Brief 6 - Research Brief - The Guardian

The Secret Teacher: Subjects like art are being sidelined, but they matter.

• Struggling to realise the potential of children whose strengths lie elsewhere. 
• 'There just aren't enough hours in the day'
• Music and languages are sidelined too. 
• Teachers are under pressure to improve outcomes for reading, writing and maths.
• Sats preparation did not support children’s access to a broad and balanced curriculum.
• The proportion of 15- and 16-year-olds taking subjects like music and drama has fallen to its lowest level in 10 years. The study of modern foreign languages at GCSE is also in decline.
• Feversham Primary in Bradford recently made headlines for its focus on teaching the arts, particularly music, which has led to improved pupil outcomes.
• There's an issue of creating a gulf between children whose parents can afford to take them to private music lessons, language clubs or the theatre, and those whose access comes mainly through the school curriculum.
• There are children who struggle to read but come to life on the stage. There are those who just can’t concentrate in other lessons but will sit and paint for an hour without leaving their seat. 
• The trouble is that creativity, increased confidence or a love of the arts aren’t easily measured through standardised tests, data analysis or league tables. 

The arts teach us how to express ourselves – and give us freedom to fail.

• Students are losing the chance to engage in subjects that aren’t all about right and wrong.
• Studying languages and arts subjects taught me that there is much more to life than being good on paper.
• these generations are more anxious than any others about making mistakes and getting things wrong.
• These are the subjects that instil a passion for learning and for life.
• These are the classrooms where it feels safer to fail, where mistakes are welcomed as proof that you’re trying and growing.

British Artists: Ebacc will damage creativity and self expression.

• Young people are being deprived of opportunities for personal development in the fields of self-expression, sociability, imagination and creativity.
• This places one of our largest and most successful global industries at risk, one worth £92bn a year to the UK economy. That is bigger than oil, gas, life sciences, automotive and aeronautics combined.
• The study of creative subjects is in decline in state schools and that entries to arts and creative subjects have fallen to their lowest level in a decade.

How to improve the school results: not extra maths but music, loads of it.

• A Bradford primary school wants the world to know its newfound Sats success is down to giving all children up to six hours of music a week.
• The headteacher, Naveed Idrees, has embedded music, drama and art into every part of the school day, with up to six hours of music a week for every child, and with remarkable results.
• The school bases its method on the Kodály approach, which involves teaching children to learn, subconsciously at first, through playing musical games.
• We want kids to enjoy learning.
• At its most basic, the simple act of game-playing can help children learn social skills such as eye contact and taking turns, while listening to music in an hour-long assembly helps develop their concentration in an age dominated by smartphones and tablet computers.