The arts and the curriculum: an introduction

There is rich and unequivocal research evidence that quality arts processes and experiences engender a distinctive and critical set of understandings and skills that need to be navigated for the social and emotional health and wellbeing of humankind. The final article in this series reports significant research that identifies the spaces and opportunities for arts-based activities and experiences in the Health and Physical Education Curriculum (HPE) area, specifically health literacy. Using a layered curriculum analysis in a school-based health literacy program Abbey Macdonald, Vaughan Cruickshank, Rosie Nash and Kira Patterson demonstrate how the connections between the Arts and HPE are being enacted in primary classrooms to develop health literacy.