Systemic devaluing of arts in English state schools

When the Cultural Learning Alliance (CLA) published its first annual Report Card last year, it told a story in numbers. One number, in particular, stood out: the number of arts GCSEs taken in England had fallen by 42% since 2010.

And there were more shocking statistics: 42% of schools did not enter any pupils for Music GCSE and 41% did not enter any for Drama GCSE. These figures have been climbing dramatically since 2016/17.

The 2024 Report Card provided clarity on what had been happening to Expressive Arts education in state secondary schools over the previous decade and a half – since the introduction of the EBacc – and presented a stark picture of erosion and inequality.

The decline has been driven primarily by the focus of previous governments (2010-2024) on a narrow range of subject areas leading to a systemic devaluing of arts subjects and experiences in state schooling in England.

What underlies the numbers?

This year we have taken a different approach focusing more on the underlying story behind the numbers – and in particular what the data tells us about the factors that determine the likelihood of children and young people studying arts subjects. We now have clear evidence that arts qualifications take-up in schools is lowest where deprivation levels are highest.

This year’s Report Card reveals that where a child grows up, and their family’s socioeconomic status, are significant social determinants in whether or not they will pursue Expressive Arts options from the age of 14.

We have analysed GCSE and A level data in relation to free school meals eligibility as well as the Office of National Statistics Index of Multiple Deprivation to reveal a relationship between the poverty of an area, and pupils in that area not studying the Expressive Arts in school.

Expressive Arts take up is lowest in regions and local authorities with the highest level of free school meals and highest levels of deprivation – specifically the West Midlands, the North West and the North East. We refer to this clear socioeconomic disparity in young people’s access as an ‘arts entitlement gap’.

‘Arts entitlement gap’

The CLA has long insisted that access to arts education is a social justice issue. Last year we examined research on extra-curricular arts participation to highlight the ways in which young people from wealthier backgrounds have much greater access to provision and opportunities than their peers from lower-income backgrounds.

This year we continue to collect research to highlight this ‘arts enrichment gap’ but having an ‘arts entitlement gap’ in access to arts subjects in school – as revealed by our new analysis – provides a much more comprehensive picture of the inequity at play in our education system.

The Department for Education is now in the hands of a new government and the winds of change are in the air. The CLA and many arts and education organisations submitted evidence to the Curriculum and Assessment Review and we await a systemic revaluing of the arts within schooling.

From the review’s interim report (published on 18 March), we know there is an acknowledgement that the EBacc has constrained pupils’ choices and limited their access to arts subjects. Calls for change are made more urgent by this year’s CLA Report Card key findings.

We have also trying to clarify exactly why this inequity matters. We are building a shared language for how we talk about what the arts do, and the impact they can have on young people’s lives so that we can robustly communicate the value and impact of an arts-rich education.

Seven benefits

We are taking decades of evidence and research and using it to reframe the value of arts education, making deliberate choices in describing seven distinct and evidenced benefits of studying Expressive Arts subjects: agency, wellbeing, communication, empathy, collaboration, creativity and interpretation (or critical thinking).

One look at its list makes clear why studying Expressive Arts subjects matters: children who don’t have access to an arts-rich education miss out on the distinct benefits that arts subjects provide – which can last long into adult life. This is why it is so vital that we chart the reality of what has happened to the arts in schools and find ways to revalue the Expressive Arts as a vital area of learner experience during schooling.

It’s obvious really – if you devalue the arts in schools through accountability measures that don’t include them, then arts qualifications take-up declines and you end up without the trained workforce to deliver these subjects in or out of school. And you end up with creative industries that rely on a workforce educated in independent sector schools, where the arts are more highly valued and prioritised.

Initial teacher training recruitment for arts subjects is down 66% since 2020/21, and 30% in the past year alone. As much as there are personal benefits through studying arts subjects, society needs arts teachers because the same benefits – empathy, communication and collaboration – are societal benefits too, both in the workplace and in wider society. Despite small glimmers of good news for music, this year’s data reveals the pattern of an overall fall in Expressive Arts qualifications take-up at Key Stages 4 and 5 revealed in last year’s Report Card continues.

Decline in provision needs addressing

It’s CLA’s mission to tell the whole story around access to Expressive Arts subjects and experiences for children and young people. Unfortunately, we can’t tell a story about primary education as the government simply doesn’t track the number of specialist arts teachers in primary schools, or the number of arts hours taught.

We can, however, tell a clear story about arts qualifications take-up, progression to Higher Education, and the arts teaching workforce. And we can now tell a clear story about the relationship between arts access and disadvantage – the most marginalised are bearing the brunt of a decline in universal arts education provision in England.

The government has a real challenge ahead to address this, but it has the opportunity to lead the way in beginning the systemic work to reverse the past decade and a half of decline in access to the arts in schools – on behalf of all children and young people.

Read the CLA 2025 Report Card here.