Sport and art undermined by new 'EBacc' exams But the new qualifications will fail to cover other disciplines such as art, drama, music, religious studies, design and technology and physical education. A new "suite" of qualifications - to be announced at some point in the future - will be created to cater for these subjects, although they will not be called GCSEs or English Baccalaureate Certificates. The move has led to claims that subjects outside the academic core could be undermined in the education system, robbing pupils of access to high-quality sport or arts. It was also feared that a move towards end-of-course exams - at the expense of coursework-style tasks - would make it harder to assess performance in many of these subjects. Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "There is an obvious gap in the new proposals - the need to encourage breadth of learning and development through participation in sport, culture, arts and volunteering. Unfortunately, at the moment, if something isn't measured, it is marginalised. A solid base in core academic standards is essential, but there is more to growing up and more to achievement than just this. He added: "A single end-of-course test does not make sense for all subjects. In cases such as art, coursework should be recognised as a measure of realistic performance, and we are pleased this has been recognised in consultation. The Catholic Education Service said it would press the Government to have religious education included as one of the EBacc subjects. Father Tim Gardner, CES's RE advisor, said: "RE lies at the heart of the curriculum in Catholic schools, and is an essential part of the curriculum in all schools. We will work with the Government and other faith groups to ensure that good quality RE remains a priority. We agree that the current RE GCSE requires reform to raise academic standards and the EBacc offers us the opportunity to ensure that RE is a rigorous and academic subject which stimulates and enriches children's education. We will continue to promote RE as a core academic subject, which should take its rightful place among other humanities such as history and geography. Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said plans for GCSE replacements were "hugely simplistic and fail to recognise the complexity of learning and teaching." "The government has failed to think through how qualifications and the secondary curriculum need to work together to develop the knowledge and skills young people need," he said.