News

This month we bring you news of Ofsted subject reviews; Teacher Tapp data on music education; Andreas Schleicher of the OECD’s evidence for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Inquiry, including the importance of teacher CPD and the statement ‘art may become more important than maths’; the launch of the Creative Industries Federation Creative Careers programme; Paul Hamlyn Teacher Development Fund evaluation with CPD lessons for the sector; details of the new National Lottery Heritage Fund grants, and a reminder to celebrate World Creativity & Innovation Week.

Ofsted is currently consulting on a new framework for the assessment of schools, early years and further education institutions. This could potentially have a number of implications for arts and cultural learning. This post gives you some of our initial thoughts and tells you how to make yours known.

This month we bring you news of Amanda Spielman talking about the negative impact of a narrow curriculum; the Education Select Committee asking about the negative impact of the EBacc; DfE figures revealing a decline in Arts GCSEs; a Music Education State of the Nation report; the RSA Cultural Learning Evidence Champion’s handbook; and a blog from our Advisory Panel member Pauline Tambling.

In February the Chair of the Education Select Committee, the President of the Royal Society, and the Director General of the CBI all called for sweeping reform to our 14-19 education. Proposals including abolishing GCSEs and external exams at 16, broadening the curriculum and studying arts subjects to 18. Read on for the details.

On 17 January Ofsted published its new draft inspection framework, and accompanying draft inspection handbooks and research commentary.

This month we bring you news of the new Department for Education teacher Recruitment and Retention strategy and new teacher Early Career Framework; the school snapshot survey showing how accountability and funding is really impacting the school curriculum; Nesta school resources on the future of skills and the launch of the Arts Council England 25 year talent pipeline research.

On 18 January the Secretary of State for Culture, Jeremy Wright, made a speech about the importance and value of the arts.

The start of this year has been marked by a flurry of announcements from different members of the Department of Education: from music curriculum reform and the launch of a new Primary Activity Passport, to funds for international visits and an interview about the value of arts degrees. This post gives you the low-down on what our DfE Ministerial Team has been up to.

Welcome to our annual round-up of our activity.

2018 was a cracker of a year. Brexit dominated our political life. The value of creativity and the importance of arts education were nevertheless discussed and written about extensively.

Arts curriculum quality higher at secondary than primary level