Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) creative subjects and (b) a choice of foreign languages are offered to all secondary school students.
All state maintained secondary schools must teach art and design, music and a modern foreign language (MFL) to pupils at Key Stage 3 (pupils aged 11 – 14). Drama is taught as part of the English curriculum and dance is included in PE & sport. At Key Stage 4 (pupils aged 14 – 16), there is a statutory entitlement for every pupil to take an arts subject and a MFL leading to a recognised qualification, if they wish to do so. Academies must teach a broad and balanced curriculum. Ofsted is also currently undertaking a consultation on its proposed new education inspection framework. The consultation runs until 5 April. Under its proposals, inspectors will assess the extent to which schools, including academies, are providing a broad and balanced curriculum for their pupils which helps them acquire knowledge, understanding and skills in all aspects of their education.
Between 2016 and 2020 the Government is spending almost £500 million on a range of arts and cultural education programmes. The Department has also launched a £4.8 million MFL Pedagogy Pilot to support secondary schools in delivering a high quality languages education.