The arts constitute a vital component in human culture, and satisfy our spiritual needs and improve the quality of life. The arts originate from living, and both are inseparable. With developments in society, technology and economy, the means and media for artistic expression have become ever richer.

We can experience the arts through various avenues such as art galleries, performing venues, temporary halls for Chinese opera performances, malls, television, movies, information technology networks, advertisements, fashion and jewelry. Therefore, the arts have already been an integral part in our everyday lives. As arts education contributes significantly to whole-person development, society has been attaching increased value to it.

Since 2002, arts education has been one of the key learning areas in the school curriculum, and it is an entitlement for all students. About 10%-15% and 8%-10% of the total lesson time is allocated to arts education at primary and junior secondary levels, respectively. Diversified arts learning experiences can stimulate students' curiosity and encourage them to experiment and innovate, and allow them to exercise their creativity and express their emotions.

Such experiences are conducive to the development of students' personality, aesthetic sensitivity, creativity, communication skill and critical thinking skill. Moreover, students learn to understand and respect diversified cultural traditions through studying and appreciating the arts of different periods and places, thereby helping them develop positive values and attitudes.

Through learning of the arts, students' abilities and qualities can be improved, and their future development in other areas can be significantly promoted.

For instance, the qualities of creativity and aesthetic sensitivity facilitate students' pursuits in film and literary creation, science and technological exploration, architecture and interior design, marketisation and product sales.

To continue arts learning in basic education, the New Senior Secondary, or NSS, curriculum offers to students more diversified pathways to learn in the realm of the arts in accordance with their abilities and interests.

These pathways include:

* participating in other learning experiences of aesthetic development;

* selecting elective subjects related to the arts;

* studying arts-related applied learning courses; and

* selecting art as a theme for the independent enquiry study in liberal studies.

Aesthetic Development is an essential component of other learning experiences in the NSS curriculum. It aims to further develop students' creativity, aesthetic sensitivity and arts appraising ability, and fosters in them a life-long interest in the arts.

Throughout the three years of senior secondary education, every student is provided with no less than 135 hours of learning time for aesthetic development. Since no public examinations are required for aesthetic development, students can have sustained contacts with the arts and learn pleasurably through structured appreciating, creating, performing and reflecting activities.

Music and visual arts provide students with opportunities for in-depth studies, and help lay a good foundation for further studies as well as careers in the arts and creative industries.

In addition to emphasising balanced development in listening, performing and creating, music studies include learning diverse music genres and styles to broaden students' music and cultural horizons.

Visual arts lays equal stress on art appreciation and criticism, as well as art making. It also attaches importance to the relationships between art studies and the culture of the periods.

Both music and visual arts are elective subjects that are counted for university admission, and a number of universities consider them priority subjects for admission to their music and visual arts programmes.

Studies in arts elective subjects can be flexibly combined with other subjects so as to enhance students' prospects for further studies and development. For example, studies in arts elective subjects can be undertaken in conjunction with design and applied technology, physics, biology or health management and social care, and the combination of subjects studied is conducive to career pursuits in fields such as advertising and stage design, television and film production, broadcasting and record production, arts administration, arts therapy, technical design and architectural design.

The arts-related applied learning courses are designed to help students with different interests and inclinations explore their own life-long learning and career aspirations in diversified learning areas other than those provided in the school curriculum.

Some arts-related courses recently offered include creative multimedia studies, introduction to theatre arts, taking a chance on dance, film and video studies.

These courses provide students with authentic contexts for learning and facilitate their understanding of related professions, thereby laying a good foundation for their further studies and development in the related fields.

Art is one of the suggested themes for the Independent Enquiry Study in Liberal Studies. Students can choose an arts-related topic and associate it with the knowledge from other areas of study, to analyse and explore the multi-dimensional nature of contemporary life, culture and environment.

Through the relevant enquiry, students need to examine and reflect on the selected issues from multiple perspectives, while their learning and understanding of the arts will be strengthened.

Arts education can help enhance humanistic quality, nurture talented people for the future development of Hong Kong and facilitate the advancement of our society. Arts and culture is one of the key tasks for development in the near future. At present, the Government is actively promoting the development of cultural and creative industries in Hong Kong, and is launching a public consultation and engagement exercise on the West Kowloon Cultural District.

We also observe that, in general, parents and other members of society are keen to cultivate our young people's artistic potential. Building on the achievements of basic education, we shall continue to provide resources to enhance collaboration between schools and different organisations, to facilitate concerted efforts in promoting arts education.

We believe parents will encourage their children to participate actively in arts activities and support them in choosing arts subjects and arts-related courses, so that their children's potential in different aspects can be more fully tapped.

This article by Chief Curriculum Development Officer (Arts Education) Tai Kit-man first appeared on the Education Bureau's website, as one in a series of "Realising the Vision of 334".