'Great day for the next generation of creative talent'

Curriculum change is victory for Express

- BYPAULJEEVES

THE music industry is celebrating the axing of the controversial English Baccalaureate system, which was heavily criticised for squeezing out arts subjects in schools.

The government's decision signals a significant victory for the Daily Express’ Strike A Chord campaign, with sector leaders including Arts Council England hailing it as a “great day for the next generation of creative talent”.

The EBacc was introduced in 2010 as part of a plan to encourage pupils to take a suite of tough GCSE subjects including English, maths, science, a language and a humanity.

Schools that succeeded in getting a high proportion of their pupils to take the EBacc were rewarded in the performance tables.

But the measure, brought in by the then-Tory Education Secretary Michael Gove, stopped pupils from taking arts-based subjects. That meant millions of children had to choose between taking one subject out of music, drama or art, while being forced to take multiple non-creative courses.

The result was a dramatic near 50% plunge in pupils studying music at GCSE and A-level which threatened to strangle the talent pipeline feeding the nation’s world-leading £7.6billion music industry.

But Labour believes removing the EBacc will enable pupils to swap either the language or the humanity for a creative subject while continuing to prioritise English, maths and science.