The chief executive of Birmingham Royal Ballet has criticised the Government over proposals to exclude dance from the English Baccalaureate.
Christopher Barron, who joined BRB as chief executive in September 2005, was among ten signatories to a letter published in a Sunday newspaper asking the Government to rethink proposed changes to the curriculum that will replace GCSEs from 2015.
Education Secretary Michael Gove announced his proposals to reform the exam system in September, with the new qualification initially covering English, maths and sciences. It would later be rolled out to history, geography and languages.
The letter writers, who include the director of The Royal Ballet, claim dance and other art subjects are to be left out of the Ebacc, with dance disappearing from secondary education. Mr Barron acknowledged that there is a public debate about the value of GCSEs and that core subjects, like numeracy, need to be improved.
“If you think of the successes for creative businesses, that would be a huge loss in value on what has happened in the last 50 to 60 years,” he said. “You have to feed people through the system so they are ready for tertiary education and conservatoires.
“There is a great tradition in this country of cultural education. I think it’s a short-sighted move.
“Dance is big business. The creative industries are almost seven per cent of GDP.”
Mr Barron said he hoped the campaign would start a dialogue with Government and other cultural institutions. BRB returns to Birmingham for Cinderella at the Hippodrome from November 21 to December 9.
