It’s customary to give the new Education Secretary some policy advice, and ours to Justine Greening is to reverse the disastrous decline in arts subjects since the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).
Entries for GCSEs in arts subjects have fallen by 46,000 this year compared with last, according to official statistics published by Ofqual. It’s gathering pace too. This year’s loss is more than five times the size of the loss in 2015—oh happy days—when candidate numbers fell by just 9,000!
The figures show that the number of GCSE exams being taken in art and design, design and technology, drama, media/film/TV studies, music, and performing/ expressive arts have all fallen since last year.
The subject most seriously affected—arguably the one subject the economy most desperately needs— has been design and technology, which has attracted 19,000 fewer exam entries. Least affected has been music, with ‘just’ 1,500 fewer candidates.