Creative subjects are at the heart of Liberal Democrats plans to build a brighter future for our schools

"Liberal Democrats will put creative subjects back at the heart of the school curriculum as part of our plans to build a brighter future, " Dr Nick Cott told Liberal Democrats in Newcastle last night.

"Creativity is something that we have to nurture in our children, but the fall in teachers in creative subjects shows we are in danger of pushing it out of the classroom.

"We will reverse the trend of creativity being squeezed out of the classroom by putting creative subjects on the same footing as the rest of the curriculum," he said

Under the Conservatives, a combination of school funding cuts, high-stakes testing and targets have squeezed creative subjects out of the classroom. Around 3,500 fewer secondary school teachers are employed in art, music, drama and design & technology compared to 2015. The number of hours spent teaching D&T in secondary schools has fallen by almost a quarter over the same period.

Liberal Democrats will put these creative subjects back on an equal footing in the curriculum.

The party will create an independent, expert-led body to pilot and phase in future curriculum changes in all state schools with input from teachers. The body will be tasked with designing a curriculum fit for the modern world, including creative skills, critical thinking and verbal reasoning.

Along with boosting creative subjects, Liberal Democrats will spend £10 billion a year more on schools by 2024/25 and employ 20,000 more teachers.

Liberal Democrats will abolish the English Baccalaureate as part of plans to replace league tables with a wider set of performance measures that parents can trust.

The number of hours spent teaching creative subjects in secondary schools and the number of teachers employed in creative subjects can be found in the table below:

Subject Number of hours taught in secondary schools (thousands) Head count of in-service teachers in secondary schools (thousands)
2015 2018 2015 2018
Design & Technology 89.5 68.1 11.5 9.0
Music 85.5 79.3 6.9 6.5
Drama 85.1 80.8 9.4 8.9
Art & Design 139.0 133.7 12.0 11.9
EBacc Subjects 2,139.5 2,237.9 145.4 150.4

Source: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2018; www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2015

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Pictured : Last night the newly formed Boys' Voices Choir from Gosforth Academy made their public debut. Accompanied by Gareth Miller (Music Partnership North) and conducted by Georgina Biddle (Senior Specialist Music Service, Newcastle City Council) they sung Space Oddity and Hey Jude (with additional audience accompaniment)