Sagan fishFor years, Britain’s leading culture has warned that substandard arts provision in schools is devaluing the sector and creating a bigger industry. But the government’s proposed shake-up of the national curriculum, which includes scrapping the English baccalaureate (Ebacc), has been met with one man saying it could end “the madness of the last decade”.
On Wednesday the Department for Education said it wanted to develop the creative subjects taught at GCSE as part of the wider curriculum in England.
The changes revealed in the government’s response to the curriculum and assessment review were published this week by Prof Becky Francis, which is an optional extra and disciplines in their own right. “
Playwright James Graham, who used his Mactaggart Lecture at last year’s Edinburgh TV Festival to highlight Inequality in the arts classwelcomed the end of the “craziness of the last decade” in which cultural topics were cheweued.
He said: “It is important now to look to the future and use it as an opportunity to ask what a modern era of art looks like, and the challenging times in which they grew up.”
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber said he was pleased the government recognized “what few of us know: that schools are a basic education”.
But he added: “There is still no flesh on the bones in the latest government announcement. Fundamental questions remain around the curriculum and, in the case of music, plans to address the chronic shortage of teachers in this country.”
the Turner Prize winner Antony Grasley said that “removing the shadow of Michael Gove and his eBacc will be celebrated”, while Sculptor Anish Kapoor brought “a sense of our young citizens – especially now”.
The number of UK students taking arts subjects has plummeted in recent years, leading to a creativity crisis in state schools. Since 2010, the enrollment of GCSS in arts fell by 40% And the number of arts teachers decreased by 23%.
Last year’s research found that a decade ago about half of all levels of a human subject were obtained. By 2021-22 that has fallen to 38%, with proportional arts subjects such as music, design and media studies falling to 24%. The latest GCSE data shows the status of attainment even worse.
Beth Steel, who regularly campaigns for greater representation of the working class in the cultural sector, said art, music and drama “are not subjects, they are structures”.
The Nortingham-born playwright spoke of the school trip to the Tate and National Gallery where he saw Rothko paintings as a 14-year-old time for him.
“That visit had a great impact on me: it was a stepping stone on my path,” he said. “It was our government’s decision to scrap the eBacc and recognize it [issue] is such a big step in the right direction and is important for children who work in the classroom that otherwise would not have access. “
The Curriculum Review argues that schools don’t have enough time to pursue creative subjects, something many arts leaders say is often brought up with them by teachers and others who work in education.
Maria Balalshaw, the Director of the Tate, said that the teachers she accepts often complain about “there being no space in the curriculum” for art. “We think that creative subjects are important to create stronger, more rounded, more resilient individuals and we welcome the review of the arts and the ‘development’.
Indhu Rubatham, the director and co-chief executive of the National Teater, says that in the last decade he spoke to the profession that was imprisoned because of their schools.
He said: “We will do everything we can to support this next phase of work and ensure that arts and creativity are at the heart of every school around where I am now.”
As part of the shift in focus, the government proposed changes in performance measures That encourages the acquisition of gocs in the arts including music, dance and drama by scraping the Ebacc Suite of subjects.
Abigail Pogson, the Barbican’s new chief executive, called the move a “critical shift in education”. He said: “I consider this a long-awaited recognition that we need to educate our children as whole, capable people, not just trained minds.”
Alistair Spalding, the artistic director and co-chief executive of Sadler’s Wells, was pleased to see a “commitment to strengthen the curriculum content for PE PE dance”. He said he wanted to see the recent decline in students taking the subject at GCSE and A-Level brought back and marketed with a pipeline of teachers and talent in place”.
Alex Beard, the Chief Executive of the Royal Ballet and Opera, said that in “increasingly atumpathical times, the arts are needed more” to improve the conditions more “to develop critical thinking, empathy and common understanding. He said that giving the opportunity and access to the arts through the curriculum “will also help to ensure that our art arts reflect the richness and diversity of society”.
The Saxophonist and Composter Yolanda Brown said: “As a person who found my voice in a school saxophone, how I changed the whole education, not as a curriculum option, not as a life option with a curriculum option, not as a good art education, nor to change music and creativity at the heart of the curriculum, not as a life option with an optional education, not as a life option, not as a curriculum option, not as a good art education, how I change the whole education, not as a life option with an optional education, not as a good history education, not a good art education either, how I change the curriculum improvements, how I change a musical transition, how I change the musical developments and change how I change the musical progress.
Brown emphasized that the proposals should be adapted to “proper investment and support for teachers”, including the provision of instruments and rehearsal space. “The real test is whether a child in Newcastle has the same access as a child in Hammersmith; even every school, not just the good creative experiences,” he said.
Nadia fell, the artistic director of the young vic, says that “putting the arts on the table for students” “has long been excessive and critical”.
He said: “It doesn’t mean that every student will go on to a career in the arts – although that’s why not all parts of the brain and the person.
“Einstein played the violin from the age of six; it was not just a hobby, it helped him work on the boxes of physics. However our brains are not necessarily designed in such a future way.”
On Wednesday, Ed Sheeran praised the government’s move to overhaul the teaching of music in state schools in England, by signing an open letter to Jair Starmer in January.