Arts and the EBacc
Eight PHF trustees have written to the Times to express concern about the impact of the new English Baccalaureate on access to the arts in schools:
Sir,
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation, of which we are trustees, has spent around £200m over 25 years on the arts and education, and on issues bearing on social justice. We wish to express our concern about the impact of government policy on access to the arts in school.
Our activities relating to arts education are carefully evaluated and leave us in no doubt of its crucial role in schools. Exposure to the arts can help to unlock potential in young people, developing skills in communication, helping children do better in other subjects, widening interest in school, encouraging participation in other activities and even improving behaviour and overall development. All this in addition to the joy and happiness the arts can bring to their growing lives.
We therefore object strongly to the exclusion of the arts from the reporting provisions of the new English Baccalaureate. For many young people, particularly the most disadvantaged, the only opportunity to gain access to arts education is at school. Without a requirement to report on arts attainment within the EBacc, some schools are ceasing to teach arts subjects. Polling commissioned by the DfE shows that 15% of schools have removed one or more arts subjects from their curriculum as a result of the EBacc. Analysis by the Cultural Learning Alliance shows that this rises to 21% of schools with a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals.
If this Government truly believes in equality of opportunity then it must ensure that the arts have equal status within the EBacc. Failure to do so would amount to the wilful exclusion from the benefits of creative education of many thousands of our least advantaged young people.
Signed
Baroness Estelle Morris
Lord Moser
Baroness Beeban Kidron
Jane Hamlyn
Michael Hamlyn
James Lingwood MBE
Tom Wylie
Tim Bunting
