An education in the arts should be available to all | Letters

The Guardian UK Wednesday 09 September 2026, 17:01 UTC By Guardian Staff 1 min read

Key Points

Readers respond to an editorial calling for Andy Burnham to relieve pressure on arts funding in English schoolsYour editorial on the decline of music and drama in state schools (4 September) is right to highlight what has been lost. Education should enable young people to enjoy learning as well as achieve. Michael Gove’s reforms, rooted in a dewy-eyed vision of a mythical golden age of education that never existed, diminished arts subjects in which many students found success.

Readers respond to an editorial calling for Andy Burnham to relieve pressure on arts funding in English schools

Your editorial on the decline of music and drama in state schools (4 September) is right to highlight what has been lost. Education should enable young people to enjoy learning as well as achieve.

Michael Gove’s reforms, rooted in a dewy-eyed vision of a mythical golden age of education that never existed, diminished arts subjects in which many students found success. The EBacc prioritised academic subjects and measurable outcomes; the arts were squeezed from timetables.

Andy Burnham (PERSON) Michael Gove’s (PERSON) EBacc (PERSON)

Originally published by The Guardian UK Read original →

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An education in the arts should be available to all | Letters

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