State Schools: Creative Education
Debate between Lord Bishop of Leeds and Baroness Smith of Malvern(1 week, 1 day ago)
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Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
The noble Baroness is absolutely right to identify that, if we believe that these opportunities are important for children, they must be perhaps even doubly important for children with special educational needs and disabilities. That is why, in trying to mend the special educational needs system we have inherited, we will focus on ensuring that it is inclusive and enables all children—whether in mainstream schools or special schools—to benefit from the things that will support them. We will also find ways—for example, through the music opportunities pilot, launched last autumn—to offer disadvantaged and special educational needs pupils across primary and secondary schools the opportunity to learn to play an instrument of their choice or to learn to sing, with free lessons. We are committed to this, and we will continue to develop it.
The Lord Bishop of Leeds
My Lords, schools feed in to universities, and the number of arts and humanities departments in universities has been in decline. I learned recently—and I speak as a linguist—that if all the students currently training in modern languages at university were to go into teaching, we would still only fund 70% of the language-teaching posts. This is a systemic problem in the arts and humanities. Trying to get PhD funding for arts and humanities is increasingly difficult. Will the Government commit to looking at the whole stream of the educational system in this respect, and not just schools?
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
The right reverend Prelate is absolutely right that, in order to offer opportunities to children, we need to have the qualified teachers in place to deliver them. That is why this Government are committed to recruiting 6,500 more teachers and, of course, have in place the £10,000 tax-free bursary for teachers of art and design and music. It also means that we have to ensure that our higher education institutions receive the support necessary to develop these subjects. That means overall support for the financial sustainability of higher education, alongside the specific funding we make available to support high-cost subjects such as performing and creative arts subjects and media studies. There is also the government grant that we provide for small and specialist providers that are recognised as world-leading, of which, out of the 20 we support, 12 are creative and performing arts providers.
Schools: Absenteeism
Debate between Lord Bishop of Leeds and Baroness Smith of Malvern(3 months ago)
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Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
My noble friend is right that mental health disorders among children are a growing problem. Working alongside the Department of Health and Social Care, we will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, and develop new young futures hubs, which will include access to mental health support workers. Also, we will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, to cut the unacceptably long time that children and young people have to wait for child and adolescent mental health services; that commitment is specific to the Department of Health.
The Lord Bishop of Leeds
My Lords, is there any causal correlation between poverty, particularly in the wake of the cost of living crisis, and absenteeism from school?
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
The right reverend Prelate is right to identify that. The data shows that those on free school meals are far more likely to be absent from schools than those who are not. That is why we need a wide-ranging approach to ensure that we provide both the school action and the home backgrounds that will enable children to attend school and learn. My right honourable friends the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions are working hard on the cross-government childhood poverty strategy precisely to address some of those issues.