Welsh Government responds to Arts in Education report

17 Mar 2014 01:06 PM

The Minister for Culture and Sport, John Griffiths and Minister for Education and Skills, Huw Lewis welcomed the independent Arts in Education report by Professor Dai Smith and all 12 of its recommendations.

The plan for implementing the recommendations will now be set out in a National Plan for Creative Learning, to be issued this summer.

Minister for Education and Skills, Huw Lewis said:

"Learning about the arts and culture, and playing an active part in the cultural life of the school and wider communities, are vital to developing a young person’s identity and self-esteem.

"We are fully committed to working closely with the arts and education sectors, and other key partners, in taking forward this vital agenda.

"The recommendation to include creativity in the curriculum will be considered as part of Professor Graham Donaldson’s wide-ranging review of Curriculum and Assessment which I announced this week."

Minister for Culture and Sport, John Griffiths said:

"We share Professor Dai Smith’s vision of excellence in cultural education, to enable children from all backgrounds and every part of Wales to have the opportunity to experience and enjoy the best that our unique cultural heritage has to offer.

"We would also like to record our gratitude to Professor Dai Smith and his task group for their thorough and detailed approach in undertaking a review of this scale across such a divergent sector."

The report’s author, Professor Dai Smith said:

"I am delighted that the Welsh Government has responded so positively to all of my recommendations.  I look forward to seeing the detailed plans for support and implementation within Wales’s first National Plan for Creative Learning. As the report states, the Arts are potentially the game-changer in our current educational practice."

Links

Arts in Education in the Schools of Wales