Out-of-School Video Project
What does it signal for Arts Council England?
Since it finally emerged two weeks ago, there has been much debate over Darren Henley’s review, commissioned by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey with the powerful backing of Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove.
Henley made many praiseworthy recommendations, most of marginal impact individually but together setting the tone for reasserting the status of culture subjects in education. If Henley’s definition of ‘Culture’ is broad, from archeology to cinemas, he is narrow in his use of the term ‘Education’ rather than ‘Learning’. The review refers to statutory education at age 4 to 19, particularly focused on schools and their cultural partners. While ‘entitlement’, ‘inclusion’ and ‘diversity’, keywords of the last decade, unsurprisingly do not appear; Henley makes a spirited case for a universal minimum level of Cultural Education for children and young people of all backgrounds and all areas of England. As cultural initiatives seep away, particularly in regions remote from the capital, a ‘low-water mark’ for what young people can expect to experience would be extremely welcome. It seems doubtful however that the current government would adopt this as a measurable objective.
Of the review’s 24 headline recommendations, two in particular could set the course for the next decade. They are the proposal for a new Cultural Education Partnership Group (CEPG), and the recommendation for all students to study at least one cultural subject to age 16.
Cultural Education Partnership Group
The CEPG will bring the arms-length bodies, Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the British Film Institute, the Big Lottery Fund and English Heritage, together as a single strategic commissioning fund for the Cultural Education money in England. Such a partnership will potentially iron-out the current geographical unevenness in funding distribution across England but it is unclear what the implications are for learning in arts subjects – would Arts Council England funds be spread more thinly to cover, for instance, museums, architecture and design? I am also concerned for the possible impact of the CEPG on arts organisations outside the Arts Council England’s National Portfolio. Smaller arts organisations in particular, often most creative and experimental in their Cultural Learning work, efficient in their use of resources and crucial to the sustainability of the arts ecology, can be less well placed to benefit from longer-term strategic commissioning.
All students to study at least one cultural subject to age 16
One of Darren Henley’s proposals is for at least one cultural subject (aside from English and History) to be mandatory up to GCSE level, possibly by creating a sixth grouping of subjects included in the English Baccalaureate, i.e. art and design, dance, drama, design technology, film studies and music. He also cites the interim indications from the expert panel of the currently ongoing National Curriculum Review that art & design and music should become statutory subjects to Key Stage 4 (age 16). This would be fantastic news if adopted by the government but it will require significant funding and planning, not least of teacher training places for art & design, reversing the current decline in course places for this subject.
We await further announcements from the DCMS and DfE. Meanwhile, the initiatives announced so far have committed relatively modest levels of funding and benefit small numbers of young people. At times Henley flashes a glimpse of real inspiration for what could be done with serious committment. For instance when he dreams of longitudinal evaluation, citing the US National Education Educational Survey which followed 25,000 students over ten years. Such a study in the UK would be a powerful tool in raising the quality of Cultural Education and investing resources wisely.
