Dan China was Area Manager (senior adviser) in Buckinghamshire LA until June 2011, when he retired. He was also adviser for art and design (and creativity) from 1994. This website provides support for these areas of the curriculum and celebrates the work of teachers and students in Buckinghamshire schools.
Dan has also been an Ofsted inspector, Chief Moderator/Examiner, the Chair of A4 (National Art Advisers’ Association, now merged with NSEAD) and has worked on curriculum and assessment development with QCDA, as a consultant for many years. In this capacity he has worked on all iterations of the National Curriculum for Art in all key stages. He has also worked on revisions to GCE and GCSE examinations and national curriculum assessment strategies and materials.
He contributed to the publication Arts Express as a member of the editorial board.
He sustains his enthusiasm for creativity, innovation and new technologies in education. Facebook Twitter
“If you get five GCSEs in those areas, I think you should be entitled to special recognition.”
Michael Gove in a radio interview in 2011 when questioned about the English Baccalaureat.
This is a poem that I wrote some time ago about the wonderful Michael Gove.
A Plea to Michael Gove
Mr Gove, will you please listen to my heartfelt polemic?
What exactly do we mean by more academic?
When you make a call for education with rigour,
I have a problem with this – I’m finding it hard to figure
What do you mean by this?
Do you mean that you want the words in some subjects to be …. bigger?
Because we can find you big words to make our “lesser” subjects show more muscle.
We can show you young people engaged in the hustle and bustle
Of challenging concepts, articulating ideas and creating new meanings.
But somehow I fear you might say that they lack academic leanings.
But please, tell me exactly what you mean by academic?
Do you mean “higher” or “better”? Is this superiority systemic?
You state clearly that success in certain subjects should demand special recognition.
And yes we should applaud you for declaring a passion and a vision.
But why should these subjects be especially recognised?
What hierarchy of knowledge and experience have you devised?
I’m all for the entente cordiale and I’m all for learning about humanity
But consider for a moment – please, excuse me my insanity,
You see there’s humanity in everything – there’s humanity in learning a juggling trick,
The precision of the weight of the throw, the accuracy of the flick.
And when a twelve year old child who finds school a struggle,
Suddenly learns that he can four ball juggle.
That’s empowerment, that’s efficacy, that’s humanity.
And he’ll practice his juggling day after day.
He’ll show dedication and commitment and rigour.
And his self belief and desire will grow bigger and bigger.
And this becomes a platform for his success,
But he only learnt this in PE or Drama – which apparently counts less.
And maybe he’ll never know anything about Edward the Confessor,
But will you tell him why you decided that vocational or the arts or sport started to mean lesser?
Why is the precision of his art,
Less valid than the things that you consider smart?
There’s rigour in learning about working as a basketball team,
There’s rigour in exploring the brush strokes of Eduard Munch’s “The Scream”
There’s rigour in learning a pirouette
There’s rigour in practising arpeggios.
This isn’t some liberal epithet
Of “Anything goes!”
The arts has gravitas, but you seem to just want it as extra curricula.
But there’s something about play that is very particular
Playfulness can feed the soul, the brain and the body.
Playfulness does not mean “soft” – that argument is becoming tiresome and shoddy.
Being playful can mean attacking a challenge from a different angle,
Exploding myths and pre-conceived ideas, and being prepared to wrangle…
New truths.
Truth is, Mr Gove, that the arts is now severely under attack,
So please can you ditch your dreadful English Bacc!