‘Urgent action’ needed to improve secondary arts provision, states report

A new report from a cross-party group of Lords has called for a secondary curriculum that has a ‘greater emphasis’ on creative subjects. 

The Requires Improvement: Urgent Change for 11-16 Education report, published by the House of Lords, claims that schools are ill-equipped to provide future generations with creative, technical and design-led subjects. 

A member of the committee that prepared the reports, former Conservative education minister Kenneth Baker, warns that the current system has not substantially changed since 1904, and said: ‘it is a disaster, in my view.’

Findings

The report questioned whether the current education system effectively equips young people with the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to progress to the next phase of their education, and to flourish in the future. 

Part of its findings were that the 11–16 curriculum must be revised to incorporate a ‘greater emphasis on technical, digital and creative areas of study’. 

Evidence here was accumulated from pupils aged 11 to 16, teachers, school leaders, academics, exam boards, trade unions and subject associations, among others. 

Fears that schools prioritise a ‘traditionally academic’ curriculum over creative subjects was borne out in the report’s presentation of a declining GCSE uptake in subjects such as drama. 

Discussing the creation of the report the Committee said: ‘the evidence left us in no doubt of the need for urgent action’. 

Criticising the ‘reprioritisation’ of creative subjects, the report states: ‘Pupils must have genuine, substantive opportunities to study creative and artistic subjects at Key Stages 3 and 4.’

‘This is vital to enable them to develop creative skills and to support a diverse talent pipeline for our creative industries, which are a key sector of the UK economy, and the many other businesses that are crying out for creative skills.’

Action

The recommended long-term reform is split into a number of tangents. The committee suggests the following: 

• Reduce the amount of content in the 11–16 curriculum, particularly in GCSE subjects. 
• Ensure there is an adequate set of literacy and numeracy qualifications available to pupils aged 14 to 16, focused on the application of these skills in real-world contexts. 
• Create additional pathways to support the development of pupils’ digital skills, through the introduction of both a new applied computing GCSE and a digital literacy qualification.
• Initiate a programme of reform aimed at reducing the volume and lowering the stakes of exams taken at age 16.
• Abandon the EBacc school performance measures and review the other measures in the 11–16 phase. The report states: ‘Schools must be given greater flexibility to offer the subjects and qualifications that would best serve their pupils, based on a balanced curriculum including the study of creative, technical and vocational subjects.’

Read the full report here.