This month we bring you news of important recommendations from the DCMS Select Committee report Changing Lives; the Social Mobility Commission 6th state of the nation report; a new Minister for the Arts; DfE’s call for character education evidence; BBC reports on the value of music education; and a call for more drama in schools.
The Augar Review was published on 30 May. You will probably have already seen the key recommendations it makes:
Today the Russell Group of universities has announced that it is removing the list of facilitating subjects from the guidance it publishes to help young people select the subjects they will study at GCSE and post 16.
Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for School Standards and Anne Milton, Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills were grilled by the Education Select Committee on 3 April on the subject of school and college funding, and how our current education system is preparing children for the 4th industrial revolution.
This month we bring you the latest on the Arts Council England 10 year strategy; a call for an Arts Premium from the RSC Deputy Director; the Creative Opportunity lecture from Sir Nicholas Serota; evidence that reformed GCSEs offer fewer opportunities to develop creativity; the Sutton Trust 2019 teacher survey results; new research on the contribution of arts to the UK Economy; new Early Years resources for the museum and heritage sector; training on using cohort data for the data geeks among you; and upcoming conferences.
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.