Pauline Tambling reflects on the closure of Creative & Cultural Skills. We hear this week that Creative & Cultural Skills is to close. This marks another loss for the Sector Skills Council world, which for almost two decades has helped put industry at the heart of influencing national skills and employment policy.

Pat Thomson and Chris Hall from the University of Nottingham have written for CLA about their research into arts-rich primary schools, funded by Freelands Foundation.

This month we bring you updates on the cabinet reshuffle; new findings on cuts to school funding; new findings on young people’s mental health, and an opportunity to apply to be a Trustee of CLA.

This month we bring you Ofsted’s latest subject review findings on Music and Dance; what the idea for the Advanced British Standard might mean for post-16 education in England; new teacher training bursaries for arts subjects; CLA’s latest work with the sports education sector; changes to the CLA; and an opportunity to apply to be a trustee of CLA.

As we finalise our GE2024 Manifesto Asks, we are inviting colleagues to share their views on some of our Asks for the future, and their perspectives on past progress. This month we are looking back to Joe Hallgarten’s 2008 observations on an arts entitlement, and reflections on a vision for a sustained engagement with high quality culture that could help to shape a great childhood – with children being seen as arts creators and leaders, as well as audiences and participants. 

This month we bring you news from the government on their ‘Enrichment Partnerships’ pilot; new research on how the cost of living crisis is affecting young people’s access to arts education; findings on the amount of arts teaching in schools delivered by non-experts; a new campaign to change policy on young people’s access to theatre; a mass survey of young people for the policy changes they want to see; and reporting on the widespread closure of art colleges across England. 

CLA works to collect and amplify the voice of the cultural learning sector to inform debate and push for change on education policy. With a General Election slated for the middle of 2024, we have been busy consulting with the sector to understand the challenges it currently faces and the policy change it wants to see in order to ensure all young people can access a high quality expressive arts education. 

Across England, a whole new cohort of teacher trainees are embarking on their first steps to joining the profession. We’re excited for these trainees and wish them all the best with their journey ahead. But looking at our Initial Teacher Training (ITT) system in the round, we believe there is much to be concerned about. 

Far fewer Arts GCSEs and A Levels are studied across England’s schools than in 2015. Grading has largely returned to pre-pandemic levels. Here are the headlines from 2023.

This month we bring you a new report on the state of the nation’s art education, an evaluation of how arts organisations have grown their civic impact, commentary on the growing ‘enrichment gap’ from the head of the V&A museum, new research on how cultural learning is associated with youth employability and the impact of funding cuts on the arts at The University of East Anglia.