'Keep arts at heart of curriculum' says Nicholas Serota
This article that Paula posted in a blog has got me feeling extremely concerned.
It feels like the arts have only just got a decent footing within schools, and it now seems they are being pushed out again! The article strongly suggests that the arts are going to be pushed out of the National Curriculum altogether, which I feel is going to have a massively detrimental effect on childrens education. As Nicholas Serota (director of the Tate art galleries) is quoted,
"We know that there is a great body of evidence now that has been gathered over the past 20 or 30 years which demonstrates that, where you have schools which give time to cultural learning, there is benefit both in that sphere and also to the other disciplines,"
"By making art a part of the national curriculum, we give the next generation of artists, designers, engineers, creators and cultural leaders the opportunity to develop the imagination and skills that are vital to our future." Nicolas Serota (2012)I followed a link from this article to another which went into more detail about the new English Baccalaureate Certificate system which will be coming into force over the next few years:
GCSEs replaced by 'English Bac' in key subjects
It seems like such a huge step backwards!! In this new system, there will be no course work, no modular assessment, just one exam at the end. Talk about pressure!! This is not focusing on the process of learning!
"we can have truly rigorous exams, competitive with the best in the world, and make opportunity more equal for every child" (Michael Gove, 2012)This makes no sense! How does scrapping coursework and modular assessments make opportunity equal for every child!? Some children will crumble under the pressure of the final exam, regardless of how well they have grasped the subject or how great their classroom work is. It doesn't leave room for different ways of understanding and learning, how is this a step forward?
3 comments:
I too am totally baffled by this new (or old) decision. Working with SEN children, I can only foresee children having no chance of obtaining any qualifciations. I myself had to go through the old GCSE exam style where I did one final exam. This type of exam wasn't really a problem for me but I have come accross many pupils who suffer from extreme anxiety such as panic attacks, a pupil whose father had a heart attack on the day of his exam and other such situations which mean you may be having a 'bad day'. This does not portray the individuals true potential. It just seems that Gove is set on making education as difficult as possible be it through exams or cuts or enormous fees.
I agree, don't understand who voted for this new system to come into place, surely the majority of teachers feel the same as us. Why get rid of the GCSE if it is working- is there even a problem with the current system??
It is thought to be too easy Alicia. That is, too many pupils are achieving good results. However, Ofsted come in to schools and shut them down if they are producing bad results so what else would they expect? I don't understand it at all! It's like they want pupil's results to go down to prove that GCSEs aren't getting easier, yet shut down schools that are getting bad results.Obviousl you will left with pupil's producing good results. Madness!
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