There is a case for including skills such as engineering in the English Baccalaureate, the chair of the Education Select Committee has said. 

Neil Carmichael, chair of the Commons committee, has come out in support of proposals for expanding the EBacc to include more skills. The proposals were put forward by the Edge Foundation, a charity promoting technical and professional education.

In September last year, former Conservative education secretary Lord Baker, chair of the Edge Foundation, launched a report calling for the government’s performance measure to include a design and technology GCSE, or an approved technical award, and a creative GCSE.

Currently the EBacc only includes English, mathematics, history or geography, the sciences and a language - and it has come under criticism for pushing out technical and creative subjects. 

Speaking to TES, Mr Carmichael said: “I am personally interested in the Edge Foundation’s idea of making an EBacc out of a group of subjects. Their publication is very interesting.”

The findings from the government’s consultation on the EBacc, which closed more than year ago, are yet to be released - and they may not be published until the summer. 

But in the meantime, Mr Carmichael, the Conservative MP for Stroud, is looking to host an event in the House of Commons to promote the Edge Foundation’s proposals further.

He said: “I do think there is a case for putting the spotlight on skills - like engineering - and I think the proposals from Edge are good.”

‘The iniquities of a narrow curriculum’

Alice Barnard, chief executive of the Edge Foundation, said: “As Education Select Committee chair, Neil Carmichael MP is better aware than most of how the EBacc limits young people’s choices and can act as a barrier to social mobility.

“We look forward to working with Neil further to raise awareness of the iniquities that the imposition of this narrow curriculum poses.

“Allowing some flex to include the opportunity to study creative and technical subjects for all students would boost career opportunities for the most disadvantaged and help to bridge the UK’s growing skills gap.”

The Edge Foundation is continuing to work with partners to encourage the government to broaden the EBacc and adopt its “New Baccalaureate”, and is pushing the campaign through Twitter via the #ANewBacc hashtag.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We know that the arts can transform lives and introduce young people to a huge range of opportunities, which is why we have recently announced we’re investing more than £300 million over the next four years to get more young people involved in music and the arts.

“There is no evidence that the EBacc has negatively affected entries into arts GCSEs. The best schools in the country combine a high-quality cultural education with excellence in core academic subjects and we are committed to ensuring that England’s students continue to have access to both.

“We expect all schools to offer options outside the EBacc, so that pupils have the opportunity to study subjects that reflect their own individual interests and strengths.”

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