Do the creative Arts face extinction in our schools as budgets are squeezed and academic results become the educational Holy Grail?
We spoke to a numbers of party leaders who regularly take Performing and Creative Arts trips with their students what their thoughts were, and if they had experienced a move away from schools providing a broad and balanced curriculum.
A surprising number said that over a period of the last five years they had experienced a step change in how creative arts were addressed on the timetable. A number felt marginalised within the structure of the school and now felt ‘second class’ to the academic subjects as schools make decisions about whether they can afford to run certain classes and as a result have cut GCSE’s in art drama and music.
Increasing in schools it would seem that the onus is being placed on parents to subsidise extracurricular clubs and peripatetic lessons.
A number of teachers felt that this trend would continue and that it fell to them to raise the profile of Creative and Performing Arts within the school and the community at large. They believed that by organising events, shows and trips that celebrated a creative culture in school they involved more staff and students and made more noise around how we provide for the arts.
Points to consider… school trips are one of the most effective methods of raising the profile of your department.
Organising a Performing Arts Trip is much easier than you would think…
There are fabulous destinations out there just waiting for you to discover them.
