Art, Craft and Design Education in the UK is at crisis point.  

A recent report, published on the 27th of June 2023, by the APPG for Art, Craft and Design Education, has highlighted the crisis faced by educators as a period of existential threat having found that 67% of Art and Design Practitioners surveyed are considering leaving teaching, compared to 44% of all teachers (2022 NEU survey). 

We are concerned that unless the Government changes course and guarantees to fund and support art and design education properly, many pupils will miss out on a crucial element of their education associated with raising self-esteem, cultural and personal enrichment, better mental health outcomes, and opportunities for vocational training. 

Without proper funding and support for practitioners, students will suffer damaging cuts to the quality of education and services they have the right to receive. 

The report, authorised by the APPG for Art, Craft, and Design Education, identifies several recommendations to save art and design education:

1) Address the deficit in art and design primary initial teacher training

Prospective primary school teachers undertaking PGCEs only receive 12 hours of creative arts (music, art & design, dance and drama) and 3-12 hours of art and design training over four-year courses. 

 

2) Invest in subject specific continuing professional development for art and design teachers 

Art and design teachers are getting insufficient training to develop their skills - 21% of secondary art and design teachers are not getting regular access to necessary in-post teacher training. Primary art leads report having to attend subject-specific teacher training in their personal time and paying for part or all the training themselves.

 

3) Address art and design teacher wellbeing and workload 

86.4% of art and design teachers have found their workload to increase across the last five years, with 67% considering leaving teaching, compared to 44% of all teachers (2022 NEU survey). 

 

Furthermore, 4/5 of art and design teachers reported that wellbeing and workload were the two biggest disincentives to stay in teaching, and that these aspects were worse during and after the pandemic.

 

4) Address teacher retention, recruitment and representation in art and design 

Recruitment and retention are too low and forecasted to get worse, and there is a need to diversify the ethnic makeup of art and design educators to develop more inclusive and accurate cultural representation in art and design education across the UK.  

 

5) Investigate the impact of the pandemic on the cost-of-living crisis on teaching and lost learning in art and design 

Budget constraints have forced schools to cut the number of teaching assistants and school trips - art and design is often the first department to experience budget cuts.

 

By signing this petition and putting it to Parliament we can urge MPs and policy makers to defend art, craft, and design education by implementing these recommendations and defending our young people's right to high quality education.