As performance targets squeeze the arts to the margins of the curriculum, only the most courageous of state schools are continuing to provide the bedrock of ongoing opportunities that were available to previous generations. Pauline Tambling charts the decline.
The number of exams sat in arts subjects was down 10% on last year despite an increase in overall entries, and a faster increase still in EBacc subjects.
The sharp warning from the Association of School and College Leaders comes as A-level data reveals the decline in entries for arts subjects has doubled in speed since last year.
Many children steer well clear of opera, but the artform has allowed primary school pupils in Norfolk to discover new heights of confidence and creativity. Genevieve Raghu explains how.
A new cultural curriculum in Bristol aims to reverse the decline in arts education. Phil Castang explains how the creative arts can enrich the teaching of STEM subjects.
ISM Chief Executive Deborah Annetts told peers the current selection of ‘facilitating subjects’ was not based on evidence and had skewed students’ A level choices.
The newly appointed National Lead for Visual and Performing Arts said she would wait to hear the views of inspectors from across the country before drawing conclusions about the national state of arts education.
Over 100,000 children a year will lose the chance to study the arts when the EBacc becomes compulsory in schools, and the least privileged will lose out most. Is this a conspiracy or a cock-up, asks Liz Hill.
Figures reveal that children living in the most deprived areas and those with lower attainment are the most likely to lose their option to study arts subjects when the English Baccalaureate becomes compulsory.
New research revealing declining exam entries for arts subjects comes as Education Minister Lord Nash denies that arts take-up in schools has slowed since the Government introduced its controversial EBacc policy.
In its long-overdue response to a public consultation on the implementation of the EBacc, the Government has ignored calls for a broader, more balanced curriculum and upped the pressure on mainstream schools to enter more pupils for the prescribed suite of GCSEs.
