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GCSE Arts Entries 2010-2022

Since 2010 GCSE Arts* entries have fallen -40% and in the last year overall entries declined by -4%.

GCSE results were published today on 25 August 2022. Results from the Joint Council for Qualifications show that between 2021 and 2022 there was a decrease of -4% in Arts GCSE entries. Every Arts subject recorded a decrease, despite cohort numbers increasing +2% from 2021.

Particularly hard hit this year are Dance with a -7% decline, and Drama and Performing Arts both with a -6% decline. We do know that some schools during the pandemic were reluctant to take forward courses that required students to work and perform together, despite examining bodies adjusting requirements. Most students getting their results today were making their GCSE choices just as the Covid-19 pandemic started in the Spring of 2020.

Since 2010 there has been a massive decline in Arts GCSE entries of -40%, from 673,739 entries in 2010 to 404,009 in 2022.

Art and Design entries have increased 11% since 2010, however colleagues at NSEAD (National Society for Education in Art and Design) caution that their members report schools moving pupils from Design and Technology courses to Art and Design, artificially buoying up numbers. Design and Technology has seen the greatest decline in entries since 2010 with -71% less entries, and of course Art and Design entries have declined -2% this year.

A Level Arts Entries 2010 to 2022

Overall there has been a 5% increase in Arts A Level entries since last year. Art & Design has seen a 6% increase, which tracks the 6% increase in cohort numbers (215,006 students in Year 13 this year compared to 202,282 students last year). Drama A Level entries are up 3% and Music 5%. There has been no change in Dance or Performing Arts A Level entries and Media Film and TV studies saw a 1% increase in entries.

There has been a heartening increase in the number of students taking Design & Technology A Level, with entries up 15% 2021 to 2022.

We would caution that the increase in cohort of 6% means this is not a real terms increase in entries year on year. The steep declines over the last decade have not been made up yet with staggering decreases in numbers of Art A Levels awarded; Design & Technology received -42% less entries in 2022 than 2010, Drama -41% less, Music -40% less, Dance -47% less.

Download the 2022 roundup below

• CLA GCSE A level entries 2022 (pdf version)

• CLA GCSE A level entries 2022 (word version)
  

Notes

*We define arts subjects as Art and Design, Dance, Design and Technology, Drama, Media/Film/TV Studies, Music and Performing/Expressive Arts

**Dance GCSE and A Level numbers are from the examining board AQA and are for all the UK. JCQ only reports Dance GCSE numbers within the PE results.

GCSE and A Level entry numbers are from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) annual results tables.

Student numbers are taken from the Department for Education Schools, Pupils and their characteristics statistics.

Using 2010 GCSE and A Level entries as a baseline

The CLA has been reporting on Arts GCSE results since 2012 and have always taken 2010 as the baseline for entries. This was because the 2010 entries were unaffected by the suite of hostile measures such as the EBacc introduced after the Coalition government came to power in 2010. Increasingly 2010 feels like a very long time ago in a very different landscape for young people, GCSEs and Arts subjects. We include the 2010 data for completeness in this year’s results but will consider moving the baseline to 2015 from next year. 2015 marks the start of the current Conservative government.

Sam Cairns, Co-Director, Cultural Learning Alliance