Continuing decline in the hours of arts teaching and number of arts teachers in England’s secondary schools
07 August 2019
Department for Education figures published in June 2019 show that between 2010 and 2018 the number of hours the arts were taught in England’s secondary schools fell by -23% and the number of arts teachers fell by -22%.
In the last two years the number of arts teachers, and hours the arts were taught both fell by -7%. The number of children in England’s secondary schools went up by +3% over the same period.
The EBacc subjects of History and Geography have seen rises in the number of teachers and hours taught of between +12% and +27% since 2010.
- Design and Technology is experiencing the greatest falls with -40% fewer teachers and -43% fewer hours of teaching
- Drama teacher numbers have fallen by -20% and the hours taught by -15%. These hours include teaching time from non-specialists
- Art & Design teaching hours have declined by -16%
- Music teacher numbers are down by -13%
Between 2010 and 2018 the number of children in England’s secondary schools increased by +2% to 3,327,970 according to the January 2019 school census data.
All data is from the Department for Education School Workforce in England statistics, and the school census data recorded in January of each year.
Headcount of teachers by subject
|
2010 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
Percentage change 2016 to 2018 |
Percentage change 2010 to 2018 |
|
History |
15,000 |
16,600 |
16,700 |
16,855 |
+2% |
+12% |
|
Geography |
13,500 |
15,800 |
15,600 |
15,807 |
0% |
+17% |
|
Design and Technology |
15,000 |
11,300 |
10,200 |
9,010 |
-20% |
-40% |
|
Music |
7,500 |
6,700 |
6,500 |
6,525 |
-3% |
-13% |
|
Drama |
11,100 |
9,200 |
9,000 |
8,899 |
-3% |
-20% |
|
Art & Design |
13,200 |
12,000 |
11,800 |
11,874 |
-1% |
-10% |
|
All arts subjects |
46,800 |
39,200 |
37,500 |
36,308 |
-7% |
-22% |
Hours taught by subject
|
2010 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
Percentage change 2016 to 2018 |
Percentage change 2010 to 2018 |
History |
153,400 |
182,000 |
185,700 |
190,873 |
+5% |
+24% |
Geography |
138,700 |
170,100 |
172,700 |
176,241 |
+4% |
+27% |
Design and Technology |
119,900 |
86,500 |
76,300 |
68,126 |
-21% |
-43% |
Music |
92,700 |
83,600 |
80,200 |
79,305 |
-5% |
-14% |
Drama |
95,000 |
82,900 |
80,800 |
80,819 |
-3% |
-15% |
Art & Design |
159,800 |
136,500 |
133,500 |
133,713 |
-2% |
-16% |
All arts subjects |
467,400 |
389,500 |
370,800 |
361,963 |
-7% |
-23% |
Data for Dance is not available in the released DfE figures.
Download this blog as a pdf: Arts teaching hours and workforce 2019.
Image credit: Leeds Museums Disc 18-1097