Design Week petitions Government to Include Design

Creative subjects are currently omitted from Ebacc, and a final decision on the curriculum’s structure is due in the new year.

Design Week and sister title Creative Review are writing to Gove as part of the #Includedesign 6 minutes for creativity campaign.

The 6 minutes for creativity campaign urged creatives to dedicate six minutes – at 11am on Friday 21 December – to raise awareness of the exclusion of creative subjects from the curriculum.

The #Includedesign organisers are urging people to sign a petition on Ebacc, write to their MPs, and help promote the campaign. Details of the #includedesign campaign are here.

The Full text of Design Week’s letter reads:

Dear Mr Gove,

I am writing to you as there is significant concern among our readership about the current pressures on design and creative education, and the effect this could have on the industry and the wider economy.

The UK has a well-deserved international reputation for design and creativity, but lack of investment in creative education at all levels could undermine this status, and leave the UK’s creative sector under threat from international competitors.

One issue of particular concern at present is the omission of creative subjects from the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) league table and ‘full EBacc’ certificate.

As it stands at the moment, the EBacc places significant pressure on schools to focus on just five ‘pillars’ of study: maths, English, sciences, languages (including Ancient Greek and Latin) and humanities (defined as just history and geography).

These are important, but the omission of creative subjects threatens a broad and balanced education (the International Baccalaureate for example includes a sixth creative pillar).

It also puts our creative economy and the creation of jobs in that sector at risk.

This is why the CBI and Creative Industries Council have expressed concern at the absence of any creative subject from the five pillars.

This is why over 240 organisations from across the creative sector are supporting the Bacc for the Future campaign, which advocates a sixth pillar of creative subjects for the EBacc.

As Secretary of State for Education, I ask that you do everything in your power to secure the place of creative industry-relevant subjects in a sixth pillar of study such as ‘art and design, dance, drama, design technology, film studies and music.’ This is what the Government’s own Henley Review recommended.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Angus Montgomery
Editor, Design Week

Design Week was also a signatory to an earlier letter sent to Gove, also signed by Sir Jonathan Ive, Sir Terence Conran and others, warning him that omitting design subjects from Ebacc will jeopardise Britain’s future prosperity.