Cultural Learning Alliance

Key principles for the arts and cultural learning within the National Curriculum

May/June 2012

1. Purpose and scope of paper

The Department for Education is in the process of revising the National Curriculum. To inform early thinking it has tasked the Cultural Learning Alliance (CLA) with collating and presenting key, underpinning principles for arts and cultural subjects.

This submission should be read alongside the CLA’s initial submission to the National Curriculum Review, which sets out our overarching principles in much greater detail, and alongside the CLA’s official response to the Henley Review of Cultural Education. Both are attached to this document as Appendices 2 and 3.

2. The Cultural Learning Alliance and its membership

The Cultural Learning Alliance is a collective voice working to ensure that at a time of social and economic stress all children and young people are able to have an active engagement with the creation and enjoyment of our arts and heritage.

The Alliance includes a range of organisations working across the cultural and educational sectors, including non-departmental public bodies, philanthropists, umbrella organisations, cultural partners, education specialists and schools. It is supported by a wider membership of over 7,500 individuals and organisations.

The Cultural Learning Alliance is chaired by Lord Puttnam. A Steering Group meets quarterly to oversee the work and direction of the Alliance, and an Advisory Panel offers expertise and strategic support to all aspects of the CLA activities.

This paper has been drafted by drawing on the expertise of our Steering and Advisory panels and specifically through the organisations listed in Appendix 1. The CLA has attempted to summarise the considered views of these subject specialists, in the knowledge that they will make more detailed, independent submissions during the formal consultation process.

3. Next steps for the National Curriculum Review

The CLA believes that all arts and cultural subjects should have a light-touch Programme of Study attached to them, with clear milestones describing progression: this paper should

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form the basis of further and deeper consultation with the CLA’s expert partners and members.

The paper describes: the wider context for the National Curriculum; key over-arching principles and quality characteristics that apply to all cultural

learning subjects; detailed quality principles for each curriculum subject and starting points for further

consultation; headline principles for other cultural subjects to be incorporated across the

curriculum.

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4. The Wider Context

4.1. The National Curriculum Review Expert Panel

The CLA suggests that the recommendations made recently by the National Curriculum Review Expert Panel concerning Art and Design, and Music are adopted by the Department of Education and expanded to include Dance and Drama. This would make Dance and Drama statutory as part of the Foundation Curriculum until Key Stage 3, and then part of the Basic Curriculum at Key Stage 4.

4.2. The Henley Review of Cultural Education

The Cultural Learning Alliance worked closely with Darren Henley and the civil service team to inform the recent Henley Review of Cultural Education. We read the resulting report and the government’s response with great interest. We are pleased to see a number of our recommendations and ideas reflected in his report and feel that it is a well-considered review of the current landscape. Overall, Darren has laid out a vision that offers real potential for effective engagement in cultural education for all children and young people.

We have consulted at length with our partners and signatories on the implications of Darren’s recommendations, and of the government’s subsequent actions and response. Although broadly positive, our members do have some concerns about the plans going forward, as well as some practical suggestions that could support the government with the implementation of this Review. These chiefly relate to the importance of a robust and practical National Plan. Our concerns have been collated and presented to government. They are detailed within Appendix 2 of this document.

4.3. Accountability and performance measures

Whilst we accept that it is important for the National Curriculum Review process to take the time to fully develop a structure which best supports children’s learning, we join Darren Henley in urging the government to make the ‘clear signal of its belief in the importance of Cultural Education’ by formally indicating that the curriculum and English Baccalaureate will include cultural subjects.

We ask that: No Early Years setting, School, Youth Service, Academy or other setting

should be judged beyond ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted unless they provide a broad and balanced curriculum which includes the arts and culture

Arts subjects are included as a formal strand within the English Baccalaureate.

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4.4. Resources and supporting structures

The government should recognise that a number of recent decisions and changes will deeply affect the teaching and learning of arts and cultural subjects in early years settings and schools. They include:

The significant reduction of the numbers of PGCE places for teachers in cultural disciplines

The classification of larger vocational qualifications as equivalent to only one GCSE – these qualifications are valued by industry but take up more curriculum time than a single GCSE. There is therefore a distinct possibility that these qualifications will be squeezed out of the curriculum due to lack of incentive, teacher time and school resource.

The marked reductions in arts and humanities courses in higher education will reduce both progression and interest in associated careers, whilst hindering the growth of the creative industries.

4.5. Progression into the Creative Industries

By the DCMS’s definition, the Creative and Cultural Industries contribute £36.3 billion in GVA to the UK economy, and employ a total of 1.5 million people - either within the creative and cultural industries, or working in a creative role outside those industries. Clear, structured curriculum opportunities for progression and engagement are vital to the on-going success of the sector and will help to provide the workforce that will lead and drive it.

4.5.1 Technology, ICT and Computer Studies

Young people’s ability to use and engage with technology has become exponentially more important to the creative and cultural industries over the last ten years, with a clear need for the workforce to be both competent at using both basic and advanced hardware and software, and to be innovative in the use of these tools for creation and distribution. The creative and cultural industries view digital and technological skills as increasingly important to their continuing growth and general health. 15.9% of businesses within the creative and cultural footprint claimed that ‘digital skills’ were the most likely area where skills gaps would occur in the future. Further to this, 9.7% of businesses felt that ‘ICT (Information and Computing Technology) skills’ were crucial to filling future skills gaps, and 7.9% felt that ‘online skills’ would be needed in the future. Arts and cultural strands of the National Curriculum must reflect these needs and should be inter-operable with plans for computer studies and ICT.

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4.5.2 A balance of practical and theoretical learning

In examining future occupations in the creative industries, Creative and Cultural Skills have found that 60% of jobs will be concerned with ‘associate professional and technical’ occupations. In these instances, academic qualifications must be balanced with young people’s technical abilities to perform jobs, such as those of lighting designers and master craftsmen. The gap between supply and demand is more critical here than in other areas of the economy, where only 15% of jobs have to be skilled in this way. The foundations for these skills and abilities must be laid throughout the curriculum with further education and alternative employment routes, which emphasise the breadth of the creative and cultural industries, specified to young people throughout their school lives. Effective careers advice is critical to this process.

There are a number of key vocational routes into working in the creative and cultural industries that should be clearly signposted as progression routes throughout the curriculum. Apprenticeship pathways are now becoming a viable route into work within the sector. From a standing start of no apprentices in 2008, there are now over 1000 Creative Apprentices working in areas as diverse as technical theatre and community arts. It is therefore important that school education and the national curriculum should not preclude people from going onto Further Education routes that are of use to the sector. In a Social Return on Investment study of Creative Apprenticeships it was found that 90% of the cohort studied either stayed with their employer or achieved employment through another employer within the sector upon completion of their apprenticeship.

5. Overarching principles

The CLA believes that the following principles and considerations must underpin and support the Revised National Curriculum and its delivery and implementation in schools and settings:

5.1. Equality

Without the opportunity to experience the breadth of the arts and heritage children are denied the opportunity to develop cultural literacy. It is essential that all children have the chance at school to learn about and experience the overarching areas of the arts and heritage; including art, craft, dance, design, drama, music, film and media as well as the humanities. Participation in the arts and heritage is rarely fully available in more deprived communities. School provision ensures a minimum experience which needs to be augmented by informal and out of school opportunities.

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5.2. Innovation and imagination

The arts and heritage constitute cultural capital that can be drawn on throughout children’s lives, enabling them to contribute both socially and economically, as active consumers and creators. Training of the hand, eye and ear is also training for the mind. Children and young people who are imaginative, creative, articulate, and emotionally mature will be more intellectually curious and physically inventive. Scientific and technical invention is just as much an act of the imagination as writing, painting and composing: the more children and young people are encouraged to develop their imaginations and creativity in one area, the more prepared they will be to be ingenious and innovative in another.

5.3. Economy and industry

Access to and engagement in cultural learning as a young person is the gateway to cultural literacy and enjoyment as an adult. This country has an international reputation as the home of artists, makers, designers and writers; tourists are attracted by our theatre, music, art and heritage; the work of our performers, film and television makers, and the music industry, constitute some of our most profitable exports. The creative skills developed in early years settings, schools, youth centres, community spaces and cultural organisations are the drivers of the wider economy of the cultural industries, spanning fields as diverse as product design and fashion, advertising and video games. Exposure to the best of contemporary art, art of the past and performance of all kinds acts as a stimulating challenge, inspires new ideas, and sets standards against which children and young people can consider their own work and can create and innovate freely.

5.4. Attainment and integration across the whole curriculum

There is clear evidence that cultural learning helps young people to learn more effectively, developing their cognitive skills and inspiring new ways of thinking. It also helps them to achieve more: participation in the arts helps children to do better across the whole curriculum. By embedding the arts in their school, teachers have demonstrated quantitatively that they are able to improve literacy and numeracy. Attendance, motivation, positive attitudes and wellbeing are all improved by engagement with culture.

Based on consultation with our members, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and building on the work of the DCMS CASE review, the Cultural Learning Alliance has conducted a wide ranging survey of existing English language data on the instrumental outcomes of cultural learning.

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Using only evidence from cohort studies with large sample sizes (typically 12,000) and research with control groups we can emphatically say there are instrumental outcomes for young people which cultural learning delivers.

We have grouped these into five key research findings:

Learning through arts and culture improves attainment in all subjects Taking part in drama and library activities improves attainment

in literacy Taking part in structured music activities improves attainment in

maths, early language acquisition and early literacy Schools that integrate arts across the curriculum in America

have shown consistently higher average reading and mathematics scores compared to similar schools that do not

Participation in structured arts activities increases cognitive abilities Students from low income families who take part in arts activities at

school are three times more likely to get a degree Employability of students who study arts subjects is higher and they are

more likely to stay in employment Students who engage in the arts at school are twice as likely to

volunteer and are 20% more likely to vote as young adults

5.5. Appropriate learningLearning through doing, and thinking and acting as a musician, artist, dancer etc. is fundamental to cultural and artistic learning and should be central across the National Curriculum for arts and cultural subjects.

6. Common characteristics across each arts and cultural subject

6.1. Arts and cultural subjects in schools

Good cultural learning takes place across all subjects, including science and the humanities, and through digital means.

Current arts and cultural subjects in schools include English, Drama, Art and Design, Design and Technology, Media, Music, Dance, History and Performing Arts.

Design and Technology also currently falls within the STEM subject category.

This paper is primarily concerned with describing quality teaching and learning in Art and Craft, Design, Dance, Drama and Music.

Each of these art forms has a distinctive body of:

Theoretical frameworks Academic knowledge

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Practical knowledge and skills Understanding and evaluation

Like all cultural subjects, Film, Media, and Heritage should be integrated as tools in teaching and learning across all areas of the curriculum.

6.2. Characteristics of Quality

Rigour and depthArts and cultural subjects taught in schools and other settings as part of the curriculum have critical rigour, intellectual depth and established breadth of learning, skills and understanding as challenging as any other school subject area. They are of equal weight, status, value and importance within the curriculum as other subjects, and require equal resource and provision.

AccessAll children and young people should have access to high-quality arts and cultural learning experiences regardless of class, gender, ability and geographical location. We know that some children are supported in engaging with and learning through the arts and culture outside of school. Quality principles should enable a baseline entitlement for those without this support, as well as enriching and developing the experiences of those who have it.

Qualified teachers and professionalsEach arts and cultural subject needs to be taught by committed and qualified specialists and given the necessary time and resources. It is vital that these teachers are offered a dedicated programme of continuous professional development in this subject for it to be taught effectively.

Coherence and collaborationThe National Curriculum should promote cohesive teaching and learning in and between subjects, collaboration and a range of ways of teaching and learning, and end duplication of content as pupils move through their school education. Different subjects should be structured to complement one another and should be inter-operable. The programmes of study and schemes of work for each arts and cultural subject should make explicit reference to this.

Early YearsThe National Curriculum should link explicitly to, and build on the Early Years Foundation Stage. The Arts and cultural subjects should make particular reference to the three prime areas of learning; communication and language; physical development; and personal, social and emotional development. They should also build on the descriptions ‘Understanding the world’ and ‘Expressive arts and design’.

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PartnershipArts and cultural subjects are delivered most effectively by schools and teachers working in authentic partnership with local, regional and national cultural providers and professionals, from libraries, cinemas and theatres to musicians, artists, writers and dancers.

ProgressionIt is vital that the National Curriculum continues to provide and enable continuity, progression of learning and a strong tradition of progressive engagement for all our children and young people. This needs to be provided in ways that enable children and young people to become the creators, consumers, audiences, artists and participants of the future as well as supporting progression into the cultural and creative industries.

Children and young people develop at different rates and the organisation of cultural learning in the school curriculum and beyond needs to allow children to develop at their own pace. Similarly, those with additional needs will also need a more personalised route through their cultural education and the curriculum should be designed to reflect this.

Arts and cultural subjects should be structured to ensure that every child is exposed to a wide variety of excellent cultural learning opportunities; is encouraged to explore, make choices, and develop their own artistic voice and self expression, and is given the opportunity to accredit their learning.

Creativity and innovationQuality principles should support schools to improve teaching for and with creativity, and should enable innovation and excitement to flourish. Teachers should be enabled to respond to changing contextual circumstances and principles should focus on key concepts, dimensions (knowledge, skills and understanding), positive dispositions for learning in the early years, progression and high level expectations of outcomes at each stage of learning.

7. Art, Craft and Design

7.1. Description

In art, craft and design pupils explore visual, tactile and other sensory experiences to communicate ideas and meanings.

They work with traditional and new media, developing confidence, competence, imagination and creativity. They learn to appreciate and value images and artefacts across times and cultures and to understand the contexts in which they were made.

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In art, craft and design pupils reflect critically on their own and other people’s work, judging quality, value and meaning. They learn to think and act as artists, craftspeople and designers, working creatively and intelligently. They develop an understanding of and appreciation for art, craft and design and its role in the creative and cultural industries that enrich their lives.

7.2. Fundamental Principles underpinning Art, Craft and Design

Nothing could replace the benefits of Art and Design as a statutory subject embedded in the curriculum taught by well-resourced teachers with access to high quality external professional development opportunities for subject leadership in art, craft and design at all stages of their careers.

Creative practitioners in schools and a world-class learning offer from the museum and gallery sector are celebrated by: teachers of art, craft and design; through academic research findings; by Ofsted; and most significantly, by children and young people themselves. A strong learning offer from the cultural sector is necessary to support subject leadership and the creative practice of teachers of art, craft and design across all phases.

A marginalisation of Art and Design to after school clubs and the annual arts week is unthinkable.

Within art, craft and design children and young people should experience:

The opportunity to practically engage with, not just appreciate art, craft and design

Access to a wide variety of high quality materials, tools, systems, equipment, new technologies and techniques

The opportunity to understand the relationship of art, craft and design to a career path within the cultural and creative industries and beyond supported by regular and sustained access to the learning offer from the cultural sector

The opportunity to understand and engage critically and confidently with contemporary art, craft and design practice and to think and act like artists, craftspeople and designers supported by regular and sustained access to the learning offer from the cultural sector.

The opportunity to value and understand images and artefacts from other times and cultures supported by regular and sustained access to the learning offer from the cultural sector

The opportunity to understand the role of art, craft and design within the built environment

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The opportunity to understand the role of art, craft and design within sustainable futures

Through art, craft and design children and young people will achieve:

The ability to communicate ideas and meaning through visual, tactile and sensory means, to think creatively and imaginatively and to know that problems can have more than one solution and questions can have more than one answer.

Support in their cultural, personal, social and creative development, especially language development in young children

An enriched experience of school life through engagement with an enjoyable motivational subject

An awareness that knowing ‘how’ is as valuable as knowing ‘what’ through introduction to a wide range of intellectual and practical skills

An understanding of a wide range of tools, materials, systems, new technologies, techniques and equipment

The ability to think through a material

An understanding of relevant career paths in the creative and cultural industries located through art, craft and design, to include; fashion or textiles designer, architect, interior or theatre designer, animator, photographer, web or games designer, film maker, curator, art handler, jeweller, graphic designer, arts manager.

An understanding of the role and practice of an artist, craftsperson and designer through the disciplines of painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, printed and woven textiles, ceramics, wood, glass, plastic and metal work, photography and digital media.

The ability to make sound critical judgements about cultural history, cultural value, aesthetics, quality and craftsmanship. The ability to be confident audiences and critical consumers of ethical and ecologically sound systems, products and processes.

The ability to think flexibly, to think through multiple perspectives and to make informed judgements about qualitative relationships

7.3. Starting point for consultation

Colleagues from Art, Craft and Design feel broadly comfortable with the Programmes of Study and Level Descriptors of the current National Curriculum and believe that they make the most suitable starting point for consultation on the revised National Curriculum.

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7.4. Gifted and Talented Routes in Art and Design

Gifted and talented young people in Art and Design:

are those who show distinctive skills in their ability to make, reflect, think, record and manipulate in visual and or tactile form;

have a very good knowledge and understanding of the subject area; are able to interpret, critically appraise, problem solve, think ahead, take

risks and develop information, materials, thoughts and ideas; show the tenacity and ability to imagine, create and express in visual and

or tactile form in order to make a unique contribution to Art, Craft and Design (to include Craft).

Gifted and talented children and young people in Art, Craft and Design will already be thinking like artists, craftspeople and designers and will benefit from a curriculum that challenges them at that level.

8. Design & Technology

With its focus on the practical as well as the theoretical, requiring intelligent thinking alongside intelligent making, D&T proactively supports the development of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship – providing a pivotal connection between art and science.

The following 6 principles are based on the findings of the Design Commission’s year-long inquiry into design education, and its report – Restarting Britain (submitted to Nick Gibb MP, as part of the informal NCR consultation, on its release in December 2011).

The Design Council led development of these principles working closely with both the Design and Technology Association and National Society for Education in Art and Design. Consultation on the principles was then undertaken with key design bodies (listed at the end of this document). The principles were then further refined and agreed.All these key design bodies strongly advocate for Design and Technology as a National Curriculum foundation subject from ages 5 to 14 with updated, streamlined programmes of study for key stages 1, 2 and 3. This must build on the Design and Technology that children will experience as a statutory part of the new Early Years Foundation Stage framework from September 2012. We were the first country to introduce Design and Technology in the National Curriculum for all pupils from 5 to 16 (subsequently reduced to 14) and other countries strive to emulate practice in our primary and secondary schools, actively looking to us for leadership. It is vital that we maintain this lead internationally by ensuring that children continue to be taught knowledge and skills in Design and Technology progressively, starting in primary and continuing into secondary.

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8.1. Starting points for further consultation

Whilst there is much of value in the existing programmes of study there is clear potential for a new vision for D&T (see below) based on the six fundamental principles as outlined previously. Therefore the consultation should include these principles and seek feedback on them as the starting point for developing new, streamlined programmes of study. It should also focus on the relevance of materials, tools and processes at each key stage; the balance between designing, making and exploring design and technology in society; technical knowledge; continuity and progression from the Early Years Foundation Stage through to 16+ and post-16 qualifications; and the role of linking the curriculum to the needs of the child and those of business and industry.

The Design and Technology Association is about to launch a New Vision for D&T campaign in order to consult with a wide range of stakeholders on what updated programmes of study should be – this will highlight points of difference, provide a forum for further debate and discussion, and maximise the consensus within the community as a whole. It will take place between May – July 2012 and will involve a series of panel debates and ‘question time’ events, alongside an online survey and debate across social media channels. It is also holding a number of meetings with senior figures across a range of creative, manufacturing and engineering industries, as well as education, to ensure that the broadest possible range of views are solicited.

The aim is to help improve understanding of the skills, knowledge and aptitudes young people and UK plc need, so we can be sure that we are preparing the next generation for the creative and technical challenges of the future. These findings should feed into the National Curriculum Review consultation, the subsequent development of programmes of study for key stages 1, 2 and 3 and associated teaching and learning resources and CPD provision.

8.2. Fundamental principles of design education

We set out below the fundamental principles for a renewed curriculum for Design & Technology. These provide a basis from which to develop the current Design & Technology curriculum as a foundation National Curriculum subject with a refreshed and streamlined programme of study.

The place of design in schools needs to be coherent and embedded in the real world context of the 21st century. This approach will enable children and young people to solve complex problems and positively contribute to UK economic and social growth, now and in the future. Adopting principles of the type below will transform the subject into the high status and rigorous discipline that it holds in the professional sector.

8.2.1 To develop a design-literate society

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Enabling children and young people to be critical consumers, users, commissioners and creators of design, attaining an understanding of the made world through promotion of critiquing skills and knowledge of the key contexts for design (e.g. socio-cultural, historical, economic, technological, environmental, health, emotional, industrial etc); and to demonstrate how all fields can benefit from using and being knowledgeable about design.

8.2.2 To build design and technology capability in its own right and to act as a bridge between arts, science, and business

Enabling children and young people to be creative, innovative and entrepreneurial. In relation to arts, exploration and iteration of creative ideas and aesthetic appreciation applied for a purpose. In relation to science, turning new and existing knowledge into innovative products, services and commercial opportunities. In relation to business, applying skills used in professional design practice such as team work, user-research, pitching, project management, financial management and marketing – in the classroom. To be delivered through multi-disciplinary design projects.

8.2.3 To place human-centred-design approaches, methodologies and processes at the heart of learning

Enabling children and young people to develop skills of ethnography, observation, envisioning, empathy, analytical thinking, co-design, usability testing, and to understand the role of sustainability and ethics in human centred-design. Empowering children and young people to be active citizens and agents of change for social as well as economic growth, gaining insight and understanding of the role of design in improving the quality of life.

8.2.4 To focus on technical skills which relate to design processes in three-dimensional, digital and visual communication of information and ideas

Developing knowledge of the emergent and current means of production, manufacturing and digital technologies; and developing skills that enable learners to translate their ideas into material form. For example: early stage proto-typing, key facets of interaction design and drawing for design.

8.2.5 To embed design and technology within an academic and cultural framework

Establish a relationship between theoretical approaches taught within design at Higher Education level and classroom practice to provide rigour and support progression. Grounding an understanding of contemporary design and technology within our domestic design heritage, historical and international design practice, using museum design collections and exhibitions as a key resource.

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8.2.6 To forge strong links with industry and the cultural sector to inspire future designers, engineers, technologists and manufacturers; and introduce cutting-edge practice to the classroom

Developing knowledge and insight of new genres, practices and careers in design (e.g. service design, behavioural economics, bio-mimicry), delivered through case studies and live briefs related to a real world context.

8.3. Routes for gifted and talented young people.

From an early age Design and Technology offers the opportunity for individual children and young people to excel and experience success and for some to eventually progress towards craft, technician and graduate level careers

In both primary and secondary schools, children and young people who are gifted and talented in science, mathematics and art and design have opportunities to raise their attainment by applying their knowledge and skills in D&T.

Children and young people gifted in Design and Technology should be able to choose routes appropriate to their interest and expertise. They are likely to have a combination of science and arts aptitudes, be both academic and practical, or may prefer to focus on an academic (A-level) or practical (Apprenticeship) route. Therefore a variety of pathways should be utilised, including GCSEs, a new equivalent qualification currently being suggested to replace the Engineering Diploma and equivalent to 3-4 GCSEs, A-levels, Apprenticeships or Foundation/Higher Diplomas.

Examples of other/additional routes include:

the University of the Arts London Awarding Body Level 2/3 Drawing Qualification and their new Pre University Art & Design Qualification (L3/4) which provides a supportive transition from further to higher education.

the Studio Schools approach of delivering the E-Bacc with inclusion of creative subjects combined with work experience and delivered through the CREATE framework. This provides a valuable progression route for talented young people, but is not widely accessible.

University Technical Colleges will provide a good route for some young people, though the reduction in value of the Engineering Diploma has negatively impacted on this option.

It is important to reiterate that Studio Schools and UTCs will only impact on a small cohort of pupils (approximately 1%) based on their geographical location and do not necessarily recruit those with particular aptitude.

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9. Dance

Dance is a distinct art form that offers unique learning opportunities combining the artistic with the physical.

The National Curriculum should offer children and young people (CYP) the opportunity to experience dance as an art form that links across the curriculum with art & and design, drama and music, creative writing, poetry, stories, film and digital media.

A high quality dance curriculum should be based on the three inter-related processes of performing, composing and appreciating dance enabling CYP to develop their physical and creative dance skills, knowledge and understanding. These are conceptually closely linked with processes common to learning in other arts which together, offer a framework with rich potential for contributing to CYPs’ artistic, aesthetic, creative, physical and cultural education.

Whether dance is taught within PE or Dance/Performing Arts contexts it must be taught as an art form for CYP to benefit fully from an education in and through dance.

9.1. Common principles

The following elements should be included at various Key Stages to ensure a well- rounded dance education for all pupils.

Dance is offered in a coherent and consistent way in the curriculum at all Key Stages

All pupils should have access to dance regardless of their gender and ability

Performance/Sharing opportunities to be available within individual schools each term and jointly for clusters of schools for all pupils at least once per year

Pupils should have inspirational input from professional dance artists in school each year

CPD in dance is available to all teachers as appropriate to their needs

KS2 – KS4 – pupils attend at least one professional dance performances each year

KS2 – KS4 – pupils and parents/guardians are signposted to out of school provision to extend and deepen engagement, including youth dance groups, graded dance examinations and other dance programmes

KS2- KS4. The most talented pupils are signposted to training and progression routes offered by Centres for Advanced Training (CATs), Vocational Schools and HEIs.

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9.2. Dance Programme Key Stages 1-4

9.2.1. Key Stage 1

Pupils can:

Control and co-ordinate their bodies to perform basic actions including travelling, jumping, turning, gesture, transference of weight and stillness

Perform movements and simple dance phrases showing contrasts of speed, rhythm, tension, shape, size, direction and level

Explore and respond imaginatively to a range of different stimuli, including music, through spontaneous responses and structured tasks

Create dance phrases and short dances, to express and communicate ideas, moods and feelings

Be able to describe and interpret the dances they create and watch Understand how to work safely in the dance space

9.2.2. Key Stage 2

Pupils can:

Extend their dance skills and movement vocabulary by using more complex body actions, dynamics, use of space and relationships

Explore dance ideas through improvisation, selecting and refining movement using simple compositional tools to make dances on their own, with a partner and in small groups

Use stimuli from and link to, other areas of the curriculum including music, art and drama

Experience dances from different cultural traditions and historical periods

Describe and interpret their own and others dances using expressive language and appropriate dance terminology

Understand how to warm up and cool down to prevent injury

9.2.3. Key Stage 3

Pupils can:

Develop and perform increasingly complex movement patterns in a variety of dance styles to refine their technical and expressive skills, showing increasing sensitivity to the accompaniment

Create dances using compositional principles e.g. motif, development, unison, canon, group relationship, design of movement in and through space to communicate meaning and ideas

Support their own dance compositions with written, recorded and/or oral descriptions of their intentions and outcomes

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Describe, analyse and interpret and evaluate dances, including some professional dance works, recognising stylistic differences and different aspects of production and cultural/historical contexts

Understand and use effective body alignment and placement to prevent injury and improve technical skill

9.2.4. Key Stage 4

Pupils can:

Perform complex and technically more demanding dances accurately and expressively

Create dances which successfully communicate their artistic intention Dance in a range of styles showing understanding of form and content Devise and design aspects of production for their own compositions Describe, interpret and evaluate all aspects of dance including

choreography, performance, cultural and historical contexts and production

Demonstrate understanding of safe practice in dance and how the subject can contribute to health, fitness and well-being

Access to examinations and qualifications in dance at GCSE level that could lead to A/S, A and BTEC dance courses .

Participate independently in out of school clubs, classes and groups

10. Drama

10.1. A curriculum and cultural entitlement for all children and young people

Drama is a collaborative art form that stimulates, uses and develops children’s imaginations and creativity. It encourages and enables children to participate actively, to try out different ideas and possibilities together, and to make and communicate meaning to different audiences aesthetically. Participating in drama helps children become creative, focussed, responsive, critical, reflective and appreciative.

Drama enables children to express their thoughts and emotions and empathise with others. Through drama they can develop their original ideas, explore issues and solve problems collaboratively. Drama and experience of seeing and making drama and theatre enhance their personal, social and emotional development and give insights into different viewpoints, identities, cultures and traditions.

10.2. Core beliefs

High quality drama teaching and theatre experiences should be made a curriculum and cultural entitlement for every child and young person.

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Exceptionally able and highly motivated young drama and theatre makers should be supported and developed.

Successful drama teaching in and out of school, requires a well-trained teaching workforce and strong partnerships between schools, theatres and theatre educators

10.3. Children and young people should experience:

Structured dramatic play opportunities (inside and outside the classroom)

Working in role with a teacher/adult/ theatre professional working alongside (also in role) as a co-artist

Drama taught in its own right in the curriculum and used as a pedagogy across the curriculum

Teacher/adult led ‘process drama’ experiences (in which the drama is for the participants rather than for an audience and the main focus is the drama for learning process)

Role play to explore issues, human experiences, ideas, emotions and dilemmas

Improvisation (including whole class improvisation) Actively and aesthetically interpreting dramatic texts and literature

(including their own texts) Creating new work, sharing and performing Responding to and evaluating drama (including their own, the drama of

others and professional theatre) Actively and aesthetically exploring drama texts and practices from a

range of cultures, traditions and times Theatre visits and professional theatre performances in the school

environment Opportunities to engage in technical theatre disciplines (e.g. lighting,

sound, design, costume, stage management) Opportunities at each key-stage to work with professional theatre

practitioners as well as with specialist drama teachers

10.4. Children and young people should be able to:

Participate confidently in, and contribute to, whole class drama and role play

Adopt, create and sustain a range of roles Respond appropriately to others in role (verbally and non-verbally),

including adults in role Create improvised, devised and scripted drama for each other and a

range of audiences Rehearse, refine, share and respond thoughtfully to drama and theatre

(their own and other people’s) Analyse, evaluate, discuss and critique drama and theatre (their own

and other people’s)

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Be confident and adventurous in accessing the cultural offer available to them

10.5. Essential knowledge

The basic elements of drama, i.e. role, narrative, tension, language, voice, symbol, space, mood, contrast, silence, sound, gesture, movement, stillness.

Drama strategies, conventions, e.g. improvisation, mime, hot-seating, tableau, freeze-frame, thought-tracking, conscience alley, role on the wall, collective role, teacher in role, forum theatre, image theatre, performance carousel, eavesdropping, voice collage, narration

Different drama and theatre forms, e.g. Storydrama, mime, puppetry, mask work, physical theatre, pantomime.

Performance skills: creating character, voice projection, movement Elements of technical theatre How and when to use drama and theatre specific vocabulary How drama can be developed creatively in response to different stimuli How drama can evoke and communicate moods, thoughts and ideas That drama process and performance requires discipline, control, skills,

rehearsal and an awareness of audience. Why and how different times and cultures have used drama and theatre

to express ideas and communicate meaning An appreciation of theatre traditions in the UK and globally and of

theatre as a contemporary art form That drama strategies and conventions can provide structure for artistic

works and can be changed and adapted purposefully How to write, interpret, direct and present plays

11. Music

‘Music is a unique form of communication that can change the way pupils feel, think and act. Music forms part of an individual’s identity and positive interaction with music can develop pupils’ competence as learners and increase their self-esteem. Music brings together intellect and feeling and enables personal expression, reflection and emotional development. As an integral part of culture, past and present, music helps pupils understand themselves, relate to others and develop their cultural understanding, forging important links between home, school and the wider world.’

(DfE, 2007)

11.1. Principles

11.1.1. Music must be in the National Curriculum

The National Plan for Music Education in England (the National Plan) is clear that music should be taught in schools by appropriately qualified staff. Both Henley Reviews recommend it form a respected part of the National

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Curriculum, as does the Expert Panel’s report The Framework for the National Curriculum.

The purpose of Hubs within the National Plan is to work in partnership with schools to ‘augment and support’ music education which takes place in schools already as part of the National Curriculum.

Music must be a discrete subject within the National Curriculum. The English Baccalaureate must be broadened to include an arts strand within which Music must be an option; we must also ensure that this and other opportunities for progression are also open to pupils.

Assessment of musical learning must be inherently ‘musical’, progressing and evidencing a learner’s musical development.

11.1.2. The music curriculum must be musical

Music education must be about music making; about thinking and acting as a musician; it must be promoted and developed through active music making.

Essential knowledge, skills and understanding are gained through the inter-related key processes of composing, performing, listening, reviewing and evaluating. Children learn to think in music, not about music.

There must be breadth of study, creativity, and flexibility; these are all important elements. The National Curriculum must allow teachers to use their subject specific and pedagogic expertise to provide an excellent music education.

The National Curriculum must recognise that all children are capable musicians. The National Curriculum should provide opportunities for all children to develop their musical abilities, skills and interests.

The National Curriculum should ensure that there are pathways and progression routes into the creative industries.

The National Plan explicitly references in and out of school provision, music technology and early years and pre-school music education – all are vitally important. Early years is a period not just when fundamental musical skills are established (such as singing in tune) but when self-identity as a musician capable of creating, performing and responding to music is formed.

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11.1.3. Progression

Progress in music is complex, involving the development of quality, sophistication and breadth in pupils’ music making and their response to music. Different areas of ability develop at different rates over time, and progress is not linear. End-of-key-stage benchmarks should enable periodic assessments to be carried out and provide a framework for teachers to identify the areas of strength that contribute to their students’ progression.

Early development in music is crucial. The National Curriculum from Early Years to Key Stage 2 should recognise that this is a period not just when fundamental musical skills are established (such as singing in tune) but when self-identity as a musician capable of creating, performing and responding to music is formed. It is therefore important that the curriculum is accessible to teachers who may not be specialist musicians, but who are nevertheless able to model to children the ability to create, perform and respond to music.

In structuring the development of pupils’ music making and response to music within the school classroom, the National Curriculum must recognise that the musical experiences of children and young people neither begin nor end in school. On the one hand, this means that it should provide a framework for developing and expanding on pupils’ prior (and continuing) experiences of music out of school. On the other, it means that the curriculum should establish the expectation and opportunity for pupils to extend their learning beyond the classroom, through opportunities provided within the school and by music education hubs.

11.1.4. Starting point for consultation

The National Plan for Music Education should be used as a useful (but not comprehensive) supporting document in delivering the National Curriculum and the entitlements set out at each Key Stage should form the starting point for consultation on the Revised National Curriculum. This should be done in conjunction with the current National Curriculum which colleagues from the music education sector feel broadly comfortable with pending some changes.

11.1.5 Gifted and Talented

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Schools, Music Education Hubs and the National Ensembles each support the progression of the most able students, providing pathways to advanced study and links to the profession. It is important that the National Curriculum continues to provide structures to support and challenge these students, and that qualifications including GCSE, BTEC and A-level continue to recognise achievement and provide stepping stones to further study. However, it is also vital that the curriculum, particularly up to GCSE, should not be predicated on the needs of the most able. It should provide all students with a framework for furthering their interest in and understanding of music, and in addition, provide the most able with opportunities to extend and enhance their engagement with music.

12. Film, Media, and Heritage

These disciplines should be used across the whole curriculum and their provision should be ensured by a set of statements common within the description of all subjects.

12.1. Film Teaching and Learning

Educators are aware of the power of film whether delivered in cinemas, at home or in the classroom. Critical understanding of moving image is part of being fully literate in the 21st century and the availability of technology means that citizens both consume and produce moving image in everyday life.

Film and moving image can also be used to document and communicate learning and so it is important that young people understand fully how to manipulate and read these texts. Film, and especially British film, is also an important part of our shared cultural heritage that pupils should be able to access and celebrate film as a cultural subject – watching, understanding and making films.

There is a growing awareness of the basic levels of film literacy young people need to participate in society – to analyse moving images and understand how they work. Like basic competence in cross-cutting skills such as print literacy, arithmetic and ICT, being literate in film and moving image is increasingly underpinning the wider curriculum;

English: enhancing knowledge and understanding of genre, narrative structures, character development can contribute to self-confidence as readers and writers.

History: fictional and documentary collections of film and television archives are important sources of primary evidence of life in the C20th

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and C21st. The immersive experience of film can bring (world and British) history alive for many young people.

Geography: both fictional and documentary film offer valuable evidence about cultures, people and places and immerse the learner in a rich visual and aural experience.

Music: working with film enables a learner to experience how music can both enhance and subvert the meaning of the visual image as well as combining to create mood or announce genre.

Art: film is recognised as the most important and accessible art form of the C20th and C21st. Moving image is increasingly used in artist practice and, as outlined by Darren Henley, opportunities to watch and make animation should be available to every pupil.

Modern Foreign Languages: film enables learners to immerse themselves in other cultures and languages and can play a key role in raising motivation and attainment levels.

Maths: understanding the business models of the film industry and the economic models of individual film titles can help learners engage and explore maths.

Science: practical filmmaking allows pupils to explore scientific processes and systems. Technical aspects such as visual effects, post-production, editing, lighting, sound, photography, projection, digital distribution encourage exploration and experimentation and aid scientific learning.

Citizenship: consideration and discussion of how film contributes to our ideas about society through politics, ownership, responsibilities and power of moving image messages.

Religious Education: documentary depictions and fictional depictions of ceremonies, traditions and celebrations enable rich explorations of religion and can bring stories and consequences of religious conflict alive.

Physical Education: much of our experience of sport is mediated through the moving image, and knowing how to interrogate these images helps us understand sporting culture. Video is also a powerful medium for capturing and reflecting on our physical movement and skills.

It is important to recognise that film plays an important role in the lives of pre-school and very young children. Research (Jackie Marsh, Digital Beginnings, 2008) has shown how closely young children’s media experience maps onto Early Learning Goals – so we would recommend closer attention to children’s knowledge of and abilities with film from a very young age.

12.2. Media

Media education should cover the full spectrum of media forms and platforms. A framework for media learning across the curriculum should be

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developed which satisfies an entitlement to a broad and balanced literacy education with a creative element.

12.2.1. Principles

The media are a major economic, social and cultural influence in society and are one of the core means by which we make sense of the world

The media are a central part of children and young people’s lives, literacies and experiences of contemporary society

Contemporary debates around changes in the information society, the role and significance of social media and the wealth and influence of major corporations in media, demand critical engagement with, and a structured approach to media literacy, involving both close analysis (‘reading’ skills) and opportunities to produce, or ‘write’ across a range of media art-form

The production of media texts is a creative, artistic enterprise to which all children should be entitled

The creative industries play a vital role in economic regeneration and progress. Media education offers preparation for our young people to take up employment in those industries

Without a commitment to media education during Key Stages 2 and 3, children’s choices and access to Key Stage 4 options will be diminished

Children’s ‘real world’ access to the art forms represented in subjects such as Drama, Music and Art and Design is frequently filtered through a media lens

The Revised National Curriculum should provide a structured opportunity for students to:

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Gain knowledge of contemporary society and issues that pertain to citizenship and democratic participation through the study of creative media texts in a range of visual, moving image, aural and print forms

Develop a critical understanding of the media through a systematic and progressive development of a language through which to debate how the media works

Learn about and experience how all genres of media texts are made, circulated and consumed – from both a socio-economic perspective, but also as specific aesthetic forms

Understand how the media select and represent particular art-forms, through reviews, promotion, advertising and social networks

12.3. Heritage and the built environment

Heritage sites, museums and arts organisations should form part of the diversity of environment that every child experiences teaching and learning in. They are distinct and separate learning spaces that offer inspiring new ways of learning knowledge and skills, and developing understanding of the world.

All core and foundation subjects should include a requirement to experience teaching and learning in a cultural organisation.

During the course of their primary and secondary education every child should experience teaching and learning in a museum, gallery, heritage site, theatre and music venue.

12.3.1. Principles of high quality heritage learning

Museums and heritage organisations deliver high quality education for all curriculum subjects, illuminating all aspects of learning and catering for different styles of learning.

High quality heritage education is delivered by: Educators who have rigorous evidence based subject knowledge of

the area they are teaching Teaching and learning that is strongly object or place based and

delivers using a range of learning styles Development of children’s enquiry and visual literacy skills Good communication and partnership between the setting and the

heritage organisation Continuous evaluation of the teaching and learning sessions

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12.3.2. Heritage skills and knowledge by key stage

Key stage Skills and knowledgeFoundation0-5

SkillsLearn how to use objects and stories to stimulate creative activities and how to talk about these activities with peers and adults.

Knowledge and understandingExperience being with different kinds of people and think about how peoples’ lives are the same or different to your own today and in the past.

Key stage 15-7

SkillsLearn how to use and ask questions about objects and stories to stimulate creative activities, and how to talk about these activities with peers and adults.

Knowledge and understandingFind out about your local community, its history and the wider world through cultural activities and make links between the information and your own life.

*Understand what a library and a museum are.

Key stage 27-11

SkillsLearn how to use objects, spaces and stories to answer questions about the past and present and make links with your own life. Use this information to stimulate creative activities individually and in groups with peers and family using listening and speaking skills.

*Use a museum, archive or heritage space to answer a question about the past or present with your peers or family.

Knowledge and understandingUse a cultural organisation to find out about your local community, its history and the wider world including cultures and faiths through cultural activities and make links between the information and your own life.

*Know the purpose of a library, archive and museum*Experience working with a creative professional

Key stage 311-14

SkillsLearn how to use objects, spaces and stories to answer questions about the past and present and make links with your own life. Use this information to stimulate creative activities individually and in groups with peers and family using listening and speaking skills. Apply the knowledge in a wider context.

*Use a museum, archive or heritage space to answer a question about the past or

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present with your peers or family.

Knowledge and understandingUse a cultural organisation to find out about your local community, its history and the wider world including cultures and faiths and explore events from different perspectives. Draw comparisons with your own life and make decisions about your own views and opinions.

*Access the collections of a library, archive and museum to do research and answer questions

Key stage 4 & 514-19

SkillsBe inspired to research an object, space or story to answer your own questions about the past and present and make links with your own life. Respond creatively to these ideas individually and in groups with peers and family. Apply the knowledge in a wider context.

Be aware of how individually and as a society we construct our history and heritage, and aware how the amount of information we have and the sources it comes from has an impact on what we construct.

*Use a museum, archive or heritage space to answer a question about the past or present with your peers or family.

Knowledge and understandingUse a cultural organisation to find out about your local community, its history and national and international history and current affairs, and explore events from different perspectives. Take part in debates, make decisions about your own views and opinions and recognise your own assumptions and prejudices.

Be aware of the range of activity and jobs in libraries, archives, museums and the built environment.

*Access the collections of a library, archive and museum to do research and answer questions*Take part in a debate or workshop in a cultural space

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APPENDIX 1: CLA, Definitions and Contributors

The Cultural Learning Alliance and its membership

The Cultural Learning Alliance is a collective voice working to ensure that at a time of social and economic stress all children and young people are able to have an active engagement with the creation and enjoyment of our arts and heritage.

The Alliance includes a range of organisations working across the cultural and educational sectors, including non-departmental public bodies, philanthropists, umbrella organisations, cultural partners, education specialists and schools. It is supported by a wider membership of over 7,500 individuals and organisations.

The Cultural Learning Alliance is chaired by Lord Puttnam. A Steering Group meets quarterly to oversee the work and direction of the Alliance, and an Advisory Panel offers expertise and strategic support to all aspects of the CLA activities.

Definitions

Cultural learning is an active engagement with the creation of our arts and heritage.

‘The arts’ is a broad term that includes a wide range of disciplines from theatre, dance, literature, storytelling, music, craft and visual arts to film, spoken word, digital media, photography and beyond.

The term ‘heritage’ encompasses an individual’s understanding of themselves, their material culture and the world around them. Cultural organisations and specialists such as museums, libraries, archives, archaeological sites, historic houses and other built environment institutions safeguard and contribute towards this knowledge and understanding.

Culture, in all its richness and diversity, can be experienced as listening, playing, seeing, watching and interacting, performing, devising, designing and composing, making, writing and doing.

Cultural learning involves both learning through culture, and learning about culture, and involves critical thinking, creativity and the development of original ideas and action.

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Contributors and process

This paper has been drafted by drawing on the expertise of our Steering and Advisory panels and specifically through the organisations listed below. The CLA has attempted to summarise the considered views of these subject specialists, in the knowledge that they are also making more detailed, independent submissions.

The process for drafting this paper was as follows:

CLA Steering and Advisory Group members particularly concerned with the National Curriculum and the delivery of cultural learning through schools were asked to attend a Roundtable meeting to discuss this task.

It was agreed that we would draft a set of over-arching principles for cultural learning which would be applicable to teaching and learning in all subjects.

We agreed to form a small number of subject specialist sub-groups; one for Music, one for Art and Design, one for Design and Technology, one for Dance, and one for Drama. Each sub-group consisted of specialists in that subject.

A lead individual was nominated to each group and was tasked with drafting a two-page high-level document which set out the essential, quality principles and ‘must-haves’ for teaching and learning in that subject. Once drafted, the other participants commented on and developed the documents until consensus was achieved.

Specialists in Media, Film and Heritage were asked to prepare short statements on the ways that these disciplines should be threaded throughout the curriculum as a whole.

A draft document collating all views and was circulated to all partners for further comment and amendment.

The final draft was the presented to the Department of Education by CLA representatives for discussion and as a starting point for further consultation.

Contributors

The National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD)Tate

The Design Council and Design & Technology Association working in association with: Council for Higher Education in Art & Design Creative & Cultural Skills Creative Industries Council Skills Group D&AD

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DBA Design & Technology Association Design Commission Design Council Design Museum IPA RSA Victoria and Albert Museum

National Dance Teachers AssociationYouth Dance England

National DramaThe National TheatreThe Royal Shakespeare Company

The Federation of Music ServicesIncorporated Society of Musicians Music Education CouncilNational Association of Music EducatorsThe Sage GatesheadThe Southbank Centre

The Media Education AssociationThe English and Media CentreThe British Film Institute

Early Arts

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