Don't Underestimate the Arts

Students who study the arts end up being more successful in other academic subjects, according to one of Britain’s most successful head teachers.

Speaking after the independent Warwick Commission into the UK culture warned of the arts being “systematically removed from the school curriculum,” Kevin McCallion head of Brooksbank school, in Elland, West Yorkshire, stressed his team was resisting the trend.

He told a BBC Radio 4 Front Row Debate entitled “are artists owed a living?” that his academy school had kept subjects such as music, painting and drama in the timetable - because they helped pupils excel in other areas.

Mr McCallion told the studio that many other head teachers felt forced to sideline the arts because the Government’s standards watchdog insisted a school could only be deemed effective if it focused on English, maths and science. They dropped the arts for fear of falling down the all-important school league tables.

But, he said: “I think we need to look at this in a different way actually. People are constantly telling us that we have to do that which is academically correct."

"Well, we find actually that the students who opt to do any of those arts - and the students I have with me are testament to that - actually end up being more successful in other academic areas.”

Front Row host John Wilson pointed out that the Warwick Commission had reported a huge 50% decline in the number of pupils doing arts subjects at GCSE. Was this a problem?

Mr McCallion said: “It’s not a problem at Brooksbank because we value the arts incredibly highly for a wide range of reasons but I do understand why there has been such a fall in the arts.

"Schools are very accountable beasts now. We are ranked in league tables and Ofsted come in and hold us to the new accountability measures that Governments come up with. They define how effective we apparently are.

"At the moment the arts aren’t one of the ebacc subjects for example - that will then be a big factor when Ofsted visits and measures how effective you are. They don’t include the arts in the same light as, for example, English, maths and science which are double weighted.”

So, he said, “pragmatic” head teachers see that their schools are only going to get an “outstanding” grading from Ofsted or be at the top of the league tables if they do what Government says.

"They say English, maths and science are the most effective therefore we will allocate more time and more resource to that. The arts aren’t an ebacc subject, they are not double weighted, therefore they will be the first to go.”

His school is visited by the respected Halifax-based Northern Broadsides theatre company which does Shakespeare and a mix of other productions, with music composed specially for each occasion.

The up market London private art gallery, Messums, which specializes in British art from the 19^th Century and the Impressionists, also displays there. The head said his pupils: “work with excellence in the arts and aspire to be the very best they can be.”

The Warwick commission has recommended a change to Ofsted’s rules -so that in future any school was not studying enough arts could not be deemed to worthy of the top inspection grade, “outstanding”.

In case you missed Front Row on BBC R4, it's well worth a listen - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0536jp5

A powerful educational tool

Music – an enjoyable extra curricular activity or a key strategy for schools to improve their attainment?

Music education has once again been proven to impact greatly on all aspects of children’s development, not just on their musical ability. There is a growing awareness of the positive impact that good music tuition has and many people are realising that music is a powerful way of helping children achieve their potential.

A recent publication by Professor Susan Hallam, The Power of Music, states that “High quality musical activities seem to affect aspirations which enhance motivation and subsequently attainment. Research with a range of disadvantaged groups supports this.”

These positive findings are echoed in many of our own projects, particularly ‘A Sound Start’. This project involved the delivery of music workshops in 4 Nursery and 5 Reception classes every week at Altmore Infant School in East Ham, London Borough of Newham. The sessions were 45 minutes long and included a mixture of singing, storytelling, instrumental activities and movement. The school has 96% of pupils with English as an Additional Language and high levels of pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties as well as learning delay.

At the end of the Early Years stage in the summer of 2014, compared to the same time the previous year, the school saw a 16% rise in pupils achieving an overall Good Level of Development. In addition to Creative Futures’ own monitoring, the project was evaluated by Dr Jo Saunders from the Institute of Education. Dr Saunders' evaluation found that our project had many benefits, and that they largely fell into 4 broad categories - musical skills, physical skills & coordination, curriculum learning, and social and emotional learning.

The children involved benefitted in numerous ways, with a marked improvements recorded throughout their subjects. The Power of Music asserts that “Children with musical training have significantly better verbal learning and retention abilities”. This further supports our findings in ‘A Sound Start’ and is something that we have observed widely in many of our projects. Verbal learning and retention abilities are skills that will positively impact subjects across the board and could explain the improvements seen at Altmore Infant School in so many areas of the children’s development, especially in speech, language and communication.

It’s time that everyone started listening up to the myriad of educational benefits that a sustained and well taught music programme can provide; and to how we can use this valuable knowledge to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged and advantaged children.