Latest News January 2026

Happy 2026! Here is another bumper edition of our Newsletter to start the year. In the Latest News section – spanning the education and Arts sectors – we report on: 

Education sector news:

• Details on who will be drafting the curriculum for Arts subjects – and the sector reaction
• New powers to Ofsted to inspect academy trusts
• The rise in the number of children not ‘school ready’ when entering reception
• Controlling access to mobiles in schools and social media for under-16s
• Arts subject decline in the International Baccalaureate
• A rise in the number of children being home educated
• University undergraduate degree costs rise
• Overseas student target numbers scrapped, and the UK rejoins the EU Erasmus Scheme

Cultural sector news:

• Significant new government funding announced for the cultural sector
• A welcome new award to champion Art education from the Freelands Foundation
• A new report on barriers to employment in the creative industries for those from working class backgrounds
• The Hodge Review of Arts Council England

And finally, our look back to what we did in 2025 – and a look forward to what we will be publishing and launching in 2026.

In the Latest Thinking section of our Newsletter, we are launching new versions of our Arts Education Capabilities Framework, now available in poster-format and in an extended version. We reflect on its value in enabling us to communicate the personal and societal value of studying expressive Arts subjects. We have reframed arts and cultural learning to build a shared language about their value after years of policy-driven erosion of the expressive Arts curriculum area in schools.

Also in Latest Thinking, Tina Ramdeen – CLA Trustee and Associate Director, Young People, at the Roundhouse in London – sets out the headlines of the government’s National Youth Strategy, addressing its links to other government initiatives, and providing an analysis of the funding challenges for cultural and creative activities for young people.

We also have our regular Research Spotlight article from Professor Thomson, who this month reports on an Australian longitudinal study tracking students aspiring to build careers in the creative arts and what shapes these aspirations. The findings are relevant for our own UK context and highlight ongoing issues around a lack of diversity in the creative industries.

Our Research Spotlight series continues to embrace international perspectives as well as examining UK research.

We will soon be consulting on a new Blueprint 2.0. Most of the asks in our current Blueprint for an Arts-rich education were met in the government responseto the Curriculum and Assessment Review. Having focused on what policy changes were needed, we are now considering how this new ambition to revitalise Arts education is to be realised. We are recalibrating our asks across inspection and accountability, workforce, and Arts enrichment – in terms of levers and principles – and we look forward to consulting with members and colleagues soon.

Education sector

Curriculum drafters announced

Following a curriculum drafting tender issued in October 2025, expert ‘curriculum drafters’ have been appointed to draft England’s new curriculum, following the recommendations in November’s Curriculum and Assessment Review. They will lead a major overhaul of England’s curriculum, developing subject content for GCSE and A Level. The list includes a former Department for Education adviser (David Thomas, for Maths), and a senior leader from a large multi-academy trust (Matt Carnaby, who will work on the English Curriculum).

Curriculum Drafters for Arts subjects are as follows:

• Art & Design: William Grant and Paula Briggs, Access Art; Michele Gregson, NSEAD; Kaytie Holdstock, University of Worcester
• Design & technology: Alison Hardy and Matt McLain, Nottingham Consultants Ltd; Tony Ryan, Design and Technology Association
• English (includes Drama): Matt Carnaby, Astrea Academy Trust; Timothy Mills, RISE adviser for the DfE and former executive director of primary for STEP Academy Trust
• Music: Carolyn Baxendale, Trust Music; Simon Toyne, David Ross Education Trust
• PE (includes Dance): Kate Thornton-Bousfield, Jo Harris, Catherine Fitzpatrick-Magee, Shaun Dowling, Lucy Supperstone, Victoria Randall, Laura Nicholson, Will Swaithes, Liz Durden-Myers and Jordan Wintle, Association for Physical Education

In addition, Elizabeth Moorse and Naomi Kennedy, from the Association for Citizenship Teaching, will be drafting the Citizenship curriculum.

The original tender sought applicants with “substantial expertise in and experience of teaching and leading their subject”, an “understanding of pedagogical approaches” and knowledge of “curriculum planning”. They would be required to communicate clearly what teachers need to know to teach each subject effectively.

Their work is expected to continue until 2029, and additional curriculum-related work may be commissioned during this period. Subjects have different numbers of curriculum drafters: PE has 10, for example, while English has only two. This is apparently because work for each subject has been allocated based on a set number of days, rather than the number of people. A spokesperson from DfE said: “Each supplier has been allocated a set number of days based on the scale of work required to respond to the review recommendations.”

COMMENT

CLA works closely with the experienced subject association representatives who will be working on the Art & Design curriculum and the Dance curriculum (within PE), and we were pleased to see them listed.

Music subject association colleagues have confidence in the experienced Music drafter appointments: Bridget Whyte, Chief Executive of Music Mark said “I have worked closely with both Carolyn and Simon over the years, including being on DfE panels with them around the National Plan for Music Education and the Model Music Curriculum. I am confident that they have the knowledge and understanding of the subject to produce a new draft curriculum for Music and I am pleased that the three Music Subject Associations and the Music Hub network have already been told that there will be consultation opportunities during the process, as well as the promised wider public consultation.”

Dr Steve Ball, Co‑chair of the Drama and Theatre Education Alliance (DTEA) until 2025 (and now Chair of the For/With/By European Youth Theatre Consortium) is “concerned that Drama does not currently have any specialist drafters involved in the process”. For Drama, the Director of Curriculum and Assessment at Astrea Academy Trust and a RISE adviser for the DfE (also a visiting professor at the University of Coventry) have been appointed.

Dr Ball goes on to say that “Given the breadth and diversity of the Drama and theatre education sector, it feels essential that any drafting group includes specialists who genuinely represent that wider community. This should include individuals with lived experience of classroom practice as well as meaningful engagement with the theatre industry. I believe this is important not only for subject integrity but also for ensuring that the curriculum reflects the full range of voices, expertise, and professional contexts that shape Drama education.”

Adam Milford, current co-chair of DTEA, notes that “Experienced teaching professionals from the school sector would have the deepest insight into how a curriculum needs to work for a broader demographic of school children.”

The scale of the work required to redraft the curriculum varies from subject to subject. The Curriculum Review identified a lack of clarity and specificity in the requirements for Drama, meaning that “it is not clear how the subjects should be taught, what essential knowledge and skills pupils should acquire, or what outcomes are expected at the end of each key stage.” The Review was highly critical of the current Drama content within the Key Stage 1 to 4 curriculum.

For Music, the Curriculum Review proposed changes to curriculum content throughout Key Stages 1 to 4, describing the Programmes of Study as ‘vague’ (page 98) and this is echoed by Ofsted’s 2023 subject report (Striking the Right Note).

The only Arts subject for which “limited revisions” changes to the Programmes of Study for Key Stages 1 to 3 were recommended in the Curriculum Review was Art and Design. For Art and Design the Review placed a stronger emphasis on assessment – it was recommended that the government works with Ofqual and awarding organisations to clarify the volume and range of GCSE coursework students are expected to produce for the GCSE.

There were also calls in the Curriculum Review for a clearer PE programme of study setting out the Dance subject knowledge required, and a recommendation that subject content be reviewed (alongside the balance of assessment and assessment methods) so that it is inclusive, representative and better suited to the discipline. The Programmes of Study need to be “sufficiently specific to support high-quality teaching and students’ progression”.

Laura Nicholson from One Dance UK, who is involved in drafting for Dance within PE, says she is “glad to be involved in the curriculum drafting work, particularly in helping bring to life the positive intentions for Dance outlined in the Curriculum and Assessment Review final report and government response. The work is being taken forward with care and expertise across the team, with a clear focus on positive outcomes for young people.”

We look forward to seeing the outcomes of this new curriculum drafting process and hope that Drama specialists can contribute to the evolution of the new English curriculum to ensure that the current significant issues can be effectively addressed.  

New powers for Ofsted to inspect academy trusts

On 8 January the Education Secretary proposed an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill – which was introduced in December 2024 and still working its way through Parliament. The amendment gives new powers to Ofsted to inspect academy trusts for the first time, as early as 2027.

Ofsted must first devise a new framework for the inspections, and government has said it plans to engage fully with the sector as it develops this. The framework will be based on updated trust quality descriptors.

Schools Week and the TES has covered this news. The TES reports on Bridget Phillipson explaining that “trust inspection will, first and foremost, be about understanding quality and supporting trusts to improve … It will give trusts – and government – a clear, independent view of what they are doing well and where they need to strengthen.”

The TES coverage continues: “We do know that Ofsted will be required to report on quality of education, governance and executive leadership, promoting wellbeing, securing improvement of academies, and management of resources. These are all pre-existing responsibilities for trusts.”

As well as Ofsted carrying out routine inspections of trusts, the provisions will enable it to inspect trusts at other times. For example, Ofsted might carry out a monitoring inspection after a routine inspection has identified an issue that needs to be addressed quickly. It might also carry out urgent inspections if there is evidence of problems with trust governance. And it might carry out thematic inspections; for example, to report on how well a trust is performing in a particular area.

The amendment does not specify how frequently these inspections might take place. However, it adds that these inspections will take place for trusts that are exempt from routine inspections; for example, single-academy trusts.The legal small print says that as well as being instigated by Ofsted, these kinds of inspections can be requested by the education secretary, and trusts can even request them themselves (in this case, Ofsted will be able to charge for them).

After a routine inspection, Ofsted will be required to send a copy of the draft report to the trust, giving the trust an opportunity to respond before it is finalised. Once it completes a report, Ofsted must send copies to the trust and the education secretary. Trusts must then notify parents of the new report within five working days, ensure it is publicly accessible (for example, clearly published on its website) and provide a hard copy on request’

COMMENT

New government oversight of academy trusts continues to roll out. Meanwhile, CLA is particularly interested in Ofsted at the moment in relation to its scrutiny of Arts provision in schools. This is one of the areas we will be considering as we develop the follow-up document to our Blueprint for an Arts-rich education, and we look forward to sharing and consulting on our emerging recommendations.

The draft proposals for the inspection of Academies highlight that schools will be judged on civic responsibility and community engagement and the quality and breadth of their enrichment programmes

It is therefore important for schools and for Ofsted to understand how Arts subjects and enrichment programmes contribute to these goals – our Arts Education Capabilities Framework and its link to a substantial evidence make clear the role of Arts subjects in citizenship building.

More reception children not ready for school

The charity Kindred Squared has produced its latest report on school readiness. Primary school teachers reported more children are joining reception not ‘school ready’. Last year the survey found 37% of children were not ready for school, an increase from 33% in 2024 according to the 1,000 staff questioned.

The charity defines school ready as children being ready to “ready to access the learning and development opportunities available to them in Reception, where this is not due to
a previously identified special educational need or disability (SEND)”. The government is aiming for 75% of five-year-olds to achieve a good level of development by 2028.

The charity found the gap widened regionally, with 45% of children not being school ready in the North East compared to 34% in the East Midlands, Eastern England and London. It also found that 26% of children starting reception were not toilet trained, up from 24% in the previous two years.

For the first time the survey asked how much time was being taken up with nappy changing or going to the toilet. Staff reported helping pupils to do this is taking up an average of 1.4 hours of each school day. Staff said about 25% of reception children didn’t have basic language skills, such as saying their name, up from 23% previously. But fewer children were unable to communicate their needs – 26% down from 29%.

More than half (52%) of primary staff said the proportion of children not school ready this year has increased – up from 49% in 2024. Just 12% thought it had decreased. Staff estimated that children are missing out on 2.4 hours of daily class teaching time due to the catch-up needs; this is up from 2.1 hours in 2024.

However, 88% of parents said their child was ready for school. The charity said this “highlighted a persistent gap between parental confidence and classroom experience.”

Felicity Gillespie, Kindred Squared director, said: “Primary school staff report frustration at the number of parents believing schools are responsible for the development of basic life skills and independence.”

An article in Schools Week reproduces the graphs showing regional disparities. It also quotes Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary at ASCL school leaders’ union, who said the said the reasons for a lack of school readiness are “complex”, pointing to a 15-year decline in local support services: “Many families are struggling to cope with the pressures of life and are themselves often suffering from poor mental health and wellbeing.”

Di’lasio further states that “Schools put a huge amount of work into providing support for children who are not school ready, but it does mean that these youngsters are already behind their peers right at the outset of their education. Their job is made all the more difficult by the fact that schools are themselves so poorly funded.” He added the government was doing the “right things” in rolling out family hubs and expanding childcare, but they aren’t “quick fixes”.

COMMENT

CLA is committed to understanding the context for the lives of children and young people beyond education. We were was interested to see that regional disparities set out in the Schools Week graph precisely mirror our own CLA data on the Arts entitlement gap (set out in our annual Report Card): the regions where school readiness is lowest for children entering reception are the North East and the West Midlands.

This alignment of the data of disadvantage highlights the multiple intersectional ways in which children growing up in poverty are beset by challenges in their educational experiences. This is also important context for cultural organisations working with younger children through their learning programmes. The survey also makes clear the challenges for primary school teachers.

Controlling access to mobiles in schools and social media for under-16s

In a letter to all schools, shared by the BBC on 26 January, the Education Secretary has said that all schools in England should follow new government guidance and be phone-free for the entire school day.

Bridget Philipson has said that is it “not appropriate for phones to be used as calculators, or for research during lessons”, as well as during break times and lunchtime. Ofsted will be inspecting schools on the implementation of their mobile phone policies, she confirmed, with teachers also being advised not to use their phones in front of pupils.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT headteachers’ union, said: “The vast majority of schools already have restrictions on the use of mobile phones on school sites. The government’s suggestion that Ofsted should be ‘policing’ school policies is deeply unhelpful and misguided. School leaders need support from government, not the threat of heavy-handed inspection.”

Phillipson’s letter to schools came just a week after the announcement on 19 January that the government would launch a three-month consultation on banning social media for all under-16s in the UK. The education secretary has encouraged teachers to “contribute your professional insight”.

In terms of teacher use in schools, recent research by the survey tool Teacher Tapp suggested 86% of primary school teachers said they were able to use their phones at school for personal use, but only during breaks, while 44% of secondary school teachers said they were allowed to use their phones freely. Only 2% of both primary and secondary teachers surveyed said their schools banned staff from using phones entirely during the school day.

COMMENT

This guidance will be controversial for many, and we are interested to hear from colleagues about the ways in which their students currently use their phones in lessons across Art, Dance, Drama and Music as tools for recording, filming, and photographing. Phones can be vital tools for learning – although art making can also provide important ways to engage young people’s focus beyond the digital in this era of the attention economy, when the negative impact of social media is under a great deal of scrutiny.

Arts subjects within the International Baccalaureate

In an article posted on LinkedIn, Dr Michael Bindon, Director of ISTA, the International Schools Theatre Association, provides insight into the positioning of Arts subjects within the International Baccalaureate (IB).

Bindon writes that “Across the world, the arts continue to transform lives, fostering creative expression, intercultural understanding, and a vital sense of belonging for young people. Yet in many international education contexts, including the International Baccalaureate’s Diploma Programme (DP), the arts remain on the periphery – optional, undervalued, and under threat.”

Bindon reports that between 2014 and 2024, the number of full Diploma Programme candidates worldwide grew from just over 75,000 to more than 114,000 annually, reflecting the IB’s global expansion (IB, 2025). However, participation in the Arts did not keep pace with this growth. In 2014, 23.9% of full diploma students took at least one Group 6 arts subject; by 2024, that figure had declined to 22.3%.

The research reveals a modest drop which Bindon sees as representing a significant and persistent shift: in 2024, this difference equated to approximately 1,800 fewer students engaging in Arts learning than would have done so had participation rates remained stable.

Bindon sees this steady erosion highlighting the complex realities of how student choice is enacted within schools. While the IB framework continues to value breadth and balance, the positioning of the Arts as an optional subject – combined with school-level factors – can unintentionally narrow access to arts subjects over time.

COMMENT

It is interesting to look at Arts provision in international contexts, and it is clear that ‘optional’ can, in practice, come to mean ‘secondary’. As we know only too well, it is sometimes the case that accountability structures can have unintended consequences which denigrate the Arts.

We have seen in our annual Report Cards the ways in which the EBacc measure has impacted Arts subjects since 2010, and the Russell Group former list of ‘facilitating subjects’ (which excluded the Arts) had a similar impact on student choice. The removal of the EBacc following the Curriculum and Assessment Review will be key in ensuring that Arts subjects are not deprioritised in this way through our school accountability systems.

Rise in children being home educated

New DfE data published on 15 January indicates a rise in elective home education for 2025/26.

• 126,000 children were in elective home education (EHE) in autumn 2025. In the previous autumn term, there were 111,700 children electively home educated. 
• 175,900 children were EHE at any point during the 2024/25 academic year. Across the previous academic year there were 153,300 children in EHE. 

COMMENT

This is interesting data for any cultural organisation wanting to work with home schooled children and reflects a system which does not work for every child. There is a Home School Network and there are vibrant networks across the UK in Birmingham, Leeds, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield. It will be interesting to see, over time, if the proposed changes to the curriculum to create a broad and balanced education for every child bring about shifts in pupil engagement (and attendance) which will see these numbers diminishing.

University degree fees and average student debt increase

Tuition fees for undergraduate degrees in England and Wales rose 3% in August 2025 according to the BBC (which has updated its 2022 news article on the issue to January 2026). Living expenses and maintenance loans are also increasing, and some students from lower-income households in England will be eligible for additional grants of up to £1,000 a year from 2028. 

In August 2025, the annual cost of an undergraduate degree in England and Wales went up to £9,535 a year, a 3% increase on the previous yearly fee of £9,250. Tuition fees had been frozen since 2017, and universities had expressed growing concerns about funding pressures, with more than four in ten universities believed to be in a financial deficit.

The recent period of high inflation meant tuition fees were worth less in real terms, and there have been fewer international students to help make up the financial shortfall. They are expected to increase every year.

Graduates in England who became liable to pay back their loans in April 2025 had an average outstanding loan balance of £53,000, according to the Student Loans Company. This is 10% higher than the previous year.

COMMENT

This news is all part of the context for young people’s progression into Arts courses in higher education which we will report on in our upcoming 2026 Report Card. It is becoming more and more challenging for young people who want to pursue study to HE level to shoulder the financial burden of the costs of course fees and living expenses – the cost of accommodation is a particular issue for students studying in more high-cost urban areas.

These pressures were echoed in the recent Class Ceiling inquiry into working class participation in the arts, launched in Manchester on 26 January – see more information about this, and CLA’s response, in the section below. 

It is also why bursary routes into teacher training – for those wanting to become teachers – are appealing: after years of borrowing to learn, to be awarded a bursary for Initial Teacher Training in a subject is quite an incentive. But as we reported in October, £10,000 bursaries for Art & Design and Music were cut for 2026/27.

Our 2026 Report Card will address progression to Arts subjects in higher education; the availability of Arts courses; and the ways in which the most disadvantaged students continue to be the hardest hit in terms of access to studying the Arts.

Overseas student target numbers scrapped and the UK rejoins Erasmus

Ministers are scrapping target numbers for international students in the UK and will instead focus on encouraging universities to open hubs abroad, as part of a plan to bring British education to people “on their own doorsteps”.

The government’s new international education strategy will set a target of increasing global “education exports” to £40bn a year by 2030, replacing the previous target – set in 2019 – of recruiting 600,000 international students a year to study in the UK. The Department for Education said it would also bring in “toughened compliance standards” to ensure people coming to the UK to study were genuine students, and that universities would face recruitment caps and licence revocations if they failed to meet those standards.

“This approach removes targets on international student numbers in the UK and shifts the focus towards growing education exports overseas by backing UK providers to expand internationally, build partnerships abroad and deliver UK education in new markets,” the DfE said.

The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said that by expanding overseas, “our universities, colleges and education providers can diversify income, strengthen global partnerships and give millions more access to a world-class UK education on their doorstep, all whilst boosting growth at home.” The government said it would “continue to welcome international students”.

Meanwhile, the government announced in December that the UK has successfully agreed terms to join the Erasmus+ programme in 2027, widening opportunities for young people from all backgrounds, learners, educational, youth and sport staff to study and train abroad.

Erasmus+ is the EU’s flagship funding programme supporting education, training, youth, and sport with a budget of approximately €26.2 billion. The agreement to join Erasmus+ in 2027 fulfils a key commitment made at the UK-EU Summit in May 2025 following years of non-participation in the scheme following the UK’s departure from the EU.

Erasmus+ offers opportunities around education, training, youth, culture and sport for participants of all ages. Around 100,000 people in the UK could benefit from the scheme in the first year alone. The government states that data shows studying abroad can boost the career prospects of students, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds. You can view the UK-EU joint statement here.

The programme will create educational and training opportunities for British apprentices, further education students and adult learners, as well as those in higher education. The government will work closely with institutions and young people to maximise take-up – particularly among disadvantaged groups. Opportunities available on Erasmus+ include further education students and apprentices going on work placements in leading European companies.

Minister for Skills, Baroness Jacqui Smith described admission to the scheme as breaking down barriers to opportunity for thousands of students and staff across the country in universities, schools, colleges and adult education, and linked to step to the government’s Plan for Change, designed to improve young people’s futures and widen access to life-changing opportunities.

COMMENT

There are many global factors at play in the scrapping of the overseas student targets following shifting prime-ministerial policies in recent years. Factors include the long tail of Brexit in terms of a decline in overseas students coming to the UK and the backwash of political sensitivity around wider immigration issues. The welcome new reconnection with Europe through the Erasmus+ scheme reveals that the government’s ‘breaking down barriers to opportunity’ mission is extending to opportunities to study abroad; this policy thread is weaving through many government decisions across multiple departments – as is also highlighted in our Latest Thinking piece from Tina Ramdeen on the government’s new National Youth Strategy.

Cultural sector

New £1.5bn investment in culture in England

On 21 January, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced significant new investment in the cultural sector. £1.5 billion will be invested to protect more than 1,000 arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings across England from closure. The move will fix urgent capital needs and open up access to culture.

The DCMS press release says places the funding the context of the cost-of-living crisis: “As the cost of living continues to affect families across Britain, funding for our treasured cultural venues will ensure vital, affordable and welcoming spaces are available for communities to come together and celebrate what makes their local area special. Another investment this Government is putting in place to support families with the cost of living.”

There is reference to national pride in community assets, and to support for no or low-cost options for days out as part of the government’s drive to support families, “with this package helping to offer opportunities to engage in culture for families across every community in England”.

The Culture Secretary said “This funding will keep the doors open and the lights on at thousands of arts organisations, museums, libraries and heritage buildings that might otherwise have been at real risk of closing. It will unlock opportunities for millions of people who have been shut out for far too long. That is the Britain we are rebuilding”.

The £1.5 billion of funding comprises:

• £760 million for museums:
  • £600 million infrastructure funding which will support national museums and DCMS sponsored cultural organisations, addressing critical maintenance and works to estates to enable these institutions to deliver on their commitments to share their collections and expertise nationally.
  • £160 million will be invested in local and regional museums. The Museum Estates and Development Fund will help museums tackle maintenance backlogs, and a new £13.6 million Museum Transformation programme will support organisations to move towards more sustainable business models.
• £425 million Creative Foundations Fund which will support approximately 300 capital projects in arts venues across the country
• £230 million for heritage protecting and preserving heritage buildings (including listed places of worship) across the country, including: 
  • £75 million for at risk heritage which provides grants towards repairs and conservation of historic buildings. 
  • £46 million for the Heritage Revival Fund which helps communities to take control of and look after local heritage and bring buildings back into public use.
• £27.5 million for a Libraries Improvement Fund which supports public libraries to upgrade their buildings and technology to meet changing needs to better serve their communities.
• £80 million capital funding over four years to benefit National Portfolio organisations that receive regular investment from Arts Council England. This is part of a 5% uplift next year for these organisations that will help deliver arts and culture activity in every local authority. 

Multiple leading arts figures – including the directors of the RSC, the National Theatre, Birmingham Hippodrome, the Barbican, Opera North, Liverpool Philharmonic and the Old Vic – all welcomed the news.

COMMENT

Capital investment in our cultural and heritage infrastructure is vital if it is to support children’s and young people’s learning and enrichment, and we welcome this significant investment and the rationale behind it to unlock opportunity for families.

For this funding to deliver on that ambition it needs to reach all levels of the cultural sector, including grassroots and community-based organisations, as well as larger national institutions and major venues. These organisations are often closest to children and young people in their communities and play a crucial role in creating accessible, locally relevant routes into arts and cultural participation.

Beyond capital investment, there remains a challenge around capacity and delivery. Learning and engagement teams across the sector have been significantly reduced since Covid, and there continues to be a value gap between stated commitments to learning and the funding and resource required to deliver it. Prioritising this work is recognised in the new Freelands award for Art education covered below.

There is also a question of who feels welcome in revitalised and refurbished cultural buildings. Opening doors does not automatically translate into access. Cultural organisations need support to understand barriers of perception, relevance and confidence for children and young people.

The ambition set out in CLA’s Blueprint for an Arts-rich Education makes clear that we need a commitment to workforce capacity and strategic support, enabling the sector to respond to the needs of children and young people in schools and communities. We had hoped that the Hodge Review of Arts Council England might address this more directly, but unfortunately this did not prove to be the case (see item on the Hodge Review below).

New £1.5m awards scheme to celebrate visual art education

The Freelands Foundation is set to give a £100,000 award to three organisations per year for the next five years that do ‘incredible work’. The Foundation states that the new scheme has been developed in response to the prolonged period of underinvestment and neglect of the Arts education infrastructure over the past 15 years. This has included a move away from Arts subjects in schools, an erosion of art courses at universities and significant reductions in Arts education programmes in galleries and museums.

The award is recognition of the important role of visual arts organisations as important sites for teaching and learning, despite increasing funding pressures. The scheme is seeking to reaffirm galleries’ and museums’ “founding principles as centres for public education” and will champion the organisations finding innovative ways to do this.

“We wanted to champion organisations that are still managing to do incredible work against the backdrop of 15 years of cuts and anti-art rhetoric,” said Henry Ward, Freelands Foundation director.

“Galleries and museums play a significant role, not just within the curriculum and school education, but as resources to educate all of us. Not only can they work with schools and universities, but they can work with local communities, artists, prisons, hospitals. There’s a whole world of extraordinary educational practice out there.”

The award is open to UK-based visual art organisations run with a charitable purpose. The judging panel is chaired by Ward and also includes the artist Joy Gregory, the TV and radio presenter Gemma Cairney, the curator and writer Jenni Lomax, and the art historian and educator Ben Street.

As well as receiving £100,000 of unrestricted funding each, the winners will collaborate with the Foundation on a case study film to share their art education work as a resource and inspiration to other organisations. The open call for submissions begins on 28 January and closes on 24 March and the announcement of the first winners will be at a celebration event in November.

“We know the introduction of the EBacc in 2011 had an impact on schools visiting galleries,” Ward said. “If you’re not taken into a gallery or museum as a child in a school, and your parents don’t take you, you’re unlikely to go as an adult. There’s a knock-on effect … Another thing we’ve seen is that very often, when the cuts come in, the learning specialists are the first to find themselves being made redundant. We want to celebrate those organisations that have managed to find a way to continue to do it.”

You can read more about the scheme here and see how to apply here.

COMMENT

CLA applauds this new award and looks forward to profiling the award-winners in November. Funders are in a brilliant position to champion the work of learning teams in the cultural sector. Few learning teams in arts organisations were unaffected by Covid and subsequent cost-cutting, and many deliver impactful programmes on limited budgets and with small teams which have been reduced since 2020. Platforming the value of their work is important, particularly in the context of a new government ambition to revitalise Arts education

Launch of Class Ceiling report

A report launched in the Whitworth in Manchester on 26 January warns that working class creatives are struggling to break into and are leaving the arts. Class Ceiling, led by Chancellor of the University of Manchester, Nazir Afzal OBE and Avis Gilmore, former trade union head, found that barriers preventing working class talent from succeeding included class-based discrimination, low pay, a lack of connections and exploitative practices.   

You can read the Guardian coverage of the Manchester-focused report here. Less than half of creatives surveyed (44%) said they earned enough to make a living, with many requiring second jobs; 51% of respondents said they had experienced bullying, harassment or bias based on their social class; just 18% of respondents said they saw their lived experiences widely represented in the art form they practice and only 22% said they personally knew anyone working in the arts when they were growing up.  

The inquiry interviewed artists ranging from teenage musicians and mid-career Arts workers to globally recognised playwrights and BAFTA and Emmy winning screenwriters. Among the Inquiry’s 21 recommendations are measures to include class as a protected characteristic; the appointment of a Class Champion; a drive to increase apprenticeships; and a co-ordinating body led by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to marshal resources, spot gaps and join up best practice.  

Although the Equality Act does not recognise class as a protected characteristic, Afzal said that Manchester should look to unilaterally recognise people from working class backgrounds as having protected characteristics.

As well as highlighting structural failings, the Inquiry also shines a light on changemakers who are working hard to widen participation and make a difference. It also highlighted that only a fraction of new apprenticeships are in the creative sector.

COMMENT

The Class Ceiling report references Cultural Learning Alliance research in identifying that too many working-class children are missing out on sustained access to arts and cultural experiences, including evidence from our Report Card highlighting an ‘Arts entitlement gap’. This gap is reflected in lower GCSE entries in arts subjects in the most deprived areas compared to the most affluent, alongside unequal access to extra-curricular art and music opportunities. Independent school pupils continue to benefit from far greater access to Arts enrichment, while pupils eligible for free school meals are significantly less likely to participate.

We welcome the way the report amplifies a social justice lens that sits at the heart of CLA’s work and brings renewed attention to how early opportunity shapes long-term participation and progression in the Arts. The inquiry rightly recognises that barriers in adulthood are closely linked to patterns of access, confidence and connection formed much earlier in life.

However, CLA would have welcomed greater ambition in the report’s recommendations in relation to children and young people. We believe every child should experience multiple, regular and high-quality creative and cultural experiences throughout their schooling, embedded across the curriculum and beyond, rather than a single or isolated encounter. Without this sustained entitlement, inequalities in access, confidence and progression are likely to persist.

The 2026 CLA Report Card, to be published in the spring, will address progression routes in greater depth, including creative apprenticeships, which the Class Ceiling report highlights remain limited within the sector. We look forward to continuing this conversation and strengthening the evidence base for action.

Hodge Review of Arts Council England

The review of Arts Council England (ACE) led by former Culture Minister, Margaret Hodge, was finally published on 16 December. As yet, there has been no formal government response.

Currently 79% of ACE-funded national portfolio organisations have learning and participation departments so the funding body plays a significant role in resourcing learning teams in Arts organisations to work with schools.

COMMENT

We will report on the Review when we have seen the government response, but for now we note that very few pages of the Review focused on Arts education, and there were only two recommendations in the education section. In CLA’s response to the Hodge Review original call for evidence, we addressed the following points – there was no evidence within the Review that these had been considered in relation to Arts education::

• ACE’s arms-length role as an expert distributor of public and lottery funding, with funding needing to be informed by national insight, data and local need
• Strengthening accountability for learning and participation
• Supporting the cultural education workforce
• Positioning Arts education to build a future-ready workforce
• Supporting sustained partnerships with schools and responding to the crisis in Arts teaching
• The importance of cultural brokerage functions
• Place-based evidence and data for the education work of funded organisations
• Strengthening accreditation schemes as a driver of Arts-rich education
• Balancing supply and demand for Arts learning

And finally … our review of our work in 2025!

CLA – looking back on 2025 and what to look out for in 2026

2025 was an extremely busy year for CLA. It was full of significant milestones for our sector, reflecting a new shared ambition for young people’s arts experiences and for their futures.

• We were delighted to appoint three new trustees from the schools sector: Nicky Pears, Deputy Head at Cayley Primary in Tower Hamlets; Kat Pugh, Headteacher at St Marylebone School, and Jenny Thompson, Executive Principal at Dixons Academies. They immediately had an impact in deepening our engagement with, and deep understanding of, the schools sector. Their continued involvement will enable us to be responsive to school needs in all our work and particularly as we consider the implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Review. 
• We also appointed five experts from the education sector as our new Advisers from the education sector (replacing our long-standing Advisory Panel) and look forward to working with them during 2026. We were delighted to work with our Advisory Panel over a long period but this shift to appointing education Advisers recognises the importance of our alignment with school and college needs as we develop all of our evidence and advocacy work.
• We published our second annual Report Card, which revealed the Arts entitlement gap baked into the education system in England: we now know that where a child grows up, and their family’s socioeconomic status, are significant social determinants in whether or not they will pursue Arts options from the age of 14. We ran an associated webinar to share the findings with invited panellists, including school sector leaders.
• We continued to hold fast to our new Blueprint for an arts-rich education in advance of the publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review. The Blueprint – with its clear distillation of the essential asks and principles – was helpful in supporting sector advocacy on the changes needed to ensure equitable access to expressive Arts subjects for every child. It set’s out the ‘what’ but in 2026 we will start a new piece of work to develop a strategy map to set out the how’ and we look forward to consulting on this.
• During the year our Evidence and Value Narrative Working Group stood down from the first phase of the work, while a smaller group continued to sharpen the Arts Education Capabilities Framework and oversee important evidence gathering through Rapid Evidence Reviews (RERs) into Arts subjects. Evidence and value narrative work are central to CLA’s work and we made great process on both strands in 2025, publishing our Capabilities Framework and finalising the RERs.
• We continued to refine our plans for an Arts Education Evidence Hub, in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company, following feasibility study funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
• In the summer, we consulted with the cultural sector through a series of consensus workshops across the country about the principles and functions of the proposed National Centre for Arts and Music Education and shared our sector-generated vision/framework for the new Centre with the DfE before we published it in the autumn.
• We provided in-depth analysis of the Curriculum and Assessment Review – starting with the interim report in the spring and then the analysis of the Review and the government response when they were published in November 2025. We analyse important reports such as these to inform our policy work – but also to ensure that you don’t have to! This is time-consuming work and we would rather our colleagues across the education and cultural sectors can focus on supporting children and young people to experience and Arts-rich education and important cultural opportunities.
• We continued to submit evidence to relevant consultations and reviews, including the Hodge Review of Arts Council England, the APPG for Education enquiry into the Love of Learning, the Ofsted School Inspection Toolkit, and an enquiry into Inclusive Practice in Schools. We valued Professor Pat Thomson’s contribution to this work as our Senior Evidence Adviser and hope to turn some of these pieces of work into future CLA Briefing Papers. CLA data and evidence was used widely by colleagues across the sector and across a broad range of media and contexts and requests for presentations on our work continued to increase. 
• Our newsletter featured latest insights every month in the ‘Latest News’ section, and we continued to commission op-eds from experts across a range of subjects for our new ‘Latest Thinking’ section. Over the summer we commissioned a series of op-eds on the unhelpful policy conflation of the Arts and creativity, and we will continue developing themed series focused on relevant issues through 2026.

Throughout 2025 we were extremely grateful to our two core funders, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation for their continued support and we were delighted to welcome Tina Alexandrou as a new supporter. Our funders enable us to continue to champion the value of arts subjects and cultural learning on behalf of all children and young people.

Meanwhile we have a lot happening in 2026, including the exciting release of our 2026 Report Card the spring, and publication of the full findings of Rapid Evidence Reviews across Arts subjects, co-commissioned with the Royal Shakespeare Company (the only performing arts organisation in the UK with Independent Research Organisation status).

In 2026 Our evidenced Capabilities Framework will enable all of us to rigorously communicate the personal and social value of studying expressive Arts subjects. We have reframed arts and cultural learning to build a shared language about their value, and to ensure that we never again see the policy-driven erosion of this important curriculum area in schools.

We will also update our Arts in Schools Timeline to cover 2023-2025 so that we have a full Timeline from 1982 onwards. We look forward to bringing this Timeline up to date this year.

We are planning three CLA Webinars through the year – so look out for details of the first of these soon. This will focus on the development of an Arts Education Strategy Map for 2026 and beyond – what are the key pre-conditions, changes and principles needed to underpin the delivery of the government’s new ambition to revitalise Arts education in schools? Our Blueprint for an Arts-rich education set out what was required: this document will set out how it needs to be delivered. We look forward to working on this with our members and also our new Advisers from the Education sector.

And if you are interested in working with us during 2026, get in touch (info@culturallearningalliance.org.uk). We are looking to recruit freelance support across our monthly newsletters, termly webinars, and ongoing research – so if you are interested send us your CV.

Wishing you all a happy and productive 2026!

The CLA team

Image: Create Club at Tate St Ives (2024). Supported by the Mildred Fund. | Credit: Steve Tanner.

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