The Arts in Schools - Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

they will all be equally gifted in teaching poetry, drama,prose, or 'skills'. A timetable which allocates each teacherseparately and unalterably to one group for one year ismaking no allowance for these differences and may wellbe skewing the pupils' English diet. . . since most teachersare most successful and confident when performing inwhat they regard as their own best field and circumstances,they are most likely to respond to a timetablewhich allows them as much freedom as possible to meettheir criteria. Equally, dynamism, rethinking and a redefinitionof objectives may not flourish if the timetableencourages the static to remain so and stultifies invention.'(DBS, 1977, p65)Many teachers have neither the experience nor the confidenceto press for new patterns of timetabling and tendinstead to suffer the problems of the present. Initial trainingcourses tend to be peremptory in such matters, concentratingon subject-specialisms and encouraging little thought aboutthe curriculum as a whole. There is an important role herefor in-service training in giving teachers the knowledge andskills needed to participate confidently in the curriculumplanning and policy-making which is vital in the arts.123 Senior We concluded our discussion of the arts in primary schoolsstaff by hoping for more teachers with interests in the arts to beappointed to positions of responsibility. Equally we wouldencourage such teachers in secondary schools to aim in duecourse for senior positions and for headships. Undoubtedly,'Five hundred Headmasters and Headmistresses trained inArts, Drama, Dance and Music as their main interestwould make more difference in ten years than all theWhite and Green Papers.' 7124 Speaking Some existing head teachers may fear that generous profromvision for the arts may have adverse effects on discipline orexperience detract from other work. We have presented our argumentsfor the arts, but, in the end, nothing is more persuasive thanexperience. The experience of the following head teacheris an eloquent illustration.'My faith in the importance of the arts stems from myfirst headship of a Secondary Modern School in the"Potteries" which I took over in 1960. This school hadacute problems of discipline, standards and parent support.Alongside the revisions to the curriculum and teachingmethods, we introduced drama, a creative approach to77