Have your say: Creative arts ‘should be compulsory’ for all GCSE students

Original post by PQ

Do you honestly believe that? The ebacc subjects were decided by Michael gove on the back of a fag packet. He choose to ignore a whole raft of pedagogical research and research into skills gaps now and in the future when his “reforms” were frced through.

I do believe that. And EBACC is very important if your so interested into why it is important search it up. How is 'creative' arts going to fill in skill gaps?

Reply 22

nzy

17

I think the underlying problem is that the UK education system is based on specialision. Pupils chose their GCSEs and A-Levels with the mindset that they need to pick the exact subjects which will help them go to uni and/or get the best job they can, and as we're being told we have to specialise and only pick a handful, no one wants to "waste time" on creative subjects which they could do outside of school (which they don't end up doing because GCSEs and A-Levels take up so much time). Maths and English are obviously more well established, and I think that's going to stay the case because they fit so well in this specialisation system - they're seen as teaching widely-applicable skills (problem solving, writing, analysis etc) that could be useful even if you decide to change what industry you're going into.

In order to even be seriously considered, DT subjects needed to be more academic (also IT, which is slowly being phased out in favour of Computer Science anyway), because otherwise (as someone else mentioned) they just remain subjects that aren't taken seriously. However, with this change they're less appealing to students who are less maths/science-academic and better suited to creative subjects, and STILL won't be appealing to more conventionally academic students who would want to go into tech and engineering because they're safer taking Maths and sciences courses to get into those sectors anyway.

I think the same applies to all creative subjects. I would love to see more people in Music and Drama at my school, but very few people who actually have a talent for this kind of thing actually want to take them. There's too much pressure to pick academic subjects, and the thing that most people enjoy about Music, Art and Drama is the creative side, so when music theory and artist research are suddenly injected into the course after a year of practical lessons, students (at least in my school) just drop them anyway. As long as we have this system there's not much point in making creative subjects compolsury. It would be great if schools' performing arts departments got more funding to run concerts and productions so students could have experience in creative arts on the side of Maths, English and Science without having to take an exam in it (à la US high schools on TV), but not many people past Year 10 who don't take a Music or Drama course would participate because it's not going to help them get an A.

Reply 23

username4064618

16

I did Drama at GCSE and I do not believe it should be compulsory at all, not unlike STEM subjects. I think the use of the creative arts should be just an afterschool club or something.
In my class, most of the students just chose it because it was 'reading lines off of a page' but they didn't take into account the 2 hour and 45 minutes exam, which caused them stress. Personally, I found drama to be quite stressful (yes seriously) as we had prep for performances which was 6 hours in total a week - far more hours than other subjects. We also had performances such as Rock Challenge and we worked with Frantic Assembly which ate up some more time. I was so stressed with the course as everytime we did something it was instantly changed by my teacher.
Creative arts can be fufilling and there is nothing quite like the feeling of acting on stage but it's not for everyone - the students who picked it up because it's an 'easy' subject had to work really hard on their acting. Acting doesn't come natural to everyone and even though, the spilt was 40% acting 60% writing, it still counted towards the grade.
To conclude, I'm not against the arts - I'll probably use my Drama grade more than my French grade - but if you want to do a STEM career there's not really a point in Creative Arts. You may find it helps you in some case to revise or whatever but it should really be made crucial. Anyway, the chances of actually succeeding in the career are quite slim so what's the point in making it compulsory?

Reply 24

Original post by TensorTympani

I do believe that. And EBACC is very important if your so interested into why it is important search it up. How is 'creative' arts going to fill in skill gaps?

Could you point me to the research the DofE used to map ebacc subjects to future skills requirements? I have searched for that and I haven’t found anything. Maybe you can help.

I have read the comprehensive research by nesta into future skills requirements, resilience of different jobs sectors ( https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/creativity-vs-robots/ ) and how vital the creative sector and creativity is to the future of the uk economy.

Reply 25

Original post by PQ

Could you point me to the research the DofE used to map ebacc subjects to future skills requirements? I have searched for that and I haven’t found anything. Maybe you can help.

I have read the comprehensive research by nesta into future skills requirements, resilience of different jobs sectors ( https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/creativity-vs-robots/ ) and how vital the creative sector and creativity is to the future of the uk economy.

'Vital to the economy' wow what are you going to do draw pictures and sell them to different countries?
Now I see an economy just built out of creative arts.

Reply 26

Original post by TensorTympani

'Vital to the economy' wow what are you going to do draw pictures and sell them to different countries?
Now I see an economy just built out of creative arts.

Ummm

The creative sector currently makes up 1/7 of the UK economy and is the fastest growing sector

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britains-creative-industries-break-the-100-billion-barrier

And that’s JUST looking at creative industries and ignoring creative roles within other sectors.

:facepalm:

Still waiting for that link to the DofE research on the ebacc subjects.

Reply 27

Original post by PQ

Ummm

The creative sector currently makes up 1/7 of the UK economy and is the fastest growing sector

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britains-creative-industries-break-the-100-billion-barrier

And that’s JUST looking at creative industries and ignoring creative roles within other sectors.

:facepalm:

Still waiting for that link to the DofE research on the ebacc subjects.

If that is what you think then so be it. :thumbsup:

Reply 28

Original post by TensorTympani

If that is what you think then so be it. :thumbsup:

No link then?

Reply 29

Original post by PQ

No link then?

No find it yourself if you are so interested.

Reply 30

Original post by TensorTympani

No find it yourself if you are so interested.

As I said - I’ve looked and not found anything. You’re so sure it exists I’m asking you to link me to it.

Reply 31

Miss Maddie

NO WAY should we force kids to waste their time on mickey mouse subjects

Reply 32

Original post by PQ

As I said - I’ve looked and not found anything. You’re so sure it exists I’m asking you to link me to it.

I never even mentioned the link and you ask me for that link.
Your the one who invented the idea that there was a link.
Ending the conversation here.

Reply 33

Original post by Miss Maddie

NO WAY should we force kids to waste their time on mickey mouse subjects

Well said.

Reply 34

ohhello92x

22

I’d say no we shouldn’t have to force kids to do creative GCSE subjects! I’m not very creative, and terrible at art, which was my reason to drop both music, drama and art when I was at school picking subjects for GCSE.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 35

wizkid44

18

I think it should be compulsory for all schools to offer at least 3 creative art subjects, but it shouldnt be compulsory for students to take it

Reply 36

CTLeafez

22

I disagree students should be forced to work towards a GCSE in a creative art. Some kids simply don't have a talent or interest in it. It will essentially be making kids uncomfortable (shy kids being forced to act) or incredibly bored, thus disruptive for the kids who do want to do a CA.

However I do think it's a good idea to give all kids a taste of it. As we have with the current system, give kids a handful of lessons in drama, art etc over the two-week timetable. Those who show a talent and/or interest can pursue them further at GCSE and beyond.

If you want more students to enrol on the Creative Arts GCSE courses, rather than forcing kids to do it, make the course more appealing and work on improving its reputation!!!

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 37

ohhello92x

22

Original post by CTLeafez

I disagree students should be forced to work towards a GCSE in a creative art. Some kids simply don't have a talent or interest in it. It will essentially be making kids uncomfortable (shy kids being forced to act) or incredibly bored, thus disruptive for the kids who do want to do a CA.

However I do think it's a good idea to give all kids a taste of it. As we have with the current system, give kids a handful of lessons in drama, art etc over the two-week timetable. Those who show a talent and/or interest can pursue them further at GCSE and beyond.

Up until I was in year 9 I had to do music, drama and art. I’m terrible at art, had no interest in music (teacher in secondary school wasn’t exactly great), and I was never keen on drama, the teacher was strict.. :redface:

Reply 38

ThomH97

No. You should do creative arts because you want to, not because you have to. It's useless for the population as a whole, and just pisses people off having to memorise stuff or perform when they don't want to.

Encourage STEM because we need it. If you're good at creative arts it's going to come from practicing a lot out of school so you might as well leave it there.

Reply 39