English Baccalaureate, but what about the Arts?

The current focus by Michael Gove on introducing a qualification that shows students have gained a certain level of competence in a range of 'core' subjects is, to a degree. understandable. The problem, as I see it, comes on which subject areas are allowed to be sidelined and, as it stands, it looks likely that Music, Art, Drama, Design Technology and RE are in the firing line.

I was under the impression that the education of students in our secondary school was to give them a rounded and complete education to enable them to function fully as thinking, innovative and creative people during their lives.

Whilst I have no real problem with making sure that teachers are engaging their students and that they individually reach their full potential, there are various positive ways this can be achieved, I do believe that if you limit the input of creative, innovative and thinking aspects of any curriculum you will inevitably end up with many students who can recall facts extremely well but will limit the output of well rounded creative, innovative and thinking people who are capable of developing ideas and become highly motivated individuals.

As the country recovers more fully from the recession we will need these rounded individuals to develop businesses, new ideas in all sorts of avenues.

I have argued on many occasions that the Arts subjects should be and equal part of any core curriculum and I would agree that RE and Technology should be there to. It is a shame that at the point Mr Gove wants to introduce a qualification that ensures competence across a students education, he then cuts out some of the fundamentally most important areas required to ensure we get the rounded individuals I thinks he wants to see in this country.

I believe students will have more gain and more to lose and be more engaged and focused on their studies if they are encouraged to see all areas of learning are equally important for their future.

Perhaps the answer lies in some creative and innovative curriculum mapping to see where there are opportunities to link areas of learning in different subjects, who knows, I may come back to this one......