In a widely trailed statement to the House of Commons, the Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced that the proposed English Baccalaureate Certificate (EBC) for 16-year-olds in England is to be dropped, and instead existing GCSEs will be reformed. However, no clear announcement has been made on the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) – the term given to describe getting good GCSE passes in five academic GCSE subjects, and which controversially excludes arts subjects.
Groups campaigning against the exclusion of the arts from the EBacc have cautiously welcomed today’s statement, in particular the news that, as part of new measures to assess schools, an average point score will be used which will include results in arts subjects.
In his statement to the Commons, Gove said that it will measure “how well pupils perform in at least three subjects from the English Baccalaureate – sciences, history, geography, languages – and Computer Science, and in three additional subjects, whether those are arts subjects, academic subjects or high quality vocational qualifications.”
However, it is not clear if this is an additional assessment of schools on top of that based on results in the core EBacc subjects, which still do not include the arts.
Welcoming Gove’s announcement, Deborah Annetts, coordinator of the Bacc for the Future campaign and Chief Executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, said: “This is good news for children and good news for education… Creative subjects such as art, music, and design and technology need to stay at the heart of education so that we can develop talented youngsters to feed our creative industries and generate growth.
“The voices of the creative industries and education sectors have been listened to, and we welcome this. We will now be looking closely at the new proposed National Curriculum for music and work with the Government to ensure that we have a National Curriculum, GCSEs and A-levels fit for the future.”
Peter Nutkins, Headmaster of Humphrey Perkins School, Loughborough, and a member of the Heads for the Arts group, said: “We welcome the announcement today by Mr Gove that creative subjects are to be included in his new eight subject measure of GCSEs. Creativity is the heart and soul of a school and deserves to have its rightful place in any curriculum that seeks to challenge and inspire a generation… We now look for a clear way forward to ensure the highest standards across the curriculum are delivered over a sensible timescale.”
While many newspapers and the Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Twigg have described Gove’s announcement as a major U-turn, it would seem premature for those in the arts to declare this latest development as a victory. A spokesperson for the Bacc For The Future campaign stressed that although they welcomed Gove’s announcement, it was a first step on the campaign and that the detail of what happens next was far from clear. A muddying of the waters, then, rather than a definitive line in the sand.
Join in the debate on Twitter using the #GCSEs and #EBacc hashtags.
@engagevisualart “Some good news for arts & culture, we must keep the pressure on to make sure they are valued and included.”
@HilaryGresty “Next step to ensure that arts remain a priority for Academies,who can adopt their own curriculum & contribute 2 league tables.”
@Bobandroberta “Ebacc is wrong. Art should be in the curriculum. Gove is undemocratic does not listen.”
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Dame Liz’s speech: Powerful but flawed
Bacc for the future campaign reaches critical point
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