EBacc: Expressive Arts Subjects

Jonathan Reynolds Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2016 Westminster Hall

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

Thank you very much, Ms Buck, for calling me to speak, and I also thank the more than 100,000 teachers, parents, arts enthusiasts and many of my own constituents who signed this petition calling for the English Baccalaureate to include an expressive arts option.

There is an old adage used by the business community: “What gets measured, gets done”. Having served as a school governor myself, I remember all too well that key performance indicators, inspection frameworks and exam results inevitably influenced our resources and our priorities. So I agree with the central point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell) in opening this debate that excluding creative subjects from the EBacc will devalue and erode their place in our education system, and subsequently in our society.

The impact of that would be significant and detrimental. It would be detrimental in three main ways—to our economy, our wellbeing and our society. First, let us consider the economic case. As a resident of Greater Manchester, I vividly recall the excitement that all we felt as a city-region when it was announced that the BBC would be relocating to us, with its production facilities moving to MediaCity. I knew what a boost it would be to our growth, our productivity and our young people’s life chances. The BBC pledged to create a

“world-class talent pool in the North”

and in the decade that has followed it genuinely has.

As a result of that move, our schools now place real value on creative learning. Take my own local authority, Tameside, which recently partnered with the Lowry theatre and the National Theatre to introduce pupils to the acclaimed production of “War Horse”. The pupils were encouraged to create their own large-scale puppets, to write their own theatre scripts and ultimately to perform in their own productions. It was inspiring; no child involved in such a project will ever forget it.

The Greater Manchester skills strategy now rightly emphasises the skills required by our creative industries, and Manchester is not alone in doing that. Last week, as a member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, I went on a trip to Soho. I stress that it was not for any personal pleasure; it was to visit some of our creative industries. The companies I saw included the BBH creative agency; Ridley Scott Associates, which is a production company; Smoke & Mirrors, which is a visual effects company, although it does so much more than visual effects; and well-known names such as Google and YouTube, which continue to revolutionise media and creativity. These are exciting, visionary companies at the forefront of the creative industries, which are growth industries. It is clear to me that for the sake of the UK’s economic advantage, our young people need more—not fewer—opportunities to achieve high-quality qualifications in these areas, as well as having a desire to work in them when they start their careers.

Secondly, let us consider the health benefits. Investment in the arts is known to improve wellbeing. Studying creative subjects boosts self-esteem, improves emotional intelligence, and reduces depression and anxiety. Many of these benefits were examined in the Government’s own paper, “Arts for health and wellbeing”, which was published earlier this year. I know from first-hand experience that my son Jack, who has autism, finds literacy and numeracy lessons emotionally exhausting, but he finds music classes exhilarating. So, the arts not only keep our NHS bills down, but they offer employers a labour market of happier, more confident and more emotionally resilient individuals.

Finally, we must consider the societal case for retaining an educational focus on the arts, because the arts enhance our regional identities as well as our economy. So much of what makes Greater Manchester great comes from our culture: from the Bridgewater Hall to the Stone Roses; from L.S. Lowry to Jeanette Winterson; from “Coronation Street” to last week’s wonderful street theatre commemorating the Somme; and our tremendous brass band festivals. Frankly, I could go on, Ms Buck, and fill the whole three hours, such is Manchester’s status as a cultural superpower.

Nationally, too, our arts and culture provide so much of what we celebrate about Britain and Britishness. I think I speak for everyone in Westminster Hall today when I say that none of us wish to keep the debate on the EU referendum going, but for me a particularly resonant case for remaining in the European Union was made not by an economist or a politician but by Axel Scheffler, the children’s illustrator, who said that without the freedoms provided by the EU he and Julia Donaldson would never have created “The Gruffalo”. What a loss that would have been to everyone in the European Union and beyond. Art breaks down demographic and socioeconomic divides: chip away at it and we chip away at so much of what I believe makes our society great.

In conclusion, I fear that the exclusion of arts subjects from the English Baccalaureate represents the latest misguided attack on our education system. It is an attempt to hark back to a bygone era of schooling, in which one size was expected to fit all and only one form of ability was valued, because employment options then were far narrower than—thankfully—they are today. For the sake of our economy, our wellbeing and our enriched society, we must not go down this road, and I move that we include expressive arts in the English Baccalaureate.