Exposure to art, culture, nature and heritage broadens children's horizons and encourages them to think outside of their immediate circumstances, but the number of students given the opportunity to pursue these interests to GCSE and A-level is dropping significantly year-on-year. Since 2010, participation in arts subjects at GCSE level has dropped by 47%.
There are challenges for schools facilitating meaningful access, especially through trips and visitors into school (including financial, time constraints, low staffing levels). On a personal note, I would love to see schools risk assessing for school trips / visitors into school not just by looking at the potential risks of doing *a thing*, but at the potential (though often less immediate) risks of NOT doing it.
“All too often, working-class children are not provided the same access to the arts. The arts have been treated as a luxury, rather than a necessity, for far too long.”
Imelda Staunton has ‘had enough’ of unequal access to the arts, and so have we.
https://lnkd.in/eXmUZGJq
Imelda Staunton: Jobs in the arts are now just for the privileged and I'm tired of it
standard.co.uk