What on earth is going on in schools in England? The government seems to have taken leave of its senses. Goya’s painting of Atlas devouring one of his children comes to mind.
In September, Michael Rosen, Carol Ann Duffy and 200 other writers and academics became the latest arts and education professionals to condemn Michael Gove’s curriculum plans.
If they go ahead, they said, “there will be devastating consequences for children’s mental health, for future opportunities and, most importantly, for the quality of childhood itself”.
But what do writers and artists know about learning? Listen to Robin Alexander, who led the Cambridge Review of Primary Education, the most comprehensive and authoritative report on primary schools in four decades.
Just a few weeks ago, he wrote that stratification of the English primary curriculum, with English, science and maths favoured as core subjects at the expense of the arts and humanities, is “educationally inappropriate and pedagogically counter-productive” and condemned it as “neo-Victorian”.
Alexander argues that essential knowledge, skills and experience should be drawn from all subjects. In March, when Alexander and others proposed a broader national curriculum, the government and its allies condemned them as “Marxists hell-bent on destroying schools”.
While English schools are shackled to a maniac, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are developing education systems based on different values. Since devolution, we in Wales now have the opportunity to develop a curriculum based on the needs of children in the 21st century, not the darkest horrors of classical mythology.
In September, Arts in Education in the Schools of Wales, an independent report for the Welsh Government written by Dai Smith, chairman of Arts Council Wales, and Wales’ greatest living historian, was published.
The report is just one example of the resurgence of interest in Wales in the role of culture in achieving positive social change. Others include a review by Kay Andrews of the role of the cultural sector in addressing poverty, and the coordinated child poverty initiatives of Wales’ museum sector.
Smith writes: “That the arts may be the game changer in our educational practice may seem counter-intuitive to some, but the evidence is, I believe, compelling.”
He draws on other countries’ research that highlights the arts’ effectiveness at enabling improved educational, social and economic outcomes, and argues that schools in Wales must do the same.
The key to this transformation, for Smith, is creativity. In a rapidly changing world of creative-led economies, he believes that Wales must develop “a quality education in both creativity of practice and culture as knowledge”.
Some 98% of the Welsh schools surveyed for the report said the arts improved learner engagement, emotional wellbeing and interpersonal skills, while 87% said they helped to reduce the impact of poverty and disadvantage.
Smith points out that Wales has some of the best arts education in the world, and we should capitalise on this advantage in our schools.
Many of us in the cultural sector in Wales strongly endorse the report and hope the government will make the radical changes it recommends when it responds in the new year.
Even if you live and work in England, I urge you to get a copy of this report. It is one of the most well articulated and persuasive statements you will ever read on the value of the arts in education.
Some day, even across England’s icy educational landscape, spring must surely come.
In September, Michael Rosen, Carol Ann Duffy and 200 other writers and academics became the latest arts and education professionals to condemn Michael Gove’s curriculum plans.
If they go ahead, they said, “there will be devastating consequences for children’s mental health, for future opportunities and, most importantly, for the quality of childhood itself”.
But what do writers and artists know about learning? Listen to Robin Alexander, who led the Cambridge Review of Primary Education, the most comprehensive and authoritative report on primary schools in four decades.
Just a few weeks ago, he wrote that stratification of the English primary curriculum, with English, science and maths favoured as core subjects at the expense of the arts and humanities, is “educationally inappropriate and pedagogically counter-productive” and condemned it as “neo-Victorian”.
Alexander argues that essential knowledge, skills and experience should be drawn from all subjects. In March, when Alexander and others proposed a broader national curriculum, the government and its allies condemned them as “Marxists hell-bent on destroying schools”.
While English schools are shackled to a maniac, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are developing education systems based on different values. Since devolution, we in Wales now have the opportunity to develop a curriculum based on the needs of children in the 21st century, not the darkest horrors of classical mythology.
In September, Arts in Education in the Schools of Wales, an independent report for the Welsh Government written by Dai Smith, chairman of Arts Council Wales, and Wales’ greatest living historian, was published.
The report is just one example of the resurgence of interest in Wales in the role of culture in achieving positive social change. Others include a review by Kay Andrews of the role of the cultural sector in addressing poverty, and the coordinated child poverty initiatives of Wales’ museum sector.
Smith writes: “That the arts may be the game changer in our educational practice may seem counter-intuitive to some, but the evidence is, I believe, compelling.”
He draws on other countries’ research that highlights the arts’ effectiveness at enabling improved educational, social and economic outcomes, and argues that schools in Wales must do the same.
The key to this transformation, for Smith, is creativity. In a rapidly changing world of creative-led economies, he believes that Wales must develop “a quality education in both creativity of practice and culture as knowledge”.
Some 98% of the Welsh schools surveyed for the report said the arts improved learner engagement, emotional wellbeing and interpersonal skills, while 87% said they helped to reduce the impact of poverty and disadvantage.
Smith points out that Wales has some of the best arts education in the world, and we should capitalise on this advantage in our schools.
Many of us in the cultural sector in Wales strongly endorse the report and hope the government will make the radical changes it recommends when it responds in the new year.
Even if you live and work in England, I urge you to get a copy of this report. It is one of the most well articulated and persuasive statements you will ever read on the value of the arts in education.
Some day, even across England’s icy educational landscape, spring must surely come.
