The Impact of Employing Visual Arts in Enhancing National

Identity among Primary School Students in the United Arab

Emirates: A Field Study Using Statistical Analysis

Heba H. Al-Sherbini1,* Wael Anwar2

1 Visual Arts Teacher, Al-Sila Kindergarten and School, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

2 Assistant Professor of Drawing and Painting, Faculty of Specific Education, Mansoura University, Egypt

Received: November 12, 2025 Revised: December 20, 2025 Accepted: January 19, 2026 ⋆ Corresponding author

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the effect of visual arts usage on national identity among first cycle students in the United Arab Emirates

will be evaluated. It should be noted that today visual arts became an effective way of informing youth about their

cultural values, sense of belonging to their nation, national heritage and values. Nowadays when there are a lot of

social and cultural problems, schools should make great efforts in helping students to establish their national identity

through creativity. This research is conducted using the methodological framework of descriptive-analytical approach

and explores the effect of visual arts on students’ national identity. For the purpose of this study, a questionnaire

has been created and distributed among the target audience of first cycle students in order to analyze students’

perspectives on visual arts effects on their sense of national identity, their culture and national values. Moreover,

the impact of certain demographic factors like gender, grade, and academic background has been explored. The

results have been obtained using statistical tools like frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, t-test,

one-way ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The research suggests that visual arts have a positive effect

on students’ national identity as it encourages students to appreciate and recognize their national culture, belonging

to their nation and values, as well as create something based on those.

Keywords: Visual Arts National Identity Art Education Cultural Heritage UAE Students Citizenship Visual

Culture

1. INTRODUCTION

The current age is characterized by drastic changes in both

culture and technology, which have had effects on people’s

patterns of thinking, values, and attitudes, especially among

the younger generation and the students. As a result, national

identity has come to be one of the issues getting attention

from educational and cultural institutions. National identity

refers to the system by which an individual is associated with

his/her native land, as well as his/her cultural, historical, and

civilizational aspects. National identity can also be described

as a factor that enhances social unity and cultural stability

[7].

With regard to the changes caused by the process of globalization

and cultural and technological transformations, there has

been an urgent need to discover new methods in education

and culture that would help foster national identity in students

in relation to the current age. The field of visual arts is seen

to be among the most important of these strategies as far

as its power is concerned for impacting individuals’ mental,

emotional, and behavioral aspects [3], [16].