Teachers call for the government to #BaccDown over the EBacc

Campaigners use the trending hashtag to warn of the damage that the compulsory English Baccalaureate would have on creative subjects in schools
30th January 2017, 4:32pm

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Teachers call for the government to #BaccDown over the EBacc

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/teachers-call-government-baccdown-over-ebacc
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Teachers have taken to Twitter to campaign against the introduction of the English Baccalaureate - one year exactly after the consultation into making the EBacc compulsory for 90 per cent of pupils was closed.

The hashtag #BaccDown was trending across social media as professionals warned of the damage the new measure was already having on creative subjects.

The social media storm piles more pressure on the government after an email was released suggesting that schools may have to wait another six months for the government’s report on the consultation. 

Earlier this year an NAHT union survey suggested that 93 per cent of secondary leaders believed that the EBacc should not be compulsory, and respected educationists have expressed concerns that its introduction may mean the arts do not feature on the curriculum for the vast majority of 14- and 15-year-olds.

How can creative industries continued as a UK asset if creative subjects are stripped from the curriculum? #BaccDown https://t.co/2qhoDSWPtt

- Tommo Fowler (@TommoFowler) January 30, 2017

 

#BaccDown @NickGibbMP @JustineGreening shouldn’t we all be talking about this instead of avoiding the topic? #EBacc @educationgovuk pic.twitter.com/hz3xo6dOKa

- Susan M Coles (@theartcriminal) January 30, 2017

 

The fact that #oneyearon @NickGibbMP has STILL not responded to the #EBacc consultation is a disgrace. #BaccDown and #BaccOff arts subjects.

- ZoëCarassikWhitfield (@ZoeCarassikLord) January 30, 2017

 

 

Written to my MP- #EBacc is damaging uptake of D&T & other creative subjects- please #BaccDown: https://t.co/sJtQzyMnIm Write to yours too! pic.twitter.com/enNSqdLPya

- Richard Green (@RJGreen2017) January 29, 2017

 

 

It is more than one year since the #EBacc consultation closed - we are asking the Government to #BaccDown https://t.co/fHgkwtLyUn

- NUT (@NUTonline) January 30, 2017

 

 

Take-up of arts subjects at GCSE has dropped 8% in the past year largely thx to EBacc, politicians it’s time to #BaccDown pic.twitter.com/fK8psweQsS

- Barbican Piano Trio (@barbicanpt) January 28, 2017

 

 

...‘the EBacc is a dinosaur from another era. It needs to be dropped.’ Statement from #BaccfortheFuture founder @DeborahAnnetts #BaccDown pic.twitter.com/OPs0fmXxM0

- Bacc for the Future (@Bacc4theFuture) January 30, 2017

 

 

Use of the hashtag is one of the steps being taken by school leaders and teachers across the country in a bid to make the government take note of their concerns.  

More than 200 organisations, including the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, the NUT teaching union and Globe Education, are part of the #baccforthefuture movement, which urges members of the public to sign a petition and write to their local MP in protest at the introdocution of EBacc.

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