New government proposals call for five hours of high quality culture to be included in the school timetable. James Reed asks if it’s really worth it.

The elasticity of the school timetable is to be tested once again, this time by the Government’s declaration that every child should have access to five hours of culture every week.

It is only a matter of months since Gordon Brown, in one of his first acts as Prime Minister, declared his ambition to see every pupil take part in five hours of sport every week.

Cooking lessons are also back on the agenda after Jamie Oliver so successfully exposed the dubious diets of Britain’s young people and there have even been calls for children to receive advice on how to manage their finances because of the number of families now racking up huge debts.

With pupils spending so much time kicking balls, boiling eggs and watching Shakespeare during the school day there soon may not be much time to do anything else. The reaction of teachers, who have repeatedly been promised more freedom to exercise their judgment within the curriculum, was to shake their heads in disbelief.

The call for schools to embrace high culture is another example in the growing trend of schools being asked to take on responsibilities that were once considered the role of parents. While excursions and performances from travelling theatre groups have always been part of school life, it has generally been accepted that anything beyond that is down to families.

In some cases, as in those schools where pupils arrive with inadequate social skills, teachers do have to take on the role of surrogate parent just to get children to the point where they can learn in the same way as their classmates.

It is also generally agreed that to become a rounded adult, any child must enjoy a wide variety of experiences, including those sporting and cultural.

Announcing the plans yesterday, Schools Secretary Ed Balls, the MP for Normanton, said: “Many of us remember the first ever live music we heard or the first ever performance we saw. I want all young people to have the chance to experience and take part in creative activities to help them learn and develop.”

Few headteachers would disagree and already want to provide exactly that, where time and money allow. But the decision of Ministers to lay down specific guidelines as to how much time should be spent on cultural activities, rather than rely on teachers’ own judgment, suggests there is a fundamental problem that can only be solved by the Government using the school system to establish good habits at a young age.

That argument is easier to make in the case of sport and cooking. Levels of obesity among young people have reached the point where they not only pose a risk to the individual’s health but, in years to come, could also be a massive strain on the health service. The evidence of a similar growing crisis in cultural awareness among the younger is harder to identify.

True, teenagers are not queuing round the block to get into many art galleries, but they never did. Every generation has its own interests and, thanks to the internet, young people have access to more cultural influences than their parents ever did.

In that case, questions will be raised as to whether it is worth devoting more time to cultural activities when scores of pupils are still leaving school every year with substandard basic skills? Last year, fewer than half the country’s 16-year-olds managed five grade Cs at GCSE in subjects including English and maths. In Hull, the figure was less than a third. Many will believe pupils need to spend more time in the classroom rather than the drama studio.

And even if there is a crisis among the young when it comes to accessing the arts, is the Government dictating what culture is and how it should be enjoyed the way to generate new interest?

Certainly not, according to Mark Littlewood from the Progressive Vision think tank. “Just about the last way to get children interested in high-quality culture is to have two government Ministers promising them five hours a week of the stuff.

“Young people appreciate theatre and art when introduced to it through their families, friends and peer group. This wrong-headed proposal is more likely to alienate pupils than to enthuse them.” (…)

Sadly, although the Government’s proposals are no doubt made with the best of intentions, there is every chance they will trigger a renewed debate about what schools should be spending their time on, rather than heralding a new era of interest in high culture among the young.

Source: Yorkshire Post, UK
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/features/A-cultural-revolution-in-the.3777266.jp