The Arts in Schools - Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

humanities and the arts' (ACACE 1979). The Advisory Councilsuggests instead that the term Vocational' be applied tocourses with a specific occupational purpose and 'general' tothose which have wider purposes. A general course:'. .. may provide a basic grounding for a career or helpilluminate a student's job; but it may also develop creativeactivities or be studied simply for its own sake, as intellectualstimulation or enlightenment or to enable people tomake a more effective contribution to society.' (ACACE,1979,p8)There are particular issues to be considered in the provisionfor vocational training in the arts as professions. We will turnbriefly to these later. We want to say at once that we see aplace for arts activities not only in general courses in both theinitial and post-initial stages, but also within vocationalcourses for occupations other than in the arts.228 The arts It is becoming the practice, even within highly specialisedin vocational courses, to offer options for students outside the pressure ofcourses the examined syllabus. In the technical and business domainsof further education, the courses of the Technician EducationCouncil (TEC) or the Business Education Council (EEC) andthose of the City and Guilds are becoming well-established asthe basic qualifications in their field. These contain a built-inrequirement for 10% time for optional courses. These mayrange from jewellery-making to cinema and television studiesas well as across the humanities and physical education. Wehope to see the development of the arts within this frameworkalthough this would undoubtedly test the resources ofmany of the colleges running TEC and EEC courses, lackingas they often do a strong or well-developed arts department.This suggests the need for patterns of co-ordination and cooperationin arts activities between colleges if there is to beadequate coverage within the present framework of economiesand on the basis of existing, as proposed to ideal, provision.It is particularly important to safeguard opportunities formore personal work within the structure of vocationalcourses being, as they generally are, non-examinable componentsof the course — as in TEC and EEC — and moregenerally at risk from enforced economies.229 General A number of European countries — including West Germany,courses France, Sweden and Belgium — have legislated to providepaid educational leave for members of the working population.This has opened up educational opportunities for theworkforce in excess of those in the United Kingdom. In West133