Mention the phrase ‘new initiative’ to most teachers, and you’ll see them visibly recoil. Yet this Wednesday, Ed Balls announced the latest in a seemingly unending line of initiatives that would undoubtedly revolutionise teaching. This time, the target was ‘culture’, a subject hard to define in any circumstances, not least within the prescriptive confines of the standardised National Curriculum.
Each pupil should experience a minimum of five hours per week ‘high culture’, so say the Government, although how this should be delivered is anyone’s guess. The Telegraph seems to imply the introduction of a daily ‘Culture Hour’, presumably in the same vein as the Literacy Hour, would be the Government’s intention. Although a cultural framework similar to the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) would be extremely difficult to construct.
For once, in fact, the DCSF are being very vague about what they expect schools to do. The guidance given on launch of the scheme, simply states schoolchildren should experience:
“Five hours of arts and culture a week, in and outside of the school day. This will include the chance to:
· perform on stage and attend top quality performances, exhibitions at museums and galleries, and heritage sites;
· get hands-on experience of the creative industries including film making, radio and TV;
· learn a musical instrument, and take part in a musical performance in front of an audience;
· produce creative writing and appreciate authors and how they work;
· learn about - and practise – new media and digital art; and
· develop art and craft skills.”
Very little of this is new content, with at least the final four examples already forming part of the National Curriculum in Literacy and English, Music, Art and ICT. Despite this, there has been a huge reaction from teachers, who feel their timetables are already stretched. Speaking in The Guardian, NUT General Secretary Steve Sinnott said:
"We still have an overloaded curriculum, particularly in primary schools. Its clutter needs to be stripped out to enable schools to be culturally creative."
Having experienced firsthand the struggle to deliver the intensive curriculum in primary schools, this is a point which I fully understand. However, the benefit of bringing so-called ‘high culture’ to those whose background and finance usually exclude them, is a massive one. The arts are historically incredibly elitist both as a patron and inside the industry. Initiatives, however ill-thought-out, that attempt to break these barriers and allow children into a world they didn’t know was open to them, can only be a good thing.
Some, however, such as Simon Heffer in the Telegraph, do not see any benefit whatsoever to such schemes.
“How was it that we had Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton or Wordsworth without their having the inestimable benefit of Arts Council poetry workshops?”
This frankly ridiculous argument, continued throughout the article and echoed by many another middle-class commentator, seems to completely miss the point of what the scheme aims to achieve. There will always be prodigies, talents and revolutionaries within our society; those who rise to fame and fortune with no help from the state or any others. However, funding access to the arts for everyone is about showing young people they have the opportunity to do something they never realised was an option. Opening up children’s minds and inspiring them to a myriad of possibilities – isn’t that what education is supposed to be about?
11 comments:
As a mother of young children I applaude the efforts to bolster access to the Arts and to promote the pursuance of activities with a cultural leaning.
As a primary teacher, however, my overriding concern is of logistics: how and when exactly are we expected to magically find these 5 hours a week? Alongside Literacy and Numeracy, cross-curricular ICT and PSHE, we have Science, Geography, History, R.E, P.E, Music, Art, D.T,Singing,and Daily Collective worship, as well as Modern Foreign Language at Key stage 2.This is without the Individual Education Plans for children with particular needs, or intervention programmes for those not achieving the required level which need to be administered in addition to the everyday classroom activities.
Whilst the school in which I work strives to provide a wealth of activities via our Art.Literacy and Music Curriculum , through visiting artistes and trips further afield, plus further opportunities through lunch time and after school clubs, creativity in inevitably squeezed by the need to plan, annotate, assess, measure, assess and justify everything we do with our charges.
In the 14 years since I began teaching there has never been more pressure to hit targets and produce data and to my mind this just does not sit comfortably alongside artistic creativity and cultural exploration. Furthermore , in a school where deprivation is the norm the children I teach are the very ones who would benefit most from the government's plans, the children who have little if any opportunity to experience art/culture at home. But these are also the children whose basic literacy and numeracy skills are desperately poor, and I know where both our LEA and our parents feel our priorities lie. No surprise then that there is currently no direct guideline as to how this new initiative is to be achieved.Who decides which of the already marginalised subjects get pushed out even further?
Its an interesting point of what counts as "culture" worthy of inclusion in this scheme. Shakespeare and Motzart were both classical artists but how accessible is this to todays children. Modern culture, such as rap music and spray paint art, has its own distinct style and should this be valued any less? And which country's culture should we be promoting? I'm all for supporting British culture with its fish and chips and country houses but should we include aspects of world cultures, including the rich tapestry of styles of music, art and food which are just as valid form of art? I think including worldwide culture may help todays children understand different cultural view points both within ethnic groups within our own communities and worldwide.
Often do my elders tell me I'm an "uncultured fool", but I understand todays multicultural society better than they. Maybe the Government need to specify their aims a little better to ensure teachers can integrate this new idea into school the way they inteded.
I don't really know if I'm qualified to comment as I have no children and have no knowledge of the workings of the Education System in the UK at the moment.
On the surface, it appears to be a great idea - but is it practical?? Do children have other more basic needs such as literacy and numeracy?
In my line of work, as a Police Officer, I deal with school age offenders quite a lot of the time. Unfortunately, the children I come across have very difficult lives; often living in poverty, with a parent in jail or addicted to drugs or alcohol; and a lot of the time the parents are not bothered whether their child goes to school or not, and the kids just want to stay at home playing computer games with their friends!
Some of these children can not even write their own names! Surely it should be a priority to ensure that the basic needs of these children are met??
I appreciate that I am looking at this based on the knowledge of the kids I deal with and that the vast majority have stable, loving families who care with a passion about their children's education and future. For these children, who can appreciate and develop through further exposure to 'culture', this sounds like a beneficial proposal.
But where are the overworked and underpaid teachers to find the time?
I can understand the concern over fitting in the extra hours, but studies have shown that when children are exposed to art and cultural activities, their scores in math and science increase as well.
Perhaps one way around this problem would be to require children to experience cultural activities outside the classroom with their parents and report back on the experience?
Anonymous - I understand what you are saying, but the problem is that many parents won't or simply can't afford to take their children to experience cultural activities. That is why the Government has felt the need to make it part of the curriculum and fund it. Although, the funding may be far from adequate.
i have read the original blog and the comments provoked by it with great interest. i am very well aware that teachers attempting to deliver the national curriculum have an incredibly difficult job and sympathise greatly with the comments of td. having said that, i feel the word 'inspiration' in the initial blog hits the nail on the head as far as i'm concerned. i work in a children's museum and spend much of my time delivering educational drama based workshops and get to see on a daily basis how the children are engaged and inspired by experiencing the drama and adventure of being in this different and unusual environment. it is not merely a school's job, in my opinion, to provide facts and figures and skills but to inspire children to actually enjoy learning; and giving them the opportunity to experience things that they otherwise may not get the chance to see or do.
there is no doubt that this is a huge challenge for teachers, but perhaps they too would benefit from the chance to do and see something different every now and then.
i have mentioned how i have seen children benefitting on the day from being in a different learning environment, but generally speaking we don't get any feedback as to how beneficial the workshops have been in the long term. on the one occasion that we followed up a series of workshops on the environment with outreach in the schools with the same children several months later it was obvious that they had remembered almost everything they had learned that day. one particular teacher commented "i can't believe that they've remembered everything; i'm afraid i haven't had time to do any follow up work with them at all and i didn't think they'd be able to answer any questions" she was also amazed that even the child in her class with ADHD was engrossed in the 'junk modelling poster' activity for the entire time we were doing it. it was the first time ever she'd seen him engaged in an activity for so long.
it just goes to show what an impact experiencing learning in a different environment can have.
i wish i could find a magic money pot into which i could dip to provide all schools, primary and secondary, with the funding to take all children to theatres, art galleries, historical sites, concerts and other places that could make an impact on at least some of them. unfortunately time and funding are no doubt going to be the biggest hurdles as usual in implementing this, in my opinion, welcome strategy of giving all children a well rounded and enjoyable education. i really hope they are not hurdles too high to handle!
I can undestand the drive to promote culture, but whose culture will we promote?, should we aim for the ethnic background of the children in question and get them to better explore the art, music and theatrical traditions from English culture alone or is a more wide ranging view of world culture necessary? Will parents havew the right to choose what cultural influences are given to their children? Unless the governement is willing to make clearer its intentions, then all I can see is a knee jerk reaction to the usual accusation that we breed illiterate uncultured yobs in this country!!
This is an interesting iniatitive I have to say but one thing I worry about is what the government define as 'high culture'. In looking at the ideas of some of the early cultural theorists like Arnold and Leavis, their definition of 'high culture' was one that segrated society into classes that SHOULD be educated ie the upper classes and classes that shouldnt be educated like the working classes.
The ideas of these theorists might seem far fecthed now but this segregation might occur once again with the government deciding what Art should be taught - what if some children find this extra tutition hard? Will they be considered to be lacking 'high culture' because a practical subject may be more their forte?
Having come from a very different system here in Ireland, where there are no A-Levels and one must complete a Leaving Certificate in order to gain employment and acceptance into any 3 rd level education, this extra tuition of arts subjects would be very helpful but yes I understand the strain that it will have on teachers.
The UK government should be offering financial compensation to teachers for working hard - because as you stated - isnt it more important to educate?
PS The fact that history is not taught correctly in schools is worrying and something that should be ammended and added to the new 'high culture' curriculum.
In response to Caroline's comment, I personally believe that when we talk about exposing children to 'culture' that the most benefit comes from exposing them to a form of culture they may otherwise never experience. (Bring urban culture into schools where the majority of parents already take their children to ballet and/or concerts and vice versa). A school where most of the pupils are from a traditional western culture could experience elements of Asian culture and vice versa. Rather than segregating this would perhaps encourage a better understanding of other 'classes and cultures'. Of course I agree that 'Education' is most important but I don't think you should underestimate the importance of 'Inspiration'. (Nor should anybody underestimate the incredibly difficult and often thankless task that teachers today have!)
I agree with td that as a primary school teacher time is the problem we have in our current education system. So many new initiatives to include and weave into the already complex curriculum we deliver to our knowledge thirsty children.
Its a wonderful idea but as many other things it needs to be incorporated into the rest of the curriculum. We have been encouraged to be cross curricular in our approach in order to stop compartmentalising each subject and show children how each subject relates to each other.
I look forward to this high culture coming into schools but hope we won't be forced to squeeze it in to the detriment of other core subjects.
I do feel that the government could do more to encourage young families to go to the theatre, to experience ballet, opera, modern dance, and musicals. The museums were made free to allow everyone to have access to these experiences. So why not other important arts based places? Free tickets or deduction vouchers could be given to young families with their allowance. This would give cultural enrichement to their lifes for a small tax payers cost.
I recently attended an event organised by the Museums, Libraries and Archives and they had some very interesting things to say about the 5 hours of culture debate. Those interested in the funding of this may be interested to read their press release at http://www.mla.gov.uk/news/press_releases/five_hours_culture
(From what I have seen they are already funding some amazing work in schools).
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