\n<\/p>\n
F<\/span>or years, Britain\u2019s leading cultural figures have warned that substandard arts provision in schools is devaluing the sector and creating an increasingly elite industry. But the government\u2019s proposed shake-up of the national curriculum, which includes scrapping the English baccalaureate (Ebacc), has been met with overwhelming positivity, with one figure saying it could end \u201cthe madness of the past decade\u201d.<\/p>\n On Wednesday the Department for Education said it wanted to boost the creative subjects taken at GCSE as part of its wider changes to England\u2019s national curriculum.<\/p>\n The changes were unveiled in the government\u2019s response to the curriculum and assessment review published this week by Prof Becky Francis, which stated: \u201cThe arts subjects are an entitlement rather than an optional extra and are disciplines in their own right.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>James Graham.<\/span> Photograph: Murdo MacLeod\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The playwright James Graham, who used his MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV festival last year to highlight class inequality in the arts, welcomed the end of \u201cthe madness of the past decade\u201d in which culture subjects had been devalued.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIt\u2019s important now to look to the future and use this as an opportunity to ask what a modern-day arts curriculum should look and feel like for 21st-century kids, and the challenging times they\u2019re growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n The composer Andrew Lloyd Webber said he was pleased the government had acknowledged \u201cwhat some of us have known for years: that arts and music in schools is a fundamental right for young people as part of a successful education\u201d.<\/p>\n But he added: \u201cThere is still no flesh on the bones in the government\u2019s latest announcement. Fundamental questions remain around funding, the structure of the curriculum and, in the case of music, plans to address the chronic shortage of teachers in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n The Turner prize winner Antony Gormley said the \u201cremoval of the shadow of Michael Gove and his Ebacc is to be celebrated\u201d, while the sculptor Anish Kapoor argued that the arts brought \u201ca sense of empathy to our younger citizens \u2013 something which is deeply needed, especially now\u201d.<\/p>\n The number of UK students taking arts subjects has plummeted in recent years, leading to a creativity crisis in state schools. Since 2010, enrolment in arts GCSEs has fallen by 40% and the number of arts teachers has declined by 23%.<\/p>\n Research last year found that a decade ago about half of all A-level students took at least one humanities subject. By 2021-22 that had fallen to 38%, with the proportion taking arts subjects such as music, design and media studies dropping to 24%. The latest GCSE data showed the situation had got even worse.<\/p>\n Beth Steel, who has regularly campaigned for better working-class representation in the cultural sector, said art, music and drama \u201care not extracurricular subjects, they are foundational\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/span>Beth Steel, pictured in 2022, says the move is \u2018such a huge step in the right direction\u2019.<\/span> Photograph: David Levene\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The Nottingham-born playwright said a school trip to the Tate and the National Gallery where she saw Rothko paintings as a 14-year-old was a pivotal moment for her.<\/p>\n \u201cThat visit had a profound effect on me: it was a stepping stone on my path,\u201d she said. \u201cOur government\u2019s decision to scrap the Ebacc and recognise this [issue] is such a huge step in the right direction and is essential for working-class children who may otherwise have no access.\u201d<\/p>\n The curriculum review argues that schools do not have enough time to pursue creative subjects, something several arts leaders said was often raised with them by teachers and others who work in education.<\/p>\n Maria Balshaw, the director of the Tate, said the teachers she welcomed often complained about \u201cnot having space in the curriculum\u201d for the arts. \u201cWe think that the creative subjects are vital to create stronger, more rounded, more resilient individuals and we welcome the review focusing on the idea of the arts and the \u2018enrichment\u2019 they offer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Indhu Rubasingham, the director and co-chief executive of the National Theatre, said that over the past decade she had spoken to drama teachers who had left the profession because their subject had been cut by their schools.<\/p>\n <\/span>Indhu Rubasingham says arts and creativity should be \u2018at the heart of every school\u2019.<\/span> Photograph: David Levene\/The Guardian<\/p>\n She said: \u201cWe\u2019ll do everything we can to support this next stage of work and ensure that the arts and creativity are at the heart of every school around the country. Without it, there is no way that someone like me would be where I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of the shift in focus, the government is proposing changes to performance measures that would encourage take-up of arts GCSEs including music, dance and drama by scrapping the Ebacc suite of subjects.<\/p>\n Abigail Pogson, the new chief executive of the Barbican, called the move a \u201ccritical shift in education\u201d. She said: \u201cI view it as a long-awaited recognition that we must educate our young people as whole, capable humans, not just minds to be trained.\u201d<\/p>\n Alistair Spalding, the artistic director and co-chief executive of Sadler\u2019s Wells, said he was pleased to see a \u201ccommitment to strengthen the curriculum content for dance within PE\u201d. He said he would like to see the recent decline in pupils taking the subject at GCSE and A-level reversed and he called for \u201cinvestment in training to ensure there is a pipeline of teachers and talent in place\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/span>Alex Beard.<\/span> Photograph: Royal Opera House<\/p>\n Alex Beard, the chief executive of the Royal Ballet and Opera, said that in \u201cincreasingly digital, atomised and polarised times, the arts are needed more than ever\u201d to develop critical thinking, empathy and common understanding. He said extending opportunity and access to the arts through the curriculum would also \u201chelp ensure that our art forms reflect the richness and diversity of society\u201d.<\/p>\n The saxophonist and composer YolanDa Brown said: \u201cAs someone who found my voice through a school saxophone, I know first-hand how life-changing great arts education can be. So I welcome any move that puts music and creativity back at the heart of the curriculum, not as an optional extra but as a right for every child.\u201d<\/p>\n Brown emphasised that the proposals must be matched with \u201cproper investment and support for teachers\u201d, including the provision of instruments and rehearsal space. \u201cThe real test will be whether a child in Newcastle has the same access as a child in Hammersmith; whether every school, not just the already well-resourced ones, can offer meaningful creative experiences,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Nadia Fall, the artistic director of the Young Vic, said \u201cputting arts back on the table for pupils\u201d was \u201clong overdue and critical\u201d.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that every pupil will pursue a career in the arts \u2013 though why not? There is a thriving industry out here and we need them. It\u2019s about lighting up all parts of the brain and the person.<\/p>\n \u201cEinstein played the violin from the age of six; it wasn\u2019t just a hobby, it helped him work out complex physics problems. Our education system is all too often forced to put things in boxes, however our brains aren\u2019t necessarily designed that way and nor are the emerging industries of the future.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Ed Sheeran praised the government\u2019s move to overhaul the teaching of music in England\u2019s state schools, having campaigned for change including by signing an open letter to Keir Starmer in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For years, Britain\u2019s leading cultural figures have warned that substandard arts provision in schools is devaluing the sector and creating an increasingly elite industry. But the government\u2019s proposed shake-up of the national curriculum, which includes scrapping the English baccalaureate (Ebacc), has been met with overwhelming positivity, with one figure saying it could end \u201cthe madness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[955,650,5232,14644,2456,5779,3384,807,1294,588,1207,13856],"class_list":{"0":"post-32541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-boost","10":"tag-creative","11":"tag-direction","12":"tag-englands","13":"tag-hail","14":"tag-huge","15":"tag-leaders","16":"tag-move","17":"tag-schools","18":"tag-step","19":"tag-subjects"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}