Cultural organisations have expressed concern that the government’s white paper, The Importance of Teaching, does not give enough weight to arts and culture, particularly museum education.
Museums are mentioned only once in the 81-page document, which reads: “We have commissioned Darren Henley to explore how we can improve music education and have more children learning to play an instrument. The Henley Review will also inform our broader approach to cultural education.
“We will support access to live theatre, encourage the appreciation of the visual and plastic arts, and work with our great museums and libraries to support their educational mission.”
Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, said: “It is hard to know how the Henley Report will inform the relationship between museums and schools because the brief is to look at schools’ music services.
“It is also going to be difficult to match existing levels of interaction between museums and schools with the loss of Creative Partnerships, strategic commissioning and budget cuts throughout museums and local authorities.”
Joe Hallgarten, director of cultural programmes for Creativity, Culture & Education, agreed that “there seems to be a heavy emphasis on music education”.
A spokeswoman for the Cultural Learning Alliance (CLA) pointed to the impact of cuts to Arts Council England and local authority funding on the capacity of cultural organisations to deliver cultural learning.
She said there was concern that the contribution of cultural learning to social and educational outcomes had not been fully understood or explored by the government.
The CLA is currently working on a national strategy for cultural learning. The white paper follows the government’s rejection of a series of recommendations by the Education Select Committee in a report published in April, which called for additional funding for learning outside the classroom, at least one out-of-school visit per pupil each term, and an explicit policy for each school on learning outside the classroom.
