DACS is once again supporting the Bacc for the Future campaign, following new and concerning proposals to make the English Baccalaureate compulsory for all secondary school pupils in the UK.
Why is DACS supporting Bacc for the Future?
The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) places extra value on a narrow list of five subject areas – maths, English, sciences, languages and a humanities subject (defined as only history or geography), ranking schools on performance in these subjects only and excluding creative subjects such as art and design altogether.
We are concerned that by focussing on a narrow range of subjects at GCSE, arts education is being put at risk. This will have a detrimental and devastating impact on our culture and creative economy. The EBacc proposal could force creative subjects out of many secondary schools, which will have a knock-on effect on the creative industries, worth £76.9 billion a year to the UK economy.
In 2013,
we supported a successful Bacc for the Future campaign, which called for an extended consultation on the Ebacc and further consideration of the impact of excluding creative and vocational subjects from schools’ accountability measures. Numerous studies have demonstrated both the
lack of evidence for the choice of subjects in the EBacc and the
harmful impact it has had on cultural and creative subjects in schools.
Now that the Department of Education is proposing to make the Ebacc compulsory for all secondary school pupils, we are supporting the re-launched
Bacc for the Future campaign, to call for creative subjects be included in school accountability measures.
How to support to the campaign
Bacc for the Future has already gained the support of more than 6,200 individuals and 42 organisations. DACS is joined by other organisations such as
A-n,
The Big Draw and the
Design Council in supporting the campaign.
You too can lend your support by signing the campaign's
online petition.
You are also encouraged to spread the word by sharing it with your networks and using the hashtag
#BaccfortheFuture on Twitter to inspire others to sign the petition.
Visit Bacc for the Future’s website to find out more