Integrating the Arts in Early Childhood Education in Kenya: Possibilities for the Creative Mind

Abstract

The traditional approach to teaching has its place in education. However, increasingly, there is a need to venture into diverse ways of interacting with knowledge in order to be relevant in global settings where technological progress increasingly defines life. The arts play an important role in early childhood education. In the Kenyan context, arts mainly include music and movement, arts and crafts, and some aspects of social studies. Although these are regarded as separate learning activities, there has been a shift towards integrating the learning activities spelled out in the national early childhood curriculum, through thematic teaching. While the process is still in its developmental stages, it continues to gain momentum. Further, the multicultural composition of the inhabitants of Kenya as a country provides a unique backdrop against which an integrative arts education can thrive. Within this paper, music and movement is considered one of the main learning activities promoting the integration of the arts. The discussion centers on how the subject matter of the music, its performance and its cultural setting provide a means of interacting with the other arts. Furthermore, the paper then goes on to consider how the other arts lend themselves to the integration with musical and movement, resulting in a holistic education. This paper discusses (a) definition of arts education in early childhood in Kenya; (b) assessment of some current practices in the arts that promote integrated learning; (c) discussion on some of the gaps in integrative arts education, with regard to both music and movement, and other arts; and (d) ways in which issues related to the integration of arts education may be addressed.