. Without fully contact the society, young people strive to put themselves in the world by observing the environment in their own way, thinking about the world's operating methods and how they can make a difference. Studies have shown that [2], art activities in childhood can help the cultivation of children's brain ability. Art allows children to develop with more freedom, promoting their cognitive skills, social-emotional development, and multi-sensory skills. After children enter elementary schools, art activities will promote children's brain development, leadership ability, self-esteem, and creativity.

Art education will improve students’ creativity. Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional thinking or behavior and generate new ideas or things. A report from the British Government states that divergent thinking is a key component of creative thinking process. Divergent thinking will be greatly decreasing during the growth of children. There are many reasons for this decline in creativity, such as the pressure caused by adolescents to adapt to the environment and avoid public mistakes. Nevertheless, there are still some ways to develop children’s divergent thinking and creativity. Art education is an important way.

Sourse：QuoteHD.com

Art education is an open experience. Different from the educational methods in schools, art education encourages students to play with their creativity. Students can explore their interests in the fields they are interested in. In art education, students will not be infused with theory or factual basis. Instead, students are immersed in a relatively relaxed atmosphere, where they are easier to come up with some interesting and creative ideas.

Art education will improve students' self-expression ability. Artists express their thinking about society and their own emotions, children are doing the same thing. Children observe and feel the world from their own perspective, and then they express their feelings and ideas through different forms of art. Art gives students freedom to express themselves. This way of expression can also cultivate students' personalities and help them retain their creativity.

Art education will also promote the improvement of students' collaborative capacity and leadership skills. Usually, art education will gather together children with the same interest. Children will learn and create artworks together. They also need to jointly participate in some important processes, which means they need to have their own independent thinking and contribute their ideas to achieve the goal of the group. Through art education, students can learn to cooperate with team members, lead the team to complete tasks, and effectively express their ideas and communicate with others.

A study on school art education has shown that [3] in 2008, Two-fifths of primary schools and three-fifths of secondary schools provided a good or outstanding art, craft and design education. Creativity was promoted particularly effectively in early years settings and in sixth forms. Art education has also become the starting point for observation and imagination development. In a historical study about art education [4], art education has a long history in the United States. Benjamin Franklin in 1749 in his Proposed Hints for an Academy first advocated the practice of art education. In 1821, despite much opposition and many reverses, art education was first included in the US public school curriculum. During the next forty years, art education was introduced into many city schools in the eastern United States. Massachusetts was the first state to adopt art as a part of its general education program. The initial step was taken in 1860. The provision for art instruction were made in the law of the state. At the moment, the United States began to pay attention to art education in school, focusing on the cultivation of art education, and pointing out more art teachers to have more art education practice in the next few years.

In recent years, China's international schools have gradually attached more importance to art education. In the 2022 Kinglead China International School Artistic Characteristic Ranking, ten schools have been listed for their achievement in art education. Successful art education not only cultivates professional art skills, but also comprehensive literacy, such as a higher taste and pursuit, indomitable will, and expression ability. These international schools cultivate and promote students' artistic capacity from different perspectives. Compared with the 2021 Kinglead China International School Artistic Characteristic Ranking, six international schools keep their top ten places, while four schools stand out in art education in the 2021-2022 school year. This means that more and more international schools have realized the importance of art education and have already integrated art education into the school's education programs. These schools have cultivated outstanding artistic talents due to their excellent art education. The following parts will take 3 schools as examples to comprehensively introduce and study the artistic characteristics, which include Harrow International School Beijing, Beijing Huijia Private School, and North Cross School Shanghai. The three schools are listed in both 2021 and 2022 Kinglead China International School Artistic Characteristic Ranking.

Harrow Beijing proudly shares Harrow’s core values, and as a school celebrates both its British heritage and its Chinese perspective in striving to cultivate“Leadership for a better world”. Students from Harrow Beijing have been entering to world-famous universities in the UK, the US, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, etc. [5]

Harrow Beijing attaches importance to students' art education. Since 2014, the Drama Department of Harrow Beijing has been offering LAMDA(London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) courses through their Leadership and Service Activities. Ms Byrne, Director of Drama has said, 'succeeding in LAMDA examinations demonstrates not only that your child has met a rigorous assessment criterion, and is able in public speaking, but also that they have grown as individuals through participating in a worthwhile activity that is respected as a global standard.'[6]”

At the same time, the school pays great attention to drama education. Drama is an important part of its IGCSE and A-Level curriculum system. The 13th-grade student Fiona W and Amy L, performed the drama "A Brief History of Helen of Troy" before graduation. This performance commemorates their youth and dedication in their drama class in Harrow Beijing. As the beneficiaries of art education, they expressed that " We would like to thank Mrs Byrne, Ms Burns, Mrs Shaikh for always supporting, pushing onwards and encouraging us to carry on doing what we truely love [7]." Regarding the improvement of the students' multi-faceted ability, Ms. Sana Shaikh, the drama teacher in Harrow Beijing, said," Through their Drama LSAs they were able to experience various performance genres as well as develop skills in stage make-up, costume design and lighting. Pupils celebrated Indian culture by successfully performing a Bollywood piece comprised of a melodramatic plot, elaborate costumes, exotic colours, song and dance [8]. "

In addition to the drama course, the curriculum system of Harrow Beijing also includes various kinds of art courses. The school's multi-directional art cultivation allows students to fully explore their artistic talents and potential, and promote students' creativity and teamwork ability in the form of examinations, competitions, and performances. In recent years, Harrow Beijing has continuously achieved breakthroughs in A-Level scores and academic admission results. We believed that holistic development and the school's artistic characteristics must be one of the important keys to achieve academic achievements.

Founded in 1993, Beijing Huijia Private School is one of the earliest schools in China certified by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). [9] The Art Curriculum is one of three cornerstones of Huijia and, as a set of courses, is an inseparable component to the IB program.  

Huijia provides students from age 5 to 19 a consistent international education backed up its international diploma program and a learning experience that emphasizes that consistency. With the continuous art curriculum, students can continuously deepen their understanding of art and improve their artistic capacity.

In the IB program at Huijia, the art courses include dancing, drama, music, and visual art. Any of these art forms is matched with dozens of clubs and organizations. In addition to the curriculum, Huijia also provides students with a variety of opportunities to display their artistic results, which can highly encourage students' creative passion and let the students experience the sense of accomplishment. At the same time, appreciating others’ artistic results also cultivates students' artistic aesthetics. Children can gradually learn to appreciate the beauty of life by perceiving the expression of artworks, enriching their perspective of viewing the world.

Huijia has achieved fruitful results in art education. In 2021, three Huijia graduates received offers from Berklee College of Music with a total of $ 55,000 scholarship. Their art talents have been cultivated in Huijia, and they have generated a more profound understanding of their own major in the future.[10] In addition to the music direction, three graduates received offers of film and costume design from famous universities. Examples of these students have demonstrated that with the more important role played by art in society, more and more students choose to take art as their future path. The school's art education and atmosphere help art-talented students pursue their passion in the future.

Established in 2011, North Cross School Shanghai (NCSH) is one of the earliest international school in Jing'An district. NCSH has set up a vigorous and integrated curriculum system, with the main goal of promoting students' language ability and the subsidiary goal of cultivating students' academic courses of AP. Except for taking fulfilling academic courses, students can also benefit a lot from colorful extra-curricular activities, including subject contests, students' associations, artistic practices, sports competitions, domestic and abroad exchanges, volunteering services and guest lectures, from which students can substantially cultivate their temperament, broaden their horizon, fully express individuality and advance overall abilities through full participation. [11]

The school regards the theater art curriculum as its key art curriculum. In North Cross School Shanghai, the development of children themselves is the true value of art education. Art is not an export of study abroad, but the medium of students’ personal development. Li Jian, the principal of the school, said, “Practices of both sciences and arts will help students become a more complete person, realizing happiness in life and excellence in career [12]."

This year, the school introduced the art class from Shanghai Theatre Academy and establish “Born To Create” project. By combining art classes with international curriculum, the specialties of both sides can jointly provide professional education and top practical resources for North Cross School Shanghai students, helping students freely pursue their art dreams.

Since its establishment, the school has been focusing on the art cultivation of students, adhering to its school-running concept of “practicing science and art, pursuing happiness and excellence”, and creating an artistic atmosphere and development space for students. The school’s A-Level course contains four major art courses, namely fashion, visual art, environment, and product. Through the professional and vivid guidance of art teachers, the art courses meet students’ needs of art learning.

North Cross School Shanghai has extraordinary admission results. The 2022 graduates were admitted to the world’s top art institutions such as University of the Arts London, School of Visual Arts, etc.[13] These excellent admission results are inseparable from the active exploration of students in their learning process. They also are from the school’s support in terms of art education and activities. These factors help with the development of students' artistic ideas and skills.

At present, more and more international schools have attached great importance to art education. Schools continuously develop their art-characteristic projects and courses and cultivate art talents in different ways. Below is the 2022 Kinglead China International School Artistic Characteristic Ranking.

2022 Kinglead China International School Artistic Characteristic Ranking TOP10

With the rapid development of economy and culture in China, more and more families support the individual development direction of students. They encourage students to develop in the fields they are good at, and some of them gradually develop their love for art into a profession. This trend has also gradually popularized the development of art education in international schools. From the importance of art education and the cases of schools, we can see that art can improve students' creativity, independent thinking, leadership, observation capabilities, and expression ability. Young people with passion and talents can pursue their art development. In this way, future artists can be confident in their early art-learning process, daring to express themselves and show their artworks. They can have a deeper understanding of culture, thus have higher achievements in the future.

High school students should have a broader perspective to explore. We hope that in the future, more and more international schools will provide students with various art courses and activites, and offering opportunities for students to create art and helping students to achieve comprehensive development. Students can pursue their passion, and schools can cultivate more excellent artists for the future.

参考资料：

[1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-healing-power-of-art

[2] http://bkc-od-media.vmhost.psu.edu/documents/HO_Art_AnOpportunity.pdf

[3] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/413330/Making_a_mark_-_art_craft_and_design_education_2008-11.pdf

[4] https://www.jstor.org/stable/994696?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

[5] https://www.harrowbeijing.cn/about/history

[6] https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/PsQvvGwcByhKT6N_SJJD6Q

[7] https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Dl9vjONbXTNc1SngEIuc1w

[8] https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/JiXs2wpKCWyZrh0YzFtGNQ

[9] http://www.huijia.edu.cn/index.php?m=home&c=Lists&a=index&tid=8#top

[10] https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/AyAWXL6Cg61TKwt0egWxRg

[11] http://www.northcross.cn/about/info?id=15

[12] https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/R3Uc0pjEAFXXN_Rbf0fyLA

[13] https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zPe0Jg0AgQh5ZmJyWC_hVg