The value of art in our schools is immeasurable. Urgently, we need to bring it back.
Yes, times are hard and budgets are tight. But that’s not why art is drying up in our schools. The truth is more complicated.
Over time, our school curriculum (both primary and secondary) has been re-structured to focus on core subjects and tests at the expense of everything else. The knock-on effects of these changes are damaging art education in the UK.
Schools are measured – and judged – on what’s tested, so teachers have to focus their time and energy on those subjects. On top of that, teachers don’t get proper training in art education, while those who are trained are leaving the profession.
No art teachers. No art rooms. No art lessons. And none of the mind-expanding, question-prompting, wild creativity and confidence art brings to the classroom. It’s all going, going…
Each one of these changes is hard to reverse. You can’t magic up art teachers and art rooms once they’re gone. It’s time to fight for them.
“Art education has rarely been taken as seriously as other subjects in schools, and studying art is all too often understood to be an ‘easy option’”. Vanessa Jackson RA.
Yet art teaches children to question. It wakes up imaginations. It builds confidence. It encourages children to see the world differently and to make their mark.
But making and studying art in our classrooms is getting harder and harder. A curriculum that focuses on core subjects at the expense of everything else means art is being sidelined in our schools.
It’s a short-sighted society that sees art as a ‘low value’ subject. Bring it back to our classrooms.
As AI takes on more and more of the 9-5, a LinkedIn study showed creativity is the one skill businesses need most.
Psst! Recruiters! Have you tried art students?
Yes, art teaches ‘creativity’, but it’s also the best way to learn many ‘soft skills’ employers struggle to find. Thinking on your feet, working as a team and showing empathy can’t be programmed into a machine. So it’s worrying that the number of students studying art, design and technology at GCSE has decreased by 65% since 2010.
We’re running out of creative thinkers just when our workplaces need them most.
Art education isn’t only about becoming an artist. It’s about thinking flexibly and finding the new and the next. Teaching one way of learning and approaching a problem won’t give us the answers society needs – in the workplace as much as the classroom. We need a mix.
The case for art in our classrooms is clear. Join the cause, share the message, help us bring art back to where it’s needed most.