Education Secretary Nicky Morgan addressed the Creative Industries Federation this month, in a speech on the arts and how they “underpin our understanding of Britishness”. During the speech the Education Secretary cited research from Sutton Trust when emphasising her belief that every pupil should do the EBacc in school.

Ms Morgan said:

The reason I think every child should do the EBacc, that is GCSEs in English, maths, a humanity, a foreign language and a science, is because for too long, certain pupils have been told that these subjects aren’t for them. And we know it’s the most disadvantaged students who face these damaging assumptions most often.

According to research published by the Sutton Trust, the brightest pupils at primary school – those in the top 10% nationally – are still less likely to take history, geography, a language or triple science at GCSE than their peers, if they’re disadvantaged.

A transcript of the speech may be found here.

The research referred to by the Education Secretary may be found here.

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