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Musical Theatre Academy encourages teachers to nominate students for bursaries

London’s Musical Theatre Academy (MTA) has staved off closure and secured a stay of execution after a crowdfunding campaign and support from benefactors; they are now asking teachers and youth leaders to nominate underprivileged students for ten paid-for slots in their

October 2021 intake.

In early July, the MTA announced its closure, blaming Brexit for a lack of student intake and the loss of the Professional and Career Development Loans Scheme in 2019, which the school said made it harder to attract students.

Students began a Go Fund Me campaign following the news of MTA’s closure, which has now raised more than £16,000. Then MTA announced that ‘private benefactors have offered us sufficient funds to ensure that the class of 2022 will be able to graduate from the college’.

MTA’s principal Annemarie Lewis Thomas said donations have been made ‘in a bid to help us to find a way to make the MTA viable moving forward, without compromising our training.’ Despite the positive outcome of the campaign, Lewis Thomas said vocational training ‘is really under attack right now’ and that ‘elite training is slowly being eroded into crowd control.’

The principal has previously called on Spotlight and Equity to re-evaluate criteria surrounding the school, as its two-year diploma is currently labelled a graduate course; as a consequence, Equity and Spotlight are preventing students from ‘getting any of the various bursaries that they endorse or manage.’

Thanks to public donations, MTA are now offering ten fully funded places for their October 2021 intake. The school are asking teachers and youth leaders to nominate talented people from underrepresented groups who would usually not have access to MTA’s training due to their financial situations. To nominate a student, email info@theMTA.co.uk.

The letter is accompanied by the launch of the #ProtectStudentChoice campaign and petition to reverse the plan to remove funding for BTEC qualifications.

As confirmed earlier in July by the Department for Education (DfE) following a public consultation, the plans mean that 16-year-olds must work to complete A Levels or ‘T Levels’, new technical qualifications equivalent to three A Levels. The idea is that the post-16 qualifications system is simplified, and ‘low-quality’ courses removed.

to clear the way for T-levels which may well prove to be a good option for some young people but are largely untried and untested.’

Education bodies call on Williamson to reverse plans to scrap BTECs Twelve organisations that represent students and teachers have written to education secretary Gavin Williamson urging him not to continue with his plan to scrap qualifications including arts BTECs.

Concerns over these plans have been growing in the drama education community as there is currently no T Level in performing arts. It is also feared that many already disadvantaged students who take current general applied qualifications, such as BTECs and Cambridge Technicals, will be further disadvantaged if these are defunded.

Education bodies would ‘welcome’ a delay to the introduction of the government’s proposals but say that this ‘would not change the fact they have the potential to do huge damage to social mobility and are completely out of step with the views

The letter echoes these concerns, citing research from the Social Market Foundation that 44 per cent of white working-class students enter university with at least one BTEC and 37 per cent of black students enter with only BTEC qualifications.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders – one of the signatories – said: ‘It would be reckless of the government to ditch these qualifications simply expressed by our members’.

A DfE spokesperson said: ‘Great qualifications are essential to helping everyone, regardless of their age or background, to reach their career goals and get good jobs. Our reforms will simplify and streamline the current system, ensuring that all qualifications are fit for purpose, are high-quality and lead to good outcomes.’

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6 Drama & Theatre Autumn Term 1 2021/22

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