The English Baccalaureate. How ironic that, as we negotiate our exit from the EU, our government is so obsessed with a flawed and outdated education system that originated in Napoleonic France.
The Ebacc removes arts subjects from the core school curriculum and its focus on a severely restricted, unimaginative programme means that the creativity of our children is being stifled at exactly the point Britain needs it most. Apart from marginalising music soonly the children of parents who can afford to pay for instruments and tuition will learn to play, the Ebacc flies in the face of evidence on job prospects. A recent report by the consultancy firm PwC found that ten million UK workers were at high risk of being replaced by robots within 15 years: 2.25 million jobs could be lost in wholesale and retailing, 1.2 million in manufacturing, and 1.1 million in admin and support services. Yet very few jobs will disappear in the arts as this sector is endlessly creative and has consistently punched well above its weight on the world stage. Remember Danny Boyle’s terrific 2012 Olympic opening ceremony based around artistic icons such as James Bond, Mr Bean and Sir Simon Rattle? It cost about a third of the previous ceremony in China.
Yet despite the £3.5 billion that the music sector contributes annually to UK plc’s coffers, the government is in denial over introducing music to our children. Apart from being a sustainable career option, what’s not to like about a school subject that develops areas of the brain related to language and reasoning, encourages memory skills, increases hand-to-eye co-ordination, expands creative thinking, builds self-confidence, and has been proven to help children with their other school subjects?
It should be a no-brainer but no brains best sums up our government’s blind eye regarding the Ebacc’s effects. Ofqual confirms a year-on-year fall of 11 per cent in entries for non-Ebacc GSCE subjects. Britain is already behind such Far Eastern countries as China, South Korea and Japan, where playing instruments is the norm instead of the quirky add-on for rich kids it is becoming here. The predominance of Far Eastern instrumentalists in the world’s leading music competitions, conservatoires and concert halls increasingly reflects this. Wonderful though it is to see these countries embracing classical music, should we not feel at least a tinge of sadness that Britain’s adopted education system so comprehensively ignores some of mankind’s finest achievements?
Ebacc to the drawing board, please.
