Languages, art and drama face axe in state schools

Subjects including German, French, art, drama and design technology could be shut off to many state school students as heads say they are being forced into cutting expensive and less popular lessons to address crippling deficits.

- Anna Fazackerley

The vast majority of English state schools expect to be in the red by the next school year, pushed under by enormous energy bills and an unfunded pay rise for teachers.

Thousands of schools are planning to make teachers and teaching assistants redundant or cut their hours. But unions and heads say with schools forced to ramp up class sizes, subject choice in secondary schools will suffer as heads scrap courses that have smaller uptake and are less economical to teach.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Subjects we have always seen as culturally really important will increasingly become the preserve of private schools because state schools can't afford to teach them."

He said subjects that attract fewer pupils at GCSE and A-level, including drama, art, German and French, would all be in danger of being axed, because "one teacher to 20 children won't be viable any more".