Welcome to another stacked edition of our newsletter. Last month our focus was on enrichment news; this month the Arts in higher education comes to the fore, along with a new government plan for music.
We have seen big political changes this month – Andy Burnham is the new Prime Minister and Lucy Powell takes over from Bridget Phillipson as Secretary of State in the Department for Education. Georgia Gould remains in post as Schools Minister.
Burnham is seen by the sector as being sympathetic to the Arts. He studied English at university and will be the first the Prime Minister to have served as Culture Secretary. He has also appointed James Purnell, his predecessor at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, as his chief of staff.
As reported in Arts Professional, Lisa Nandy remains Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCSM). Nandy has an expanded remit with responsibility for digital being returned to the department, alongside culture, media and sport. DCMS will be in charge of digital transformation and online harms, which it has taken over from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) which has now been scrapped.
Under Keir Starmer, Ian Murray was Minister of State in DCMS and also in the Department for Science Innovation and Trade (DSIT) – he now retains the DCMS role. We will have more to report on the new government’s policy direction of travel in September.
Two arts leaders have been made Peers. Marcus Davey, former CEO and Artistic Director of the Roundhouse, and the new Enrichment Champion for Arts and culture, has been appointed to the House of Lords; writing on Linked In, he said: “It is, of course, a huge honour and a privilege that I will take very seriously. I will endeavour to find ways to enable the voice of young people to be heard and I will work tirelessly to champion the arts in all its guises, including creative education and non-formal learning.”
Ruth Mackenzie has been announced as Arts Minister, serving as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the House of Lords. Mackenzie is Director of Arts at the British Council and formerly co-artistic director at Chichester Festival Theatre, executive director of Nottingham Playhouse, director of Scottish Opera, and general director of Manchester International Festival.
In the meantime, our Latest News digest this month features education sector news:
- Department for Education cuts teaching grants to universities including creative and performing Arts subjects
- Report on student loans describes the system as broken and unfair
- Institute of Fiscal Studies: report on graduate earnings
- New government National Plan for Music: Turn it Up
- DfE data shows suspension and exclusions fall but a rise in abuse
- Behaviour and anti-bullying research from the Department for Education
- Government caps pay of multi-academy trust CEOs
We also have cultural sector news:
- A new report on how universities are vital for driving the creative industries
- Socially engaged Arts organisations – new Europe-wide report
Picking up on all the news on enrichment featured in our last newsletter, for this edition’s Latest Thinking Kerry Hall, from Enrichment for All, shares why Arts and cultural experiences are vital for enrichment, and how cultural partnerships will be key in enabling schools to deliver on the new Enrichment Benchmarks.
Don’t forget our CLA Education Reform Timeline which we published earlier this month – this will keep you up to date on all policy reform and with the many upcoming changes across curriculum, assessment (at all stages) performance measures, technical qualifications and post-16, SEND, inspection, and the National Centre for Arts Education.
In her Research Spotlight article this month, Professor Pat Thomson reports on a new study of the benefits of enhanced sport and music provision during primary and secondary education which chimes with our own Rapid Evidence Review of Music Education.
For those of you working in schools, have an excellent summer break. And to all our colleagues, we look forward to reporting again in the autumn when we hope we will have more news from the new government – and when we will be publishing our updated Blueprint for an Arts-rich education. Have an excellent summer and keep cool!
EDUCATION SECTOR
DfE cuts teaching grants to universities – including creative and performing Arts subjects
On 16 July the government announced that it would be cutting teaching grant funding from performing and creative Arts and humanities university courses. (Former) Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson wrote to the Office for Students (OFS) giving guidance on the annual allocation of the strategic priorities grant (SPG).
The grant for 2026/27 will now no longer support some subjects at all, including archaeology, geography, nursing, computing and history courses, as well as creative Arts and performing Arts, in order that funding for subjects such as medicine, chemistry and engineering is “protected”.
The SPG budget is an annual funding package spent on high-cost courses and other priority areas to supplement teaching costs, the guidance for the delivery of which is published annually by the Department for Education (DfE).
The guidance calls for “High-cost subject courses for specified strategically important subjects” to be prioritised. In cutting funds Phillipson writes about trade-offs: “Maintaining this focus will necessarily require trade-offs elsewhere” – the Arts are included in the “elsewhere”.
Phillipson did recognise that “removing funding from these areas will be challenging”. She said the SPG, along with OfS leadership as the regulator and steward of the funding, is “central to advancing this government’s missions and the growth sectors that underpin our future prosperity”.
She wrote: “My allocation of this funding takes account of the ongoing challenge of this government’s fiscal inheritance, which has required difficult decisions regarding spending priorities. This year’s SPG allocation also comes in the context of increased income for the higher education sector resulting from our decision to raise the cap on tuition fees.”
In the Guardian, Professor Evelyn Welch, vice-chancellor of Bristol University and incoming chair of the Russell Group of universities, described sweeping cuts to Arts and humanities across the sector as “absolutely tragic”, citing her famous daughter – Florence Welch, the singer-songwriter from Florence + the Machine – as an example of the value of a creative Arts education.
“Government is making really difficult decisions,” said Welch, “But in the long run, undermining the creativity in our country is foolish because we are really good at it.” Welch adds that: “I have a real concern that when you are only measuring employability at a very early stage in someone’s life you are missing the growth and the success that take place after that.”
Responding to the announcement, Libby Hackett, Chief Executive of the Russell Group, said: “[The] announcement of further cuts to university funding runs counter to this government’s stated priority of driving economic growth. The impact of today’s cuts will be felt far beyond individual universities.” Hackett talked about the need to sustain “the wider skills pipeline that the country needs across a broad range of disciplines.”
Commenting on the funding reductions, Nolan Smith, director of resources and finance at the OfS said: “‘These reductions in funding will be more sharply felt by some institutions than others. All institutions will now need to plan for how best to adjust their budgets to ensure they continue to deliver high-quality courses and resources to students.”
The news comes amid cuts to Arts and humanities subjects at the University of Nottingham and at the University of Exeter, where the University and College Union claims 85% of staff within the humanities, Arts and social sciences faculty are at risk of redundancy.
Meanwhile, quoted in Arts Professional, UK higher education body GuildHE has expressed “serious concerns” about the effects on social mobility and the sustainability of some of the UK’s leading specialist higher education institutions, and has also referenced our “globally recognised creative industries”.
“This sharp and unmitigated reduction of funding will jettison key support for young people’s social mobility. Cuts to creative Arts provision will undo decades of investment in expanding access to the creative industries in particular.”
CLA COMMENT
This news comes at a time when the government has an ambition to revitalise the Arts in schools and to build an Arts entitlement throughout a child’s schooling – so it does seem strangely counter to this ambition by remove funding which blocks progressin to HE once students leave school.
There is a lack of joining the dots here. In a febrile and financially unstable HE environment, the Arts have been under threat for some time, so this direct blow from government feels particularly harsh.
Previous governments talked a great deal about “strategically important subjects” which created a de facto list of strategically unimportant subjects – essentially the subjects excluded from the EBacc – including the Arts. It is surprising to hear this language coming from Phillipson following her intention to reassert the value of the Arts through a reformed accountability measure and an improved curriculum for Arts subjects in schools.
Our evidenced Arts Education Capabilities Framework sets out all the reasons that Arts subjects and experiences matter for children and young people. Will we have a reformed education system that values the Arts from 5-18 but then shuts down opportunity for those wanting to progress their Arts study and ambitions further?
It also contrasts with the ambition set out in the Creative Industries Sector Plan which positions the creative industries as central to the government’s Industrial Strategy and Plan for Change, to ensure long‑term economic growth across the UK. CLA will soon be publishing a version of our Arts Education Capabilities Framework which focuses on employability – both within and beyond the creative sector.
Our 2026 Report Card highlights that there have been small falls in the total number of students for Creative Arts & Design courses in Higher Education, but that these seem largest among modern universities – these are the providers that play an outsized role in educating students from low participation backgrounds. So, the Arts Entitlement Gap we describe in our Report Cards continues into HE. This year’s edition also highlights particularly large falls in academic staff numbers for Creative Arts and Design students.
The situation might be set to improve for the Arts in schools, but that is certainly not the case in HE and we will await signals from Andy Burnham’s government about whether Arts education will be prioritised throughout the education system.
Treasury Committee Student loans report: Broken and unfair?
The UK Parliament’s Treasury Committee has published a report declaring the student loan system “broken and unfair”. It highlights retroactive changes to loan terms, rising interest rates, and frozen repayment thresholds that leave graduates with much higher debt burdens than they originally anticipated.
Key takeaways from the report and recent data include:
- Massive Outstanding Debt: Total outstanding student loans in England reached £295 billion. Projections indicate this could hit £500 billion by the late 2040s.
- High Average Debt: The average debt for a borrower finishing their course is £47,900.
- Retroactive Terms: The government’s decision to freeze the repayment threshold until at least 2030 means recent graduates will begin paying earlier and more frequently than initially promised when they signed their loan agreements.
- Systemic Inequities: Only 20% to 35% of Plan 2 borrowers are projected to repay their loans in full, turning the system into a heavy, regressive tax on top earners, while interest calculations cause balances to skyrocket for others
The report states that governments past and present have frozen the repayment thresholds of student loans, “despite repeated commitments and legislation that this would not happen. This government must reverse the repayment threshold freeze in the Autumn Budget. It has a moral obligation to deliver this modest fiscal reversal not only to maintain students’ trust in government, but to honour the terms and conditions under which those loans were sold to students.”
It says that the government’s current cap on student loans at 6% interest is a step in the right direction but will only benefit the students who pay back their loan in full, having no impact on the majority of students because the majority have their loan written off before they finish paying it off.
In covering the release of the report, The Guardian reported that the Committee highlighted three instances it said amounted to misselling to students:
- YouTube videos and slides that did not disclose that the government could vary the terms and conditions of loans retrospectively.
- Promotional material suggesting the monthly cost of repayments was comparable with that of a mobile phone contract, which was inaccurate for higher earners.
- The Student Loan Company, which administers government-backed loans for tuition and maintenance, had not made it clear enough in the loan application process that the government could retrospectively change the terms and conditions.
The article also carried the views of the committee’s Chair Meg Hillier and a brief government response. She said it was not common for it to agree that a specific budget measure must be reversed. “Our report is a signal to the Treasury and the Department for Education that this can no longer be ignored,” she said. “Patience has run out.”
She said reversing the threshold freeze would be “a modest change that would not eat up vast resources. Importantly, I believe it would go a long way to repairing the damage done to the trust between graduates and those responsible for overseeing the student loans system,” she said.
A government spokesperson said the committee’s report was an “important contribution to the debate on improving the student finance system, and lays bare the confused, and broken system inherited.”
CLA COMMENT
CLA reports on all the systems around children and young people that can impact their education and their ability to progress through different educational stages. For that reason, we have long reported on issues around student loans.
The government’s challenging fiscal context has meant that young people have had fiscal burdens passed on to them which create barriers even at the point when they are still deciding whether to pursue higher education courses.
It will be interesting to how Andy Burnham’s government will respond to this report. Burnham has previously envisioned a fundamental shift away from the traditional university-centric education system toward equal parity for technical and vocational pathways.
Burnham believes the current school system is overly fixated on degree routes and has advocated for an education system that offers a balanced path between academic and technical education. In Greater Manchester, this has manifested as backing for the MBacc (a technical and vocationally-focused alternative to traditional academic paths).
A slew of initiatives is coalescing around young people’s lives at the moment: from the Milburn report on young people and work; to the Roundhouse Young Creatives Commission; the Star Academies/Baroness Morris independent inquiry into white working class educational outcomes; and a new Campaign for Youth Wellbeing from the London School of Economics (not yet launched).
The interim Milburn report describes the UK as being at risk of a lost generation. “As an ageing population becomes increasingly reliant on the next generation to sustain it, every young person has to have more opportunities to learn or earn.”
Student loans are just one of many problems impacting young people. It would be good to see all interested parties beginning to work together now to create some critical mass behind the calls for change. As this report states, the loan problem for one can no longer be ignored.
As we stated last month, the Milburn findings point to a generation facing shrinking real-world opportunities to connect, create and progress into work, while mental health pressures and economic inactivity continue to rise. But the Arts can have a life-changing impact on young people, at school and beyond. The Arts need to form part of the conversation – so that they can be recognised as being part of the solution.
Institute of Fiscal Studies: report on graduate earnings
A new report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies investigates the lifetime financial returns to starting a full-time undergraduate degree at a UK university before age 21. This is the latest in a series of reports by researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, commissioned by the Department for Education.
The report focuses on the financial returns to higher education: the earnings benefit for individuals over working life and the tax benefits for government net of the cost of financing higher education. It does not seek to provide a complete picture of the impacts of higher education – for instance, on pension contributions, health, happiness or job satisfaction, or potential spillovers to others. The data and results are taken from the 2002 GCSE cohort.
The report finds that:
- On average, graduates earn substantially more than non-graduates in their 30s
- Earnings gaps between graduates and non-graduates will persist throughout their working lives
- Differences in the background characteristics and prior attainment of graduates and non-graduates explain around half of these raw lifetime earnings gaps
- The earnings of the 2002 GCSE cohort are informative for policymakers and students today
- Expected returns remain large and positive after accounting for taxes and the costs of doing a degree
- Expected individual lifetime returns are lower for students with lower prior attainment, but still positive on average
Some of the report (section 4.1) goes into detail on outcomes by subject which can be summed up as follows in their opening paragraph to this section which opens with this paragraph: “In general, median earnings of female and male graduates in each subject were very similar at age 25, although across all subjects male graduates saw faster real-terms growth in median earnings after that age. After age 25, medicine and economics were the highest-earning subjects, while creative and performing Arts were the lowest-earning.”
CLA COMMENT
It is worth looking back to our opening piece on cuts to grants to universities for Arts subjects, in which a university vice chancellor talks about the error of measuring employability and success at an early stage in someone’s life and missing the growth and success that can come later, and also of not seeing the Arts as important, even if salaries are not always as high as in other sectors.
In the Arts in Schools: Foundations of the Future report we write about the danger of prioritising learning to count over learning to create, and DCMS and the creative industries sector would surely agree: the Creative Industries Sector Plan sees the creative industries as a significant area for growth.
New National Plan for Music: Turn it Up
The government has announced a major new national plan for music spanning investment across the cultural and education sectors. Our coverage is largely focused on education sector impact. The plan can be found here. Key highlights include:
- The government is committed to back “thousands of grassroots projects, over 40,000 artists and businesses, and millions of children to secure a thriving music industry.”
- The Music Growth Package, announced as part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan last year, will get a £15 million cash injection from Arts Council England, bringing it to £45 million, which is predicted to support more than 2,000 projects and at least 40,000 artists and music professionals over the next three years. Red tape is also set to be cut for music festivals, with longer licences to provide security for organisers supporting great live outdoor music moments.
- £12.5 million – also from the dormant assets fund – has been allocated for libraries to be transformed into music lending libraries with free studio spaces and live performance opportunities – inspired by the Culture Secretary’s visit with Ed Sheeran to Brighten the Corners in Ipswich in 2024.
- £10 million of dormant assets funding has been allocated by the National Lottery Community Fund for creative mentoring for care experienced young people, helping them build trusted relationships with creative practitioners through 1:1 support
Michael Dugher, former CEO of UK Music, has also been appointed as the government’s first Music Champion to be a “dedicated advocate for the sector”. Dugher is also a former Labour politician who served as shadow secretary of state for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2015-16.
Announcing the measures, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said, “At a time when too many people feel disconnected, music has never mattered more”. She added that “pop is getting posher, and that must change. Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. After a decade of mindless vandalism that stripped culture and creativity from too many classrooms and communities, we are putting music back at the heart of education, investing in creative careers and backing grassroots music across the country.”
There was a strong emphasis on music belonging to everyone, “not just the privileged few.”
There are two chapters in the plan which are relevant for the Arts education sector:
Education and Skills (chapter 2)
Chapter two of the Plan – the sub-title is nurturing young people’s creativity and the workforce of the future – sets out the government’s strategy to strengthen music education and develop the future workforce for the music and wider creative industries. It focuses on improving access to music education, addressing skills shortages, and creating clearer pathways from school into creative careers.
The chapter outlines a long-term strategy to improve access to music education, modernise the curriculum, strengthen specialist and technical training, and ensure the UK develops a diverse, highly skilled workforce capable of supporting the future growth and global competitiveness of its music and creative industries. Key points summarise what we already know from earlier announcements:
Improving music education
- Announced in November 2025: The government aims to make high-quality music education available to all pupils, regardless of background. It recognises concerns over unequal access, the large attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils in Music GCSE, and the restrictive impact of the EBacc.
Curriculum reform
- Announced in November 2025. As we already know, the EBacc has been removed to allow greater subject choice; a revised National Curriculum will be introduced in September 2028, providing all pupils with a stronger musical foundation and greater exposure to diverse musical styles; and Music qualifications at Key Stage 4 will be reviewed, with updated GCSEs introduced from September 2029.
National Centre for Arts and Music Education
- Announced in March 2025. Apparently still set to launch this autumn with a funding allocation of £13 million over three years, to support teacher professional development, curriculum implementation, enrichment activities, and creative careers guidance, as well as overseeing the Music Hub network (from August 2027).
Music Hubs
- England’s 43 Music Hubs, funded with almost £80m annually until 2026/27, will continue providing instrumental tuition, ensembles, curriculum support, and extracurricular music opportunities. An additional £25 million, announced November 2025, will provide more than130,000 instruments and music technology resources.
Support for disadvantaged pupils
- Announced in September 2024. A £2 million government-funded pilot, alongside funding from Arts Council England, Youth Music, and partners, will support up to 1,000 disadvantaged and SEND pupils through free music lessons, instrument or vocal training, and music examinations.
Specialist creative education
- Continued investment supports specialist music schools, Centres for Advanced Training, and higher education institutions through bursaries and strategic funding.
The government supports specialist providers such as East London Arts and Music (ELAM)and is establishing BRIT North in Bradford to develop industry-ready creative talent.
Post-16 pathways
- Announced in 2025. The government plans to expand technical education through V Levels, additional T Levels, and the possible introduction of T Levels in Arts, music, and performing Arts.
Addressing workforce skills shortages
- The music industry faces shortages in technical roles, including live events production and audiovisual technicians. Government and industry will develop a Creative Industries Jobs Plan to strengthen the skills pipeline.
Apprenticeships and workforce development
- Apprenticeship reforms include a new Growth and Skills Levy, greater employer flexibility, and a £2,000 hiring incentive for smaller employers recruiting young apprentices. New apprenticeship pathways include Screen and Audio Production Assistant roles and AI leadership courses to help the sector adapt to technological change.
Enrichment and Access (chapter 3)
This chapter outlines the government’s plan to broaden access to music education, enrichment activities, and career opportunities so that all young people, regardless of background, can participate in and benefit from music.
The focus is on making music opportunities more inclusive by increasing investment in enrichment programmes, reducing financial barriers, expanding access through schools and community settings, strengthening career pathways, and supporting organisations that nurture young musical talent at every stage of development.
Key principles:
- Universal access to music: Every child should have opportunities to engage with music beyond classroom lessons through schools, libraries, youth clubs, and community settings.
- Reducing inequality: The government recognises that household income is the biggest barrier to participation in extracurricular music activities and aims to make music and cultural experiences accessible to all, particularly disadvantaged young people.
Major initiatives:
Chapter 3 outlines the major initiatives, elements of which are relevant for Music, but some also span other art forms/disciplines:
- School enrichment: The new Enrichment Framework announced in June (see our coverage here) sets expectations for schools and colleges to provide Arts and cultural opportunities. An investment of £22.5 million over three years will support up to 400 schools in deprived areas to deliver youth-led enrichment programmes, including music.
- Every Child Can programme: including Music in Libraries (£12.5 million) and Creative Mentoring for Care Experienced Young People (£10 million) – we reported on both of these in early July.
- Discover Creative Careers (£9 million): A refreshed programme designed to help young people understand and access careers in the creative industries, including music, providing:
- Career inspiration and resources for secondary school and college students
- Employability and networking support for those aged 16+
- Paid traineeships and employment opportunities for 18–24-year-olds
- Strong partnerships with music industry organisations to improve career pathways
You can see more detail on this scheme below.
The plan then outlines existing support from Arts Council England, including that 91% of Arts Council England-funded music organisations provide learning opportunities for children and young people and that more than £4.3 million has been allocated to National Youth Music Organisations (NYMOs) in 2026/27, supporting high-quality training across a range of musical genres.
They cite examples such as Open Up Music, promoting inclusive music-making for disabled young people; the National Youth Orchestra; and UD, supporting Black and culturally diverse young people into music careers. Other funded organisations are referenced, such as Brighter Sound, Royal Ballet and Opera, Sound Connections, and Youth Music.
Discover Creative Careers
As covered in Arts Professional, DCMS is investing £7 million into a scheme aimed at widening access to the creative industries for young people. The Discover Creative Careers programme is targeted at 11-24-year-olds group, with a particular focus on those from under-represented backgrounds and underserved regions. It aims to “connect young people with employers” and provide a clear routes into creative careers.
It is being delivered by the new Creative Careers Collective, a national consortium comprising lead partner Futures For All alongside Creative UK and Creative Access.
Additional delivery partners including Arts Council Northern Ireland and ATG Entertainment will work alongside the collective to “enhance programme delivery” and “widen reach across all four nations in the UK”.
Underpinned by a single UK-wide digital platform, Discover Creative Careers will connect young people with employers and provide a clear route into creative careers. Activity such as work experience, talks, webinars and networking events will run year-round, with “focused national moments” including a UK-wide Discover Month in November.
The programme will also support teachers, parents and careers advisers to help young people navigate opportunities in the sector. Creative Industries Minister Ian Murray said: “The UK’s creative industries are the envy of the world, but that strength only holds if we engage the breadth of talent this country has to offer.”
The scheme reflects one of the core commitments of the government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan, which promised to “deliver a refreshed UK-wide £9 million creative careers service.”
CLA COMMENT
The two new elements announced in the Plan are the £22.5m ‘Every Child Can’ funding allocation (if not the commitment to the £132.5m dormant assets fund from which it comes which we have known about since 2025), and the £7m investment in Discover Creative Careers. The rest of the announcement is largely a gathering together of lots of other relevant announcements made since 2025 – as they pertain to music in particular.
The commitment is impressive and comprehensive but creating a music plan rather than a wider Arts plan – repeating the Conservative government’s habitual emphasis on and separation of music – always seems to create an art-form hierarchy which feels problematic for the Arts education sector. Former Education Secretary Michael Gove and Culture Secretary Ed Vaizey both described music as the highest art form when in office.
The Plan does, however, provide commitment to balancing access for all with a focus on inequity – which is articulated here as universal access alongside a commitment to reducing inequality. We have been interested in how the government will hold and invest in these twin ambitions through its funding allocations and the roll out of its education reforms so it’s good to see both ambitions explicitly reinforced here.
CLA’s 2026 Report Card identifies the sharp decline in Arts apprenticeship take-up between 2024 and 2025 and CLA’s ongoing consultation for its new Blueprint for an Arts-rich education has identified careers as a significant area for cultural sector support.
As well as providing personal benefits for children and young people, Arts education should be positioned to build a future-ready workforce. The Arts sector needs to see itself as providing education for employment, removing barriers and creating opportunities in order to build a creative workforce across all sectors, and a trained and diverse workforce for a thriving cultural and creative industries sector.
The creative talent pipeline starts in schools, including in primary. The sector needs to be relevant to national education, skills and industrial strategies and to work with school careers programmes, connecting with post-16 education, including adopting the Gatsby Benchmarks, and offering work experience and entry-level jobs through apprenticeships.
The new National Centre for Arts Education has a remit to promote creative careers and provide careers guidance so it will be interesting to see how this slots into the creative careers landscape alongside the three very different organisations which are part of the new Creative Careers Collective.
DfE data shows suspension and exclusions fall but a rise in abuse
The DfE has released its annual data for exclusions and suspensions in England. The information includes reasons, duration, pupil characteristics and data on independent review panels. Key figures are:
- The rate and number of suspensions decreased from 2023/24 to 2024/25 and at represent 913,000 – a 4% decrease
- The rate and number of permanent exclusions also decreased from 2023/24 to 2024/25 to 9,900 – a 9% decrease
- Persistent disruptive behaviour continued to be the most common reason for suspension.
Schools Week reported on the data release, highlighting that“despite the picture improving overall, schools have recorded more suspensions for racist abuse and sexual misconduct.”
Comparing reasons for suspensions in 2023-24 and 2024-25, there has been an 8% in those recorded for racist abuse; 12% for sexual misconduct; and a 4% cent increase in suspensions for having an offensive weapon.
Pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) or with SEND continued to be more likely to be suspended or permanently excluded in 2024-25. The suspension rate for FSM-eligible pupils was four times that of pupils who were not eligible, and FSM-eligible pupils had a rate of permanent exclusions six times higher than non-FSM peers.
Pupils with an education, health and care plan had a suspension rate of 26.45 while pupils with SEN support had a rate of 28.86.
Year 9 pupils continued to have the highest rate of suspension and years 9 and 10 had the highest rate of permanent exclusion. The suspension rate for boys was more than 1.5 times that of girls last year; boys also had a permanent exclusion rate more than double that of girls.
CLA COMMENT
These numbers are worryingly high even with the falls in the number of suspensions and exclusions. We are still awaiting the pupil engagement framework which we now think will be published this autumn.
The Arts can play an important role in fostering inclusion, engagement and belonging. The active, participatory nature of Arts subjects creates learning experiences that are inherently motivating, tapping into young people’s creativity, curiosity, imagination, enthusiasm for critical interpretations and desire for self-expression.
As our Rapid Evidence Reviews find, Arts education builds pro-social behaviours and plays an important role in developing personal, social and creative wellbeing, enabling children and young people to thrive and flourish, achieve, belong and contribute; to develop resilience and experience joy, fun, delight and fulfilment.
We do hope that the government can see that is helpful to position the Arts as part of the solution, not as a later intervention. Arts and creativity should be built into how schools and the wider education system think about inclusive curriculum, pedagogy, engagement and belonging, rather than being brought in reactively once a child has disengaged or when a problem needs fixing.
The current period of curriculum, assessment and SEND reform creates an opportunity to design the role of Arts education into inclusion, engagement and belonging strategies from the beginning. Valuing the Arts for inclusion requires universal ambitions; inclusive design principles; conditions for participation; and the adaptations or system shifts required to make those ambitions real for all children.
Department for Education behaviour and anti-bullying research
The DfE plans to produce an evidence-based toolkit for schools as part of a package of measures around managing pupil behaviour, reducing preventable exclusions and preventing bullying. To undertake this the DfE has commissioned ImpactEd and Etio to undertake the research. At this stage they are looking for schools and school leaders to sign up and express interest. The form to use for this can be found here.
Impact Ed and Etio write: “The commitment involves interviews with teachers, school leaders and pupils (either in person or online), where we’ll discuss your school’s strategies for addressing bullying, exclusions, and behaviour. Interviews will be between 30-45 minutes per participant group, and we are looking to speak to at least 2 staff members and 4 pupilsper school. All pupils we interview will need to be accompanied by a member of school staff.”
They are also inviting schools to work with them in greater depth. “This is completely optional and would include us speaking to your pupils and their parents about their views of these areas; in-school observation; review of school documentation (e.g. your school’s SEND/inclusion policy, behaviour incident log, or suspensions log).”
Responding to the form does not guarantee participation. Following the school sampling process, they will contact eligible schools to take part in the study. The final participating schools will receive £200 as a thank you for their time and contributions.
CLA COMMENT
We are drawing attention to this in the CLA newsletter as there will be schools who are using expressive Arts subjects as part of their approach to managing these issues, and it would be helpful if those schools could consider offering evidence for the research.
Empathy is one of the seven capabilities set out in our Arts Education Capabilities Framework which highlights how the Arts can support the development of pro-social behaviours.
Government caps pay of multi-academy trust CEOs
As reported by The Guardian, the government is working to cap the pay of multi-academy trust CEOs at £174,000. The article states that the era of academy school leaders in England receiving “banker-style salaries” and hefty annual increases may soon be over, with the government to introduce limits on executive pay.
TES coverage can be seen here. Nearly 100 academy chief executives earn more than £200,000 a year, with pay in academy trusts equating to anything from less than £5 a pupil to more than £150. Only a quarter of the high earners were women.
Prior to Andy Burnham’s appointment as Prime Minister, the education secretary was expected to announce a cap of £174,000 on academy trust executive salaries, with government approval required to advertise pay packages above that amount – and to limit future pay increases to the same annual awards agreed for teachers.
Sources told The Guardian that Bridget Phillipson would require trusts running academy schools, including multi-academy trusts (Mats) responsible for state schools, to follow executive pay rules similar to those used in the NHS and further education colleges.
Schools Week also picked up on the story via a Q&A interview they held with Schools Standards Minister Georgia Gould who said: “The white paper earlier this year made clear that we’d take steps to make sure executive pay was proportionate and justifiable. We’re looking at the best way to do that, but nothing is off the table.”
Gould added her comments applied to “overall salaries but it also goes for some of the excessive increases we see in pay year on year, which can be out of kilter with both peers carrying out similar roles and the rises received by the wider workforce”.
Leora Cruddas, CEO of the Confederation of School Trusts said: “We agree with the minister that the principle is that Trust boards set executive pay, and that in doing so they need to be mindful that these are public funds. We need the most talented leaders in our schools and trusts – those who have demonstrated that they can make a difference to children’s lives. Trust boards must be able to recruit and retain those leaders in our school system.”
CLA COMMENT
MAT CEO pay is just one of many things MAT budgets have to cover. At a time when school funds are under so much pressure, and when there seems to be so little funding for Arts teachers, resources and enrichment – and many other things – it does seem sensible to have a cap on MAT CEO pay. These are big, complex jobs but this is public funding, and this is not the private sector; some guardrails would be helpful to prevent damaging decisions by some bad actors in the sector.
CULTURAL SECTOR
New report reveals universities are vital for driving creative industries growth
A new report from the creative industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) entitled ‘Creative Clusters, Geography and University-Industry Links’ reveals the vital role universities play in supporting place-based growth and innovation.
Between 2011 and 2024, the relative importance of the creative industries to regional economies increased for every region in the UK. The report explores the role of universities in supporting place-based growth and innovation. It also demonstrates how they can adapt to local creative economy strengths and maximise industry-education partnerships.
The research shows that beyond the contribution of graduates, other university products such as spinouts – companies set up within them to commercialise intellectual property or academic research – and research collaborations can help to support businesses and local growth.
According to the new report universities play an important role in local Arts ecosystems. Key findings are that:
- Universities have a vital role in catalysing, growing and sustaining creative clusters. Beyond the contribution of graduates, other forms of university – industry interactions, such as spinouts, research collaborations and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, can help to support businesses and local growth.
- University spinouts within the creative industries often stay within the area of the university in which they were originally founded.
- The prevalence of high levels of university/industry interactions in London, Cambridge and Oxford points to the benefits that can come from the development of strong university level technology transfer mechanisms, which can incentivise commercialisation and provide expertise to allow university-derived knowledge to be scaled up.
- The rates at which universities collaborate with local creative industry businesses vary significantly. This points to the wide range of approaches universities use to successfully engage with and support creative industries.
- Universities play a practical role in enabling creative innovation ecosystems. However, the report finds however that these relationships remain uneven across the UK, particularly in rural and coastal areas, highlighting opportunities to strengthen local innovation ecosystems through deeper university-business partnerships.
- The scale of creative jobs increases in the creative industries is substantial relative to the size of the locality. For instance, between 2022/24 there was an increase of 17,000 creative jobs in the East of England, 13,000 in the North West, 7,000 in Scotland, 5,000 in Northern Ireland and 3,000 in the North East and Wales.
- There is some evidence that the gap in creative industries employment between London and the South East and the rest of the UK may have narrowed (although this may be explained by the rise of hybrid working).
- The report lists the 15 cities and towns which have seen the highest net creation of creative industry jobs between 2022/24.
CLA COMMENT
At a time of cutbacks in university creative courses, the report shows the vital importance of how having a graduate pipeline, departmental expertise, resources and geographic coverage for the health of our cultural sector and creative industries. It’s a complex and interconnected ecology and the erosion of the Arts and humanities in HE is a problem at both ends – both for the school system and for the creative industries.
Socially engaged Arts organisations – new Europe-wide report
The pan-European Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts has launched Constellations of Change, a landmark report into the field of socially engaged Arts (SEA) across Europe to which a number of UK-based organisations submitted evidence as one of 39 countries involved. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation was one of the report’s supporters.
Socially engaged Arts are collaborative and participatory creative practices where artists and local communities co-create art to address political, environmental, or social issues. Instead of focusing on a final physical product, this work emphasises dialogue, shared decision-making, and collective transformation. Social practice is also a term employed to describe this work in the Arts sector.
At a time of growing inequality, polarisation and declining trust in institutions throughout Europe, Constellations of Change makes the case for greater recognition and support for socially engaged Arts, and the contribution it can make to communities, civic life and social cohesion.
This study maps 1,128 organisations across European countries – the most comprehensive study of its kind – and recognises the broad and varied impact of the many socially engaged artists and organisations working across Europe. It strengthens the evidence base for the field, highlighting its unique role in translating global challenges into local action by harnessing creativity to bring communities together, address systemic issues and imagine more inclusive and sustainable futures.
Combining survey findings, policy analysis, case studies and practitioner perspectives, the report offers a comprehensive overview of SEA organisations across Europe. It demonstrates the field’s contribution to addressing a wide range of societal challenges—from strengthening civic engagement and wellbeing to supporting inclusion, participation and environmental action—while outlining the changes needed for the field to thrive. The report concludes with a set of recommendations for policymakers, funders and practitioners to strengthen support for socially engaged Arts at local, national and EU levels.
Summarising trends, the report identifies some of the changes underway, including the role of the artist:
- SEA organisations shifting from short-term interventions to an emphasis on long-term, place-based practices embedded in communities.
- The role of the artist is changing; they are increasingly operating as hybrid figures – facilitators, mediators, organisers, caregivers, and system stewards – working across health, education, governance, and environmental contexts. As a result, SEA is no longer confined to the cultural sector but is becoming a distributed practice embedded across public life and multiple institutional domains.
- SEA interventions are increasingly iterative and embedded, designed for continuity rather than fixed project cycles, and shaped by conditions of permanent adaptation.
A central question for the field emerges: whether SEA is recognised and resourced as a core form of public infrastructure, or continues to operate primarily as a grassroots, compensatory and adaptive response to systemic gaps.
UK contributors to the report included Cardboard Citizens, Chisenhale Dance Space, English National Opera, International Teaching Artists Collaborative (ITAC, Open Eye Gallery, Spare Tyre Theatre, Theatr Clwyd, Whitechapel Gallery and Wildworks.
CLA COMMENT
The report talks about the field’s place-based and community-rooted nature presenting a significant opportunity for policy implementation and “amplifying the systemic shift already emerging towards citizen-led democracy and governance in the face of complexity.”
The report identifies that the scale at which the sector is able to realise this potential will largely be determined by the willingness of policymakers and funders to work hand in hand with organisations and practitioners as collaborators, to navigate rapidly shifting contexts and challenges. It’s an interesting shift for the Arts education sector and one that the International Teaching Artists Collaborative (ITAC) England Hub – one of the contributors to the report – will surely actively be considering.
