A new parliamentary report warns there is “evidence of the downgrading of arts subjects within schools and structural barriers to teacher training, recruitment and the teaching of the arts”.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Art, Craft and Design Education is now calling for “increased investment” and “commitment to recruitment and retention initiatives”, as members claim that art subjects are at a “crisis point”.
The new report comes as Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber has urged the government to adopt a programme to make classical music accessible to students in every secondary school and avoid it becoming “the preserve of the rich”.
Commenting on the report, Sharon Hodgson, chair of the APPG, said: “Access to art for all children is a fundamental pillar of the UK’s cultural and creative industries, but the barriers to art education for children and teachers are quickly stacking up and, without fundamental reform and review from government, the picture looks catastrophic.”
The APPG has today launched an online petition calling for support of the five recommendations made in its Art Now inquiry report, which was run between Spring 2020 and Spring 2023.
The final report published today calls for increased investment in and commitment to recruitment and retention initiatives; to diversify the art and design teacher workforce; and to support experienced teachers to stay in the profession, promoting bursaries and mentoring.
It also recommends an “urgent all-subject, all-phase 360-degree survey to focus on and review teachers’ responsibilities and resourcing of the subject” in response to concerns over recruitment, retention and wellbeing.
The APPG also called for an investigation of lost learning in art and design to identify which pupils, schools and localities have been most affected by the pandemic and, subsequently, those most disadvantaged by the cost-of-living crisis.
Michele Gregson, general secretary and CEO of the National Society for Education in Art and Design, said: “Art, craft and design education is needed more than ever.
“Across the UK, art educators are doing amazing work, as this report shows. However, it is a subject in danger. The government must act - before it is too late.”
Lord Webber calls for music education to be more accessible
Lord Webber has also today urged ministers to make music more accessible by rolling out a programme he has been involved in for the past 10 years.
The composer previously said his repeated lobbying for the government to embrace the Music in Secondary Schools Trust programme has been met with a “vague fudgy nod”, but he is now encouraging musicians to “get together” to stop talking about it and “get it done”.
The Music In Secondary Schools Trust was established with funding from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and the Charles Wolfson Trust and promises every child “an entitlement to study a classical musical instrument on entry into secondary school, as well as tuition and performance opportunities”.
The programme began at the City of London Academy Highbury Grove secondary school and saw children in Years 7 to 9 receive a free violin each, and weekly music lessons.
Speaking on LBC’s Nick Ferrari At Breakfast show today, Lord Webber said: “For the government to adopt it, or whichever party comes into power next, just adopt it.
“It’s only £200 a child a year and we have every statistic that the government can possibly want for 10 years of what this trust has done.”
The Department for Education has been approached for a comment.
