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Hours of arts teaching and number of arts teachers in England’s secondary schools stable but not recovering after years of decline Briefing, October 2020 Department for Education figures1 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 period2.

• 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. 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%

1 https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england 2 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) https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics

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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.