Schools to teach rap and grunge in music classes ‘in bid to diversify curriculum’

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The Oak National Academy – an arm’s length body to help schools deliver curriculum content – has created new lesson resources for teachers that aim to represent the diversity of modern life. Matt Hood, chief executive of Oak National Academy, said they had “paid particular attention to making sure that the curriculum represents the best of what has been thought, said, discovered, sung and danced”. “Our independent evaluation shows that seeing and discussing evidence-informed curriculum models is an important part of developing a teacher’s curriculum expertise.” The resources do not directly determine what curriculum is being taught in schools across the UK but introduce more options to teachers wanting to diversify the topics in their classrooms. “This is a body that is backed by a considerable amount of taxpayers’ money and there is a lot of concern in the sector about whether it will actually end up driving other providers out of the market and reducing diversity, despite reassurances to the contrary.” He went on to say many schools and trusts develop their own curriculum resources and it is “hard to see exactly where Oak fits in”.