WHAT THE EVIDENCE TELLS US
CLA gathers new data and high-quality evidence to support better understanding of the value of an arts-rich education for all children and young people. It uses this to craft an accessible new evidence-based value narrative and disseminate it to influence change.
Quick links
CLA is pleased to be publishing its second annual Report Card. As last year, our second edition distills CLA’s evidence work and reporting into a clear set of five annual indicators, based – as far as possible – on national time series data drawn from government data sets. Occasionally we broaden the scope of these annual indicators in new editions of the Report Card when we are able to include new evidence – for example, in this new 2025 edition we have added Arts vocational qualifications data and also important data on an ‘Arts entitlement gap’.
CLA is pleased to be publishing its first annual Report Card, providing an overview of the current state of arts education in England and making the case for a new policy approach. We are expanding our reporting across five new key indicators to provide a detailed survey of children’s and young people’s access to the Arts through their schooling in England. We now have a very clear view of what has been happening to Expressive Arts education in state schools over the past 14 years – since the introduction of the EBacc – and it is a stark picture of erosion and inequality.
CLA’s Evidence and Value Narrative Working Group, chaired by Jacqui O’Hanlon, has developed an Arts Education Capabilities Framework in order to build a shared language and understanding of the personal and social benefits that Expressive Arts subjects and experiences bring to children and young people.
The new Framework can be used in a variety of ways by schools and cultural organisations to support case making; programme development and planning; and review and evaluation.
All the capabilities and their benefits that are set out in the Framework have been drawn from a combination of an examination of robust national and international evidence and deep professional expertise.
This Framework will be digitised and linked to the aggregated findings from our upcoming CLA Rapid Evidence Reviews across Art & Design, Dance, Drama, and Music – as well as to other national and international research and evidence – to creative an interactive tool through which users can access the key findings from a wide body of evidence across each of the seven capabilities1.
A short-form version of the Framework is set out below, and you can see the long-form version here. An article on the Framework can be read here.
A new capabilities framework for arts education: short-form version
Why a broad and balanced education matters
As is set out in the Cultural Learning Alliance Capabilities Framework, the value of the knowledge, skills and experiences that children and young people acquire through Expressive Arts subjects can be understood through three pillars: being, becoming and belonging; relating;and critical and creative thinking. These in turn encompass seven evidenced capabilities that have personal benefits for the child – which lead to societal benefits. You can read an article about the Framework here.
BEING, BELONGING & BECOMING
- Agency: autonomy, confidence, identity, → independent working and active citizenship
- Wellbeing: flourishing, pleasure, resilience → adaptability, mental health and emotional wellbeing benefits
RELATING
- Collaboration: connection, co-operation, participation → working effectively with others; teamwork
- Communication: listening, relationship building, self-expression → interpersonal skills, social cohesion
- Empathy: compassion, open-mindedness, understanding of difference/s → social bonding, civic engagement
CREATIVE & CRITICAL THINKING
- Creativity: curiosity, imagination, originality → innovation, cultural maker/consumer
- Interpretation: critical thinking, meaning making, reflective judgement → challenging disinformation; informed decision making
CLA’s Evidence and Value Narrative Working Group met between October 2023 and April 2024 as a task and finish group focusing on the value of an arts-rich education for every child and young person – with a particular focus on social impact.
The Group oversaw the creation of an accessible evidence-based value narrative in the form of the new Capabilities Framework. It also established CLA’s evidence gathering and analysis approach, working with the RSC to develop plans for an arts education evidence hub.
The Group included representatives from several UK universities, together with leading arts education organisations and specialists. It considered a range of evidence gathering approaches, including university-led Rapid Evidence Reviews (commissioned in 2024 and due in late summer 2025).
Group Members:
Jacqui O’Hanlon MBE
Director of Learning & National Partnerships, RSC (Chair)
Eleonora Belfiore
Assistant Professor of Cultural Policy Studies, University of Warwick
Senay Camgöz
Policy Adviser, SOLT/UK Theatre
Anna Cutler
Independent consultant
Dr Steph Hawke
Head of Impact and Learning, Curious Minds
Anthea Hollist
Head of Qualifications & Assessment, University of the Arts, London
Prof. Penny Hay
Professor of Imagination, Bath Spa University
Matthew McCallum
Associate Director: Programmes, Arts & Humanities Research Council
Dave O’Brien
Chancellor’s Fellow in Cultural & Creative Industries at the University of Edinburgh; co-investigator at the Arts & Humanities Research Council’s Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre (AHRC PEC)
Dr David Parker
Independent consultant
Catherine Sutton
Head of Programme: Education, PHF
Prof. Pat Thompson
School of Education, University of Nottingham; CLA Senior Evidence Associate
Baz Ramaiah
CLA Policy Associate
Derri Burdon
CLA Co-Chair
Sally Bacon OBE
CLA Co-Chair
Tina Ramdeen
CLA Trustee
CLA secretariat
Hanna Lambert, Curious Minds
Remit
To advise on, oversee and develop/commission CLA’s evidence gathering and analysis, on the value of an arts-rich education for every child and young person, with a particular focus on social impact. To advise on, oversee and develop/commission/test an accessible evidence-based value narrative, in order to support better understanding of the value of an arts-rich education for all children and young people, and to support advocacy in this field.
Timeframe
October 2023 to spring 2025.
Key questions:
- What we are trying to influence with evidence (see CLA Strategy Map)
- Who are we trying to influence with evidence and how? (see CLA Strategy Map)
- Focus: what’s already known/what are the evidence gaps? What new research is needed? What questions are we trying to answer?
- What type/mix of research approaches and methods will best answer the research questions and engage our target audiences?
- How can we engage audiences with the research process and findings to maximise research influence (value narrative)?
We occasionally feature films that are particularly helpful for case-making. In 2021 CLA was delighted to have a presentation at our autumn Advisory Panel meeting from Andreas Schleicher, Director, Directorate of Education and Skills at the OECD.
The CLA Key Research Findings are helpful for anyone wanting to make the case for arts subjects or cultural learning. Read more.
Our Key Research Findings use evidence from cohort studies with large sample sizes, and research with control groups, to establish the outcomes of cultural learning across the key findings, including health, employability and civic engagement.
The new CLA Evidence Working Group will be revisiting these findings and publishing new and updated evidence in 2024/5.
You can download posters of the CLA Key Research Findings:
CLA has published six briefing papers between 2017 and 2022, in partnership with a range of leading education or policy organisations and funders.
Publishing partners have included the Association of School and College Leadership; the Centre for Research in Early Childhood; the Edge Foundation; Nesta; Paul Hamlyn Foundation; and Place2Be.
Early Years & The Arts from CLA and Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC)
Early Years & The Arts full references
Early Years & The Arts large print version
The Arts for Every Child Briefing from CLA and Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Arts for every child Briefing full references
The Arts in Schools Briefing from the CLA and ASCL (Association of School and College Leaders)
Arts in Schools Briefing full references
The Arts, Health & Wellbeing Briefing from CLA and a Place2Be
The Arts, Health & Wellbeing Briefing full references
Employability & Enterprise Briefing from CLA and the Edge Foundation
Employability and Enterprise Briefing full references
STEAM Briefing from the CLA and Nesta
STEAM Briefing full references
We occasionally publish technical briefings when areas of policy are particularly complex or when we have more content to cover than can be addressed through our Newsletters.
Arts teaching hours and workforce. June 2021
Patterns in GCSE and A Level entries 2010 to 2020 England only. August 2020
What is the English Baccalaureate?
What is Cultural Capital? (2019)
Independent Schools Headteacher Interviews
When the Ofsted framework in 2019 required school to develop their pupils’ cultural capital we created a summary of some of the history, academic thinking and definitions of this term. Our blog, written by Sam Cairns, had 20,000 views in 2019.
In 2012 CLA published a report on why independent schools value arts and culture, following interviews with the heads of five leading independent schools, including Eton and Wellington.
The headteachers interviewed all stated that cultural learning improved attainment; that they felt a duty to provide cultural learning to the children in their care; were responding to the demands and expectations of parents; needed to provide excellent opportunities for reputational reasons; that delivering high quality cultural learning required specialist teachers and a commitment from the school; and that they had doubts about existing systems of accountability including the English Baccalaureate and National Curriculum.
- The Rapid Evidence Reviews have been developed in collaboration with the RSC, the Midlands4Cities PhD placements scheme and Professor Pat Thomson, University of Nottingham. ↩︎
