Drop EBacc proposal

One year since the Department for Education’s consultation on implementing the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) as a measure in secondary schools closed for responses. Since the government’s EBacc policy was announced in February 2015, the uptake of creative, artistic and technical subjects in schools has fallen, and some secondary schools are believed to be considering cutting creative subjects altogether.

Department for Education figures published in June 2016 show that between 2010 and 2015 the number of hours music were taught in secondary schools and the number of music teachers both fell by 8%. In comparison, the EBacc subjects of history and geography saw the number of teachers and of hours taught increase over this period by between 10% and 18%.

‘With the UK now repositioning itself on the world’s stage as a “truly global Britain”, the EBacc is no longer relevant,’ said Deborah Annetts, founder of the Bacc for the Future campaign and chief executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians said: ‘Dropping the un-evidenced and deeply damaging EBacc would come with no political or financial cost but with huge gains to the UK’s reputation as a leading creative industries player, our economy and our skills base. ‘We need to start planning our education policy in a post-Brexit world and the EBacc is a dinosaur from another era. It needs to be dropped.’

Bacc for the Future is urging those who agree to tweet using #BaccDown.