The Arts in Schools - Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

in our discussion of primary and secondary schools and of the need forcontinuity throughout the compulsory stages of education as a whole.3 For a discussion of this notion, see Bernstein, 19714 Primary Education in England, DBS, 19785 Primary School Teachers' Attitudes to Issues raised in the Great Debate,Primary Schools Research and Development Group, 1978.6 For a detailed discussion of a number of these points, see Resourcesfor Visual Education, Schools Council Art Committee, Schools Council,1981Chapter 51 Notably a survey of 1,000 secondary schools in the Times EducationalSupplement, 30th October 1980; reports of HMI to the ExpenditureSteering Group on Education (See Issues, Note 5); and articles in theGuardian, 7th October and 14th October 1980.2 Joan Freeman, Gifted Children, 19793 Schools Council Working Paper 53, The Whole Curriculum 13—16,Evans Methuen Educational, 1975.4 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2 rueAndr6 Pascal, 75775 Paris, Cedex 16.5 Dance and drama, for example, are often banded together as 'performingarts' although their needs, in some respects, are quite different.The dance teacher needs a somewhat bigger studio than drama —something in excess of 2,000 square feet. This is not an arbitraryfigure but one based on the floor space needed for extended runs andjumps with a class of about 25 young people. Drama teachers can makedo with a little less. For dance it is imperative that the floor be sprung,to avoid muscular damage. The teaching of some forms of dance,notably classical ballet and some styles of contemporary dance, willrequire mirrors on the wall. Ballet also needs barres. Such facilitiescan make it difficult to adapt dance studios for public performancesalthough examples of successful adaptation do exist. As for drama,performances require suitable seating and lighting.6 From material submitted to the Committee.7 John Holden, The Arts in Society, an address given to a DBS conferenceof art teachers in Bournemouth, 10th October 1977 (mimeo).Chapter 61 The current system of public examinations is designed to make relativejudgements between only 60% of all children in the public educationsystem in Britain. The Waddell Report on School Examinations emphasisesthis in its opening remarks on the ability range of pupils. For thepurposes of public examinations this is expressed in percentiles, orpercentages, from 0—100.'Thus, GCE O level examinations are designed to cater, primarily,165