"GaBritish government report breaks ground for arts education

A national arts education plan, guaranteed permanent extra money for arts education and a cultural passport for all children, which also records their cultural experience: a few recommendations from the Henley study, commissioned by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

While the Dutch people's representatives still struggling with the reorganisation of arts education, England indicates a direction in which developments may move. A direction that looks suspiciously like the pre-2013 set-up of Dutch arts education.

Although the education systems on either side of the North Sea are quite different, the Henley report is still worth reading. After all: with the announced cuts to the arts budget and professional arts education, the Netherlands is shifting considerably in the direction of England, while England actually wanted to take an example from the existing, very diverse, Dutch system.

And where in Britain the major cuts by the Conservative-Liberal government are just beginning to be felt, the Netherlands still has a lot to look forward to. Whitehall-watchers do note that the tone in which the British media talks about the arts is a lot more respectful than that which the right-wing populist Rutte government has instigated.

The entire report can be found below.

Click to access Cultural_Education_report.pdf