EBacc: Expressive Arts Subjects

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2016 Westminster Hall

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered e-petition 111731 relating to expressive arts subjects and the EBacc.

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Buck. As a member of the Petitions Committee and the Select Committee on Education, I am delighted to introduce the debate. The title of the petition, which was signed by more than 102,000 people, is “Include expressive arts subjects in the Ebacc”. It reads:

“The English Baccalaureate, or Ebacc, is a standard which maintains that English, maths, science, a language and a humanity define a good education. The exclusion of art, music, drama and other expressive subjects is limiting, short sighted and cruel. Creativity must be at the heart of our schools.

Sec of State for Education, Nicky Morgan, states that she wants 90% of sixteen year olds to have The Ebacc. Numeracy and literacy are certainly key to future success in life, but it is wrong to say that the arts are not worthy of inclusion in a measure used to grade a school’s success. Our children deserve a broad, creative education, but the Ebacc is giving rise to massive declines in numbers of students able to choose arts subjects, at a time when the CBI demands more creative people.”

The petition was created by Richard Wilson, a drama teacher from Essex, because, as he explained, the

“marginalisation and downgrading of the arts and other creative subjects in state education is a topic which demands a debate in the Houses of Parliament.”

So here we are. Indeed, he says:

“The EBacc will have a dreadful impact on the arts in our schools.”

Mr Wilson’s petition was able to achieve the level of support it has thanks to the work of the Bacc for the Future campaign, and I know a number of people are here today, paying close attention to the debate. There is support from more than 200 organisations from the UK’s cultural sector, including the Design Council, the Creative Industries Federation, the BRIT school, Aardman Animations, the north-east’s Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, trade unions, orchestras, museums, art galleries, theatres, performing arts colleges, festivals, creative industry businesses and many more—all united in the belief that the Government’s education policies and specifically the EBacc risk profoundly damaging Britain’s rich and vibrant history of creativity and cultural achievement.

Those concerns have been passionately reflected in the countless emails and briefing notes that I have received ahead of this afternoon’s debate, and the responses I received to last week’s EBacc Twitter debate, which was kindly facilitated by the Petitions Committee Clerks. I have no doubt that everyone here today shares that passion and recognises the intrinsic value of the arts and arts education for society and the enjoyment and fulfilment they bring to children and adults in all walks of life across the UK. Of course, the opportunity of a creative education must be available to all—a view that appeared to be shared by the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he wrote earlier this year:

“everyone—no matter who they are or where they come from—should have an equal opportunity to fulfil their creative potential.”

In a speech launching the Government’s life chances strategy in January, the Prime Minister pledged that

“culture should never be a privilege; it is a birthright that belongs to us all. But the truth is there are too many young people in Britain who are culturally disenfranchised. And if you believe in publicly funded arts and culture—as I passionately do—then you must also believe in equality of access, attracting all and welcoming all.”

The White Paper published in March by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport could not have been clearer, making a commitment that

“All state-funded schools must provide a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils. Experiencing and understanding culture is integral to education. Knowledge of great works of art, great music, great literature and great plays, and of their creators, is an important part of every child’s education. So too is being taught to play a musical instrument, to draw, paint and make things, to dance and to act. These can all lead to lifelong passions and can open doors to careers in the cultural and creative sectors and elsewhere. Without this knowledge and these skills, many children from disadvantaged backgrounds are excluded from meaningful engagement with their culture and heritage.”

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

Does the hon. Lady accept that those subjects are widely available at the moment, with the EBacc in place, and that the premise of the EBacc is to provide a core of academically rigorous subjects? Perhaps our attention should be on the evolution of the EBacc to include such subjects as design and technology, and on enhancing students’ career potential, rather than on including in it every subject currently offered in the curriculum.

[Catherine McKinnell]

It is helpful that the hon. Lady suggests a solution to the concerns I have outlined. The reality for the organisations, teachers and schools that have expressed concern to me in great numbers is that the take-up of the subjects she mentions is already starting to decline, which is of huge concern. I appreciate that she is trying to make constructive comments, but she cannot wipe out the fact that the concerns are real and must be addressed. I hope that the Minister is listening not only to me but to constructive solutions that may be offered.

[Mr David Lammy (Tottenham) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is incredibly insulting to the country’s music and art teachers to give the impression that the subjects in question are not academically rigorous? Does she know how hard it is to pass music and art?

[Catherine McKinnell]

My right hon. Friend makes a key point, which a number of people have put to me in strong terms; he puts it very well. I do know how hard it is to pass those subjects, partly from personal experience and that of people close to me, but partly from the people, including teachers, I spoke to ahead the debate. Frankly, they feel insulted by the tone of the Government’s proposals.

We are all aware that the education sector is going through a period of significant and seemingly never-ending change and reform, of which the EBacc is a part. It was initially planned as a formal certificate, but that idea was dropped. It was first applied by the coalition Government in 2010 as a

“headline measure of secondary school performance”.

It judges all schools according to the number of pupils who have achieved grades A* to C across English language and literature, maths, double science, history or geography and a language—subjects that, when studied at A-level, are defined by the Russell Group of universities as “facilitating”. In other words, they are the A-levels most commonly required for entry to the UK’s leading universities, which are attended by 11% of young people.

Following a consultation in November 2015, the Government now want at least 90% of students in mainstream secondary schools to be entered for the EBacc by 2020, thereby taking up at least seven of those students’ GCSE options. The Bacc for the Future campaign has raised concerns that, given that the average number of full GCSEs taken by pupils is 8.1,

“a compulsory EBacc will leave little, if any, room for rigorous, challenging creative subjects which have been approved by the Government’s own Wolf Review of vocational education.”

Nobody doubts the importance of young people’s gaining a solid foundation in English, maths and science; that is why those subjects have always been compulsory. However, the petition objects to the exclusion from the EBacc all creative, artistic and technical subjects, which sends a clear message to young people, parents, teachers, school leaders and society at large about the value that the Government place on subjects that help to create expressive, communicative, self-confident and well rounded human beings. For many young people, those may be the only subjects at which they excel.

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a superb speech. Is it not ironic that what we need for the economy of the future and the digital revolution of the future is the breaking down of rather traditional arts and science silos? Creative subjects provide exactly the kind of skills and training that will let young people succeed. We would be mad to strip those subjects out of our education system, not least because we are rather good at them.

[Catherine McKinnell]

My hon. Friend makes a valid and important point.

The question that has been asked over and over again is: why? I hope the Minister will answer that question today. Why would the Government want to limit opportunities to study subjects such as design and technology? The Edge Foundation commented during last week’s EBacc Twitter debate:

“D&T teaches young people how things are designed, developed, made and improved”.

As the National Society for Education in Art and Design succinctly put it,

“In life ‘knowing how’ is just as important as ‘knowing that’.”

I am quite sure that the Minister will pledge in his response that the Government have no intention of restricting access to these subjects. Indeed, in the culture White Paper, the Education Secretary declared that

“Access to cultural education is a matter of social justice.”

However, warm words are simply not enough. What does the Minister really think will be the result of forcing all schools, which are already hard-pressed, to enter 90% of their pupils for the EBacc? A headteacher and member of the organisation SCHOOLS NorthEast has commented that the EBacc creates a “false hierarchy of subjects”. The National Association of Head Teachers has remarked:

“Given the pressures created by the Ebacc, there will be precious little time left for subjects outside the core.”

[The Minister for Schools (Mr Nick Gibb)]

I did not intend to intervene, but I will do so on that point. The hon. Lady referred to a hierarchy of English, maths and science, so there is already a hierarchy. Does she want to remove that element of compulsion up to 16 in order to eradicate that hierarchy?

[Catherine McKinnell]

I thank the Minister for intervening simply because it shows that he is listening to the debate, which is good. However, those were not my words; they were the words of a SCHOOLS NorthEast member, who has said that the EBacc creates not a hierarchy but a false hierarchy. I said at the beginning of my comments that nobody questions the importance of maths, English and science as a foundation of learning, but the restrictive nature of the EBacc leaves no room for artistic subjects. I am pleased the Minister is listening so carefully.

Who could blame headteachers for wanting to focus all of their schools’ energies on delivering the EBacc’s results, whether or not the subjects studied are appropriate for their pupils? They hear repeated warnings, including in the Conservative party manifesto, that their school will not be able to receive the highest rating from Ofsted if they do not meet their EBacc targets. I know the Education Secretary believes that those expressing concerns about the EBacc are “adults writing off children”, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are seeing a Government restricting young people’s life chances by forcing them to focus on a narrow and restrictively defined group of subjects. They are concerned about a Government reducing the ability of schools such as Walbottle Campus in my constituency to deliver a balanced and creative curriculum tailored to each young person’s talents and needs and focusing on the overall experience and wellbeing of their students. Of course, this is a Government who are determined to impose a one-size-fits-all approach to GCSEs at a time when they claim to be introducing autonomy for all headteachers and local schools through academisation.

The Schools Minister has repeatedly claimed that there is no evidence the EBacc is having a negative impact on the arts, substantiating that with the argument that in the past five years there has been a 3% increase in the uptake of at least one arts subject. We may well hear that again in his response today, but the Bacc for the Future campaign has stated that those figures are flawed as they omit various BTEC qualifications, include early entry AS-levels and neglect design and technology, in which exam entries dropped by a staggering 19,000 last year. Indeed, new figures produced just last month show that entries for GCSEs in arts subjects have fallen by 46,000 this year compared with last year—a loss five times the one in 2015, when candidate numbers for arts subjects fell by 9,000. The ArtsProfessional website reported:

“The falling take-up of arts GCSEs has already started to spill over into A levels. There were 4,300 fewer candidates for A level arts subjects this year—a decline three times bigger than the 1,500 recorded in 2015.”

Of most concern is the claim by the Creative Industries Federation that schools with a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals have been more than twice as likely to withdraw arts subjects as those with a low proportion. So much for access to cultural education being a matter of social justice. Of course, that decline is taking place even before the EBacc has become compulsory in our schools. The chief executive of the Creative Industries Federation said that the decline is

“alarming and further confirms a longstanding trend that EBacc is clearly exacerbating.”

He went on to comment:

“For a sector already suffering skills shortages, undervaluing and excluding creative subjects has major ramifications. The impact will not only be felt by the creative economy but also by other sectors, such as engineering, that desperately need some of the same skills. Although it is possible to take up jobs in our sector without exam results in creative subjects, it is much harder and potentially more expensive to do so, which obviously further diminishes the chances for young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds. There are many people who are not academic in a traditional sense and who would struggle with the EBacc yet are thriving and excelling today in careers from fashion to video games. If creative subjects are increasingly painted as an ‘optional extra’ to a more traditional core curriculum, these are some of the people who could be lost in future.”

As the Chancellor highlighted in his 2015 autumn statement,

“Britain is not just brilliant at science; it is brilliant at culture too. One of the best investments we can make as a nation is in our extraordinary arts, museums, heritage, media and sport.”—[Official Report, 25 November 2015; Vol. 602, c. 1368.]

I agree. The Government’s own figures show that the creative industries are one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK economy, worth more than £84 billion a year or nearly £10 million an hour. According to the CBI, the creative industries employ some 2 million people, with around one in 11 jobs found in the creative economy. Critically, as the Creative Industries Federation highlights, those roles are broadly protected from automation.

This is an area in which Great Britain genuinely leads the world but one in which we have a significant skills shortage, so much so that a range of roles in the creative industries are included in the Home Office’s tier 2 visa shortage occupation list—for example, graphic designers, programmers, software developers, artists, producers, directors, dancers and skilled musicians. Nevertheless, this is the time when the Department for Education is determined to force schools down a path that will inevitably lead to even fewer British students taking up the subjects and developing the skills that the UK’s burgeoning creative industries desperately need. As has been made clear by Artists’ Union England—a relatively new trade union established by my constituent Theresa Easton—

“The new EBacc proposals will leave the creative sector without a future workforce.”

It is absolutely nonsensical.

Of particular concern is the evidence highlighted by the Creative Industries Federation’s higher and further education working group, which shows that many of the courses that need students to have studied art and design at school level also have high levels of students with special educational needs. The group cites remarks by the British Dyslexia Association that

“People with dyslexia are frequently successful in entrepreneurship, sales, art and design, entertainment, acting, engineering, architecture, I.T., computer animation, technical and practical trades and professions.”

It also cites the fact that more than 4,000 students at the University of the Arts London are disabled and/or dyslexic—24%, compared with just 4.7% at Cambridge University.

[Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent introductory speech, which I congratulate her on. I am very pleased that she mentioned special educational needs and dyslexia. As she knows, my son Joseph, who is now 22, is severely dyslexic. He will graduate in the next few weeks from Teesside University with a degree in games art and design; I am thrilled. He could not read until the age of 14 and he would never have passed the EBacc, but he is creative. His brain works in a different way, and he was able to go on through equivalencies to now get a degree.

[Catherine McKinnell]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, because I know that she not only cares passionately about how well her own son does and has done, but cares and campaigns passionately for all children with special educational needs. This is an issue that the Minister must sit up and take notice of because by insisting on the implementation of EBacc for all or almost all pupils, the Government seriously risk restricting the life chances and future career opportunities of those with special educational needs. Not only does that do those young people out of their potential creative futures, but it does our creative industries out of their special skills and contributions.

Finally, I want to touch on concerns that have been raised with me about the EBacc by Studio West—a studio school established in West Denton in my constituency in September 2014. As Studio West has highlighted, studio schools have been established to bridge the gap between the skills and knowledge that young people need for success and those that the current education system provides. By design, a studio school’s curriculum embraces enterprise initiatives, innovative project-based and work-related approaches to learning and an emphasis on employable skills. Studio West feels very strongly that the EBacc judgment made of all secondary schools is too restrictive if studio schools are to fully embrace their ethos.

[Mr Gibb]

The hon. Lady is making a very good speech, and I wanted to intervene in order to demonstrate that I am still listening to her wise words. The EBacc consultation makes the point that there is no proposal—certainly set out in the consultation—to include studio schools in the requirement for the EBacc.

[Catherine McKinnell]

I thank the Minister for that intervention because I have already written to him about this issue and have been awaiting a response. I hope that we will receive a fuller response in his reply to the debate, or indeed in writing.

In conclusion, I introduced my remarks this afternoon by talking about the intrinsic value of the arts and arts education for individuals and wider society. Those points are echoed by Studio West in my constituency:

“Expressive arts subjects allow for intensive focus on essential transferable skills such as problem solving, working collaboratively, interpretive analysis, empathy, self-confidence, discipline, dedication and mastery, to name but a few.”

I was contacted by a large number of individuals and organisations ahead of this debate and I am conscious that I have not been able to mention them all; however, there is one that I want to make particular reference to in conclusion this afternoon. Last week, I received an email from Emma, an experienced secondary school teacher in West Yorkshire. Emma got in touch to ask me to raise her concerns about the EBacc not because I am her MP, but because her voice in Parliament was brutally taken away by the shocking death of our late friend and colleague, Jo Cox—sorry; it’s hard to speak about this—whom she had previously asked to attend this debate.

At a time when we know that there has been a significant increase in mental health issues in young people and at a time when we need more, not less, empathy, tolerance and co-operation in society, I strongly urge the Government to look again and consider the impact that the EBacc is having on the subjects that can help us to achieve that.

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[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

I think this is the first time that I have spoken under your chairmanship, Ms Buck. It is a pleasure to do so.

There have been some excellent speeches so far, and I agree with everyone who has made the case for the importance of arts education and for the need for us to continue to value that education. The narrowing of focus about what constitutes a valid qualification concerns me across the board. Obviously, we are here today to discuss arts education, but we have also seen, for example, life and environmental sciences being scrapped at GCSE and A-level. That seems nonsensical to me, because the best way of getting children interested in science is to link it to their natural environment, to issues such as climate change, and to what they see all around them.

As we have heard, participation in creative subjects and gaining a qualification in them are immensely rewarding for pupils, particularly those pupils who struggle to excel academically. I was talking to a number of senior educationalists at the weekend; we are fortunate in Bristol that several of our new councillors have a background in education in cities such as Bristol and Leicester, which have high levels of deprivation and much ethnic diversity. They could not stress enough how important arts subjects are for some pupils who will never be very good at English, maths or other traditional subjects; the arts get those pupils through the doors of schools. Headteachers have said that to me as well.

[Mr Christopher Chope in the Chair]

The fact is that all the secondary schools in my constituency were rebuilt under the last Labour Government, through the Building Schools for the Future programme, so they have music studios, art rooms and sprung dancefloors that the children can use not only during school hours but after school as well. The arts get children through the door of the school, and if that means they then enjoy the school experience, feel more confident and make friends with other pupils, they are much more likely to thrive in the academic subjects as well.

[Catherine McKinnell]

My hon. Friend makes a valid point. It reminds me of when I attended a local school’s opening of its sport centre to the community. Alan Shearer, who was a former pupil, spoke passionately about the difference that having sport—football in particular—available at school made to him, and how that was the only reason he went to school. He got his maths, and he got his English, but it was a sport that brought him through the door. The arts too can be a driver for young people to come to school and enjoy the experience.

[Kerry McCarthy]

Absolutely, and that is certainly the case with sports in Bristol’s schools as well. Some Conservative Members for neighbouring constituencies are keen on the idea that we take education more seriously, that we should all learn Latin and history—a few years ago one of them wrote about “joke GCSEs”. In a city like Bristol, where 40% of the jobs are in the creative sector, it is a running joke that if you do a Mickey Mouse degree you end up with a job at Aardman and win an Oscar. That is certainly not something we should sneer at.

We also have the BBC’s natural history unit, which combines learning about natural history and the life and environmental sciences with learning the sort of skills that could lead to someone being one of the amazing cameramen who manage to film things that no one has ever caught on film before. Studying these subjects is not something that people do just for their self-fulfilment, although it is important on that front; it is very much part of getting a job and thriving when they leave school.

MPs have been sent a useful briefing by an organisation called MillionPlus for Thursday’s Backbench Business debate on creative industries and the economy—we seem to have several debates about the creative sector this week. The briefing focuses on the role of universities in supporting the creative sector, pointing out, as has been said, that the sector is worth £84.1 billion to the UK economy and is one of its fastest growing areas, providing 2.8 million jobs. MillionPlus says that 70% of people in creative occupations are university educated, but that numbers

“studying many creative subjects at school and university are falling and the talent pool will inevitably decrease”.

It points to the potential sidelining of creative subjects in schools and expresses concern about the narrative that has built up that STEM subjects are somehow far more worthwhile than creative ones. Of course STEM subjects are important, of course our future economic growth depends on people wanting to go into those sectors as well, but one set of subjects should not exclude the other.

MillionPlus’s concern is that with the Department for Education promoting certain “facilitating” subjects that focus on STEM and not on creative courses at GCSE and A-level, as well as the introduction in 2016-17 of the new performance measures based on the eight key subjects, there is a risk that more and more schools will design their curriculums in a way that marginalises creative subjects, as many speakers have already mentioned. We cannot really blame schools if they feel compelled to go down that path. If they are going to be judged on key areas, they do not want to risk being left behind when compared with other schools.

I asked people earlier today on social media if they had any comments on the matter, and one of my constituents got in touch to say that her son was forced to drop all but one arts subject for year 10 because of the league tables for EBacc. She felt that that had very much held him back.

I want to mention two specific areas—I do not want to go over the ground that has already been covered. On music in schools, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that suggests that in some areas fewer than 20% of schools offer music beyond key stage 3 and fewer than 5% offer it at sixth form. There was a meeting of all-party parliamentary groups last week, which I think the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (David Warburton), a relatively near neighbour of mine, attended. I could not attend, but my researcher went along. The case was cited at that meeting of a west London borough where out of 15 state-funded schools with secondary age pupils all but one was rated good or outstanding but only six offered music post-key stage 3 and only two offered it post-key stage 4. Just last week, the music hub there learned that two of the secondary schools, both of which are academies, will offer no music at all from year 7, which is a sad state of affairs.

A representative from the music hub said that the impact of the EBacc changes is that music teachers are being used as flexible cover or are leaving and not being replaced, and that the result will be that music drops out of schools completely. That is also something that people involved in music education in Bristol have said to me—that with that casualisation of the profession we will end up losing the skills pool, because people simply cannot make a living from being brought in for the occasional lesson. The music hub representative at the meeting said that that means

“no music for prize day, school fairs, community events; no school musicals/Christmas concerts. What a joyless experience for our pupils, particularly when we remember that for many music is the only thing that will engage them and develop positive attitudes towards learning.”

Is it not rather disingenuous of the Government to say that music is a compulsory subject for five to 14-year-olds when academies do not have to follow the curriculum? How can the Minister provide real reassurance that music will not drop out of some schools entirely? I look forward to hearing from him on that point.

My last point is about social diversity in the arts, which we have already touched on. The actor Ralf Little, of “The Royle Family” fame, was reported in the papers today as saying that Caroline Aherne, who died at the weekend, showed

“that working-class people can be on TV, being ourselves”,

but that her death

“is a reminder how much she and her writing were, and still are, the exception.”

Julie Walters has said previously that she would not have a chance of making it as a working-class actor if she was starting out today, and there is an ongoing debate about why so many of the up-and-coming names on our stage and screen seem to have been educated at public schools. Last year, 92.1% of jobs in the creative industries were being done by people in the more advantaged socioeconomic groups, a figure that is up 20% since 2011. The well known actor James McAvoy has warned:

“I do care about a government that doesn’t prioritise arts in education. It is one of the first things that if you take it away, it’s a signal that the government doesn’t care about upward mobility any more. Art is one the first things you take away from society if you want to keep them down.”

Given how difficult it is for anyone from a normal background to break into acting these days, is the Minister concerned about the impact the changes might have on social mobility? Factors to consider are the enormous fees for drama and art schools, the need for financial support during the phase when someone is not sure whether they will break through and become a professional, the prevalence of unpaid internship, the effects of arts cuts on outreach programmes, and the increasing prevalence of low pay and no pay in the entertainment industries. I know that the previous Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport was very concerned about the need to increase diversity in the arts—I went with a delegation from Equity to meet him when I was chair of the all-party Performers’ Alliance group. It seems, however, that all the work he was looking to do on increasing diversity, which I hope his successor is now taking up, could be jeopardised if we do not get it right at school level.

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[The Minister for Schools (Mr Nick Gibb)]

It is a delight to be debating under your chairmanship today, Mr Chope. I congratulate the organisers of the petition and the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell) on delivering this important debate. Hon. Members on both sides of the Chamber have made very good speeches.

I share the hon. Lady’s commitment to the arts, and I want to reassure her that the Government share it, too, as demonstrated by the quotation from the Chancellor that she cited. We want to ensure that every child has a high-quality arts education throughout their time at school. Like the right hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy), I was a chorister, and equally angelic, although not in a cathedral but a large parish church— St Edmund’s church in Roundhay in Leeds. I regularly go to the theatre—the Donmar, the National and the Chichester Festival theatre—so I am as passionate as anybody here about the importance of arts education.

We are committed to ensuring that such an education is not the preserve of the elite, but the entitlement of every single child. That concern was also raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (David Warburton) in his excellent and well informed speech. It is for that reason that, in maintained schools, music, art and design are compulsory in key stages 1, 2 and 3 of the national curriculum—between the ages of five and 14. This debate is not about all those years of education; it is about just two years after the end of key stage 3. Pupils must also be taught drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the PE curriculum. Maintained schools also have a duty to offer key stage 4 pupils the chance to study an arts subject if they wish.

We have heard concerns today about the impact of the EBacc. It is important to set out why we are so committed to ensuring that the vast majority of pupils take the core academic curriculum subjects that the EBacc combination provides. Every child deserves to leave school fully literate and numerate, with an understanding of the history, geography and science of the world they inhabit, and a grasp of a language other than their own. Yet in 2010, many pupils—often those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds—were denied an education in that academic core. Only 31% of pupils took a GCSE in history and only 26% took a GCSE in geography. Only 43% took a foreign language GCSE—down from 76% in 2000. A flight away from a core academic curriculum was taking place, and the Government had to act.

In 2010, we announced the EBacc as a measure for the school performance tables. The EBacc measures the number of pupils entered for and achieving good GCSEs in a core of academic subjects: English, maths, science, geography or history, and a language. The success of the EBacc so far is clear. The proportion of pupils entering the EBacc combination has risen from just 22% in 2011 to 39% in 2015. Hon. Members talk about arts subjects as an add-on to that core academic curriculum, but only 22% took that core academic curriculum in 2011, and we reached only 39% in 2015.

Schools have made progress, but there is still further to go, not least because pupils who are eligible for free school meals are almost half as likely to be entered for the EBacc as those who are not. It cannot be right that where a child goes to school or the wealth of their parents determines whether they study the core subjects that will help them succeed in higher education and the job market. I wonder how many hon. Members in this debate have GCSEs or—more likely, given our ages— O-levels in all the EBacc subjects.

Last year, we set out our ambition for 90% of pupils in mainstream secondary schools to enter the EBacc. We are clear that the vast majority of pupils deserve to benefit from studying a core academic curriculum up to the age of 16. We will not apologise for having high aspirations for every child, but I would like to reassure hon. Members that that core academic curriculum can safely sit alongside a high-quality education in the arts. We have never said that pupils should study the EBacc subjects and nothing else. All schools will continue to offer a wide range of options outside the EBacc so pupils have the opportunity to study subjects that reflect their individual interests and strengths. The EBacc is limited in size so there is flexibility for pupils to take additional subjects of their choosing.

[Catherine McKinnell]

One of the key questions that people continue to ask is why the Government have differentiated between history and geography, and some of the arts subjects. Why are those subjects not simply included in the EBacc options? If they are run alongside the EBacc, as the Minister put it, students undertaking the EBacc who do not take subjects in addition to the eight will not get the opportunity to study those arts subjects.

[Mr Gibb]

Many subjects are not included in the EBacc, including religious studies, and a range of very important, high-quality vocational subjects such as economics, and music and art.

[Catherine McKinnell]

Will the Minister explain why?

[Mr Gibb]

Yes, I will come to that.

The issue is that English, maths and science are compulsory until the age of 16. Until 2004, a foreign language was compulsory until the age of 16. It would not be hugely controversial to reintroduce such a compulsion, although we are not doing that. What we are really talking about is one subject—a humanity—for two years in our schools at key stage 4. All this debate seems to be about is whether children should continue to study either history or geography—one subject out of the whole school curriculum—for another two years at school. This debate boils down to that and whether we think it is important for students to study a language.

Our view is that it is important that young people at secondary school study history and geography at key stage 3, take both subjects seriously, and take one or other of them through to GCSE. We took that policy decision because we believe it is important that young people learn the skills of writing essays and that they engage in understanding that part of our history. It is a tiny part of the curriculum. We were also determined to keep the EBacc small to enable pupils to study the arts, a second foreign language or vocational subjects in the one, two or three extra slots that the EBacc allows.

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[Mr Gibb]

No. Those figures are a consequence of the EBacc measure, which was taken seriously by schools—we have seen an increase in the EBacc performance measure. That is what we have seen—no fall in the figures. My assertion is that there will be no significant fall in the arts subjects as a consequence of the EBacc figure of 90%. The schools cited during the debate—the ones that have the strongest arts subjects, the choirs and the music GCSEs—are all doing the EBacc subjects right through to GCSE. They are not neglecting the arts. In fact, I assert that the schools that have the strongest arts education are also the ones that get the highest level in the EBacc performance measure.

[Catherine McKinnell]

Will the Minister acknowledge some disagreement about the statistics, the widespread concern that there is already a significant drop in the take-up of subjects and huge concern about a further drop in future take-up? The Government cannot simply reverse this easily, because we will have lost the teachers and the experts in the profession as a result of the drop in numbers. They would be difficult to recover. Will the Minister take on board those concerns and come back with a proper response about what the Government will do to take them into account?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gibb]

Partly—that will do for now. We believe that for too long pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds have been dismissed, missing out on the core academic curriculum that is taken as a given by their more affluent peers. Our EBacc policy will ensure that that is no longer the case.

[Catherine McKinnell]

I have been listening carefully to the Minister. I appreciate the argument he is making and the Government’s aspiration, but does he recognise that some young people will struggle with maths and English and the EBacc’s core curriculum? As my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) set out, including a broader range of optional subjects as part of that could keep some of those young people on board by allowing them to take more artistic, expressive and creative subjects, which help them to stay interested and focused on the core subjects in which they also need to achieve. By closing down those opportunities, the Government could be undermining the ability of more students to achieve the EBacc standard.

[Mr Gibb]

I could not agree more; we do not disagree on this. That is why those creative arts subjects remain compulsory from five right through to 14 and as options that schools are required to offer between the ages of 14 and 16.

We have kept the EBacc deliberately small to enable pupils to have time to study creative subjects. The pupils to whom the hon. Lady refers can and should be encouraged to take those subjects, to ensure that they are engaged. However, we also believe it is important for all young people to study a foreign language and to take sciences, maths, English and at least one humanity from the ages of 14 to 16. We believe they should be able to do that as a core, basic part of their education, in addition to arts subjects that they might want to study between the ages of 14 and 16.

I hope hon. Members are assured that in providing all pupils with a core academic education that will help them to succeed we are in no way preventing pupils from studying the arts. The EBacc is a powerful reform that has already led to more than 91,000 more pupils studying a core academic curriculum at GCSE in 2015 than in 2011. This vital component of the Government’s move towards more rigour in the classroom should not be diluted due to the idea that the arts and a core academic curriculum cannot co-exist within schools. They should, they can and they do.

[Catherine McKinnell]

Thank you for your patience throughout this debate, Mr Chope. I recently enjoyed a show called “Big and Small” at the Northern Stage in Newcastle. It was produced as a collaboration between a local high school and feeder primary schools. The younger children were selected on the basis that they were a little bit shy. The high school students had an interest in drama and creative arts, and they worked with the children—from creating the ideas to the script, the production and the costumes—to produce their own show, all in a matter of seven weeks. It was clear from seeing the show and meeting the children what a difference that experience made to both the older students and the young children in terms of their confidence, team building, creativity and self-belief.

For me, that was a very practical but powerful example of the difference that the arts can bring to children and young people’s broader educational experience. While I have listened carefully to the Minister, I feel that the Government’s policy and approach at the moment fundamentally risk undermining the benefits that can come from that experience. Many Members have set out powerfully their arguments for including arts in the core curriculum. At the most fundamental level we need these skills for our economy. If we put off children and young people who can flourish in those areas even though they may struggle in some other ones, the evidence shows that that would be a worrying trend.

It is not just a question of pounds and pence, however. For some young people it can be the difference between coming to school and giving up, between thriving in academia, thriving in creativity, thriving in both—or thriving in neither, if the subjects that young people feel passionate about cannot be undertaken as part of the EBacc. It is not an either/or issue. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy) and my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson) put it, very powerfully, children and young people should be able to choose. The fundamental question of why history and geography are rated differently from some arts subjects and why there is a false hierarchy for those subjects has not been answered.

The Government proclaim a belief in social justice and social mobility, which is hugely important, but that policy and some of the evidence flies in the face of that stated ambition. As MPs we have been through a period of bitter divisiveness in this country; we have been debating the country’s future. Now is the time to come together to reinforce society’s values of diversity, to empower young people to think creatively and inclusively. The drastic reduction in the take-up of arts subjects seems to be a movement in completely the wrong direction. On behalf of everyone who cares about the issue I urge the Government to think again.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered e-petition 111731 relating to expressive arts subjects and the EBacc.