ARTS AND SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL PROSPERITY How might learning in the arts support young New Zealanders to contribute to New Zealand’s future social, economic and cultural prosperity? INTRODUCTION This was the question Manatu ¯ Taonga/the Ministry for Culture and Heritage asked the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) to explore. NZCER did a literature review of national and international research in arts education, and synthesised key ideas from the literature review with relevant high-level policy statements. The review and synthesis looked at New Zealand’s goals for the educational, social, economic and cultural futures of our young people and our nation. KEY FINDINGS •฀฀Arts฀learning฀can฀contribute฀ to high-level goals: preparing New Zealanders to help create a฀prosperous฀and฀sustainable฀ knowledge economy; fostering creativity and innovation; and preparing฀New฀Zealanders฀to฀be฀ national฀and฀global฀citizens.฀ •฀฀Most฀research฀focuses฀on฀the฀ short-term,฀individual฀beneits฀of฀ arts learning and participation. Increasingly, researchers are interested฀in฀how฀these฀beneits฀ accumulate and spill over into the public฀sphere. •฀฀Studies indicate positive effects from arts learning and participation. Some studies suggest particular outcomes for speciic฀kinds฀of฀arts฀learning฀and฀ participation (e.g., music learning and spatial thinking), while a few large studies suggest that students in “arts-rich” learning environments฀do฀better฀overall฀ than students whose schooling environments are “arts-poor”. •฀฀Each arts discipline has its own history, culture and practices. For school students, arts learning occurs in several ways: in the curriculum as a stand-alone subject฀or฀integrated฀across฀ curriculum areas; as a co- curricular or leisure activity; and as฀an฀individual฀or฀collaborative฀ pursuit. http://www.mch.govt.nz/research- publications/policy-perspectives-papers /contributions-learning-arts-educational-social