Hours of arts teaching and number of arts teachers in England’s secondary schools mostly stable but not recovering after years of decline
09 October 2020
Department for Education figures published in September 2020 show that in the last two years the number of arts teachers fell by -4%, and the number of hours the arts were taught fell by -3%. The number of children in England’s secondary schools went up by +5% over the same period.
- Design & Technology is experiencing the greatest falls of -19% in teacher numbers and -17% in hours taught.
- Music hours taught have fallen by -1% in the last two years.
- Drama declines have stabilised with limited change in teaching hours and number of teachers over the last two years.
- Art & Design teaching hours have increased by 1% and teacher numbers by 3% in the last two years. We have been told by Art & Design colleagues there has been an increase in Art teachers being asked to teach Design & Technology (D&T) courses, which could account for these recent increases and the number D&T hours not falling as sharply as D&T teacher numbers.
These changes need to be seen in the context of rising student numbers. Between the 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 school year the number of children in England’s secondary schools increased by +5% (from 3,258,450 to 3,409,277).
It is also worth noting the EBacc subjects of History and Geography have seen rises in the number of hours taught of +4% in the same time period, on top of existing increases in teacher numbers and hours of up to +25% since 2010.
All data is from the Department for Education School Workforce in England statistics, which is recorded in November and the school census data recorded in January of each year.
Headcount of teachers by subject
|
Recorded in the November of each year |
2010 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
Percentage change 2017 to 2019 |
Percentage change 2010 to 2019 |
|
History |
15,000 |
16700 |
16,855 |
16,919 |
+1% |
+13% |
|
Geography |
13,500 |
15600 |
15,807 |
15,774 |
+1% |
+17% |
|
Design and Technology |
15,000 |
10,200 |
9,010 |
8,312 |
-19% |
-45% |
|
Music |
7,500 |
6,500 |
6,525 |
6,543 |
+1% |
-13% |
|
Drama |
11,100 |
9,000 |
8,899 |
8,963 |
0% |
-19% |
|
Art & Design |
13,200 |
11,800 |
11,874 |
12,112 |
+3% |
-8% |
|
All arts subjects |
46,800 |
37,500 |
36,308 |
35,930 |
-4% |
-23% |
Hours taught by subject
|
Recorded in the November of each year |
2010 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
Percentage change 2017 to 2019 |
Percentage change 2010 to 2019 |
|
History |
153,400 |
185,700 |
190,873 |
192,708 |
+4% |
+26% |
|
Geography |
138,700 |
172,700 |
176,241 |
179,547 |
+4% |
+29% |
|
Design and Technology |
119,900 |
76,300 |
68,126 |
63,056 |
-17% |
-47% |
|
Music |
92,700 |
80,200 |
79,305 |
79,633 |
-1% |
-14% |
|
Drama |
95,000 |
80,800 |
80,819 |
81,068 |
0% |
-15% |
|
Art & Design |
159,800 |
133,500 |
133,713 |
134,985 |
+1% |
-16% |
|
All arts subjects |
467,400 |
370,800 |
361,963 |
358,742 |
-3% |
-23% |
Data for Dance is not available in the released DfE figures.
Download this briefing: Arts teaching hours and workforce 2020.
Sam Cairns, Co-Director, Cultural Learning Alliance
Do you know why the data for dance is not available from DfE figures? That seems as worrying as all the reduction in hours for the arts subjects that the Dfe DOES have numbers for.
The data on Dance is included within the PE figures, as Dance is part of the PE curriculum, and it is not possible to separate it out from the PE data as schools do not report the different types of PE they offer.