Responding to a report from the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education, Mr Blunkett said that creative approaches, using music and the arts, would improve lessons across the curriculum - in sciences as well as humanities.

The committee, which included such celebrities as Lenny Henry, Dawn French and Sir Simon Rattle, has called on the government and headteachers to raise the profile of the creative arts, particularly in terms of reflecting "cultural diversity".

The 'creativity committee', including conductor Sir Simon Rattle, wants a higher status for the arts in the curriculum

"Our critics have said by trying to improve standards of literacy and numeracy there will be no time left to be creative," said Mr Blunkett, visiting Haggerston School for Girls in Hackney, London.

"The fact is there are opportunities for creativity across all curriculum subjects. Art and music of course, but the technology class we've just visited is bursting with creative work and ideas."

The committee, set up by the education and culture departments in February, was asked to make recommendations on the "creative and cultural development of young people through formal and informal education".

Among its proposals have been for a higher status to be given to the creative arts within the revised National Curriculum.

It has also called on the Office for Standards in Education to take greater account of schools' cultural achievements, as well as more formally academic lessons and results in tests and exams.