A recording of the presentation given by Paula Briggs, CEO & Creative Director AccessArt, at the April 2025 All Party Parliamentary Group for Art, Craft and Design Education. In this presentation, Paula explores the importance of keeping core values in mind when working towards high-quality visual arts education for all, if we are to avoid the contraction of the further subject area. Paula also shares AccessArt’s response to the Interim Curriculum & Assessment Review, and shares some key information about current funding for arts in schools.

Open Letter to Government: Why Art Education Needs to Change: Inclusion, Wellbeing, Employment & Creative Industries

It is time for us to create a rigorous, fit-for-purpose, value-led arts education for all pupils. It is time for the government to connect education back to heads, hands and hearts, and value the arts alongside all other subjects, ensuring high quality arts education is a mandatory part of all regular curriculum entitlement for ALL pupils.

As a Subject Association for Art, and as a Registered Arts Education Charity, AccessArt invites you to sign our open letter to Keir Starmer Prime Minister, Bridget Phillipson Secretary State for Education, Lisa Nandy Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Sign Now!

Whilst AccessArt welcomes many findings in the report, our intention here is not to summarise the Interim Report – or even comment on the particular findings – but instead, as a Subject Association for Art, to take the opportunity to remain true to AccessArt’s charitable aim, ethos and beliefs, and to state (again) the issues we believe we need to address to ensure a high-quality art education for all.

From the offset, it was made clear that there are many areas which sit beyond the scope of the Review. These include an exploration of pedagogy, teacher training and CPDL, and pupil wellbeing / engagement. Whilst AccessArt accepts that the Review has been tasked with a narrow remit, we wholeheartedly believe that without being willing to explore the interconnectedness of these areas, and other issues, it will be hard to pin down excellence in Curriculum & Assessment. Only a holistic, expansive and collaborative approach can achieve the required level of excellence.

Is Art Thriving?

A Discussion about Art, Craft & Design as a Unique Subject Area

A Discussion About Knowledge

A Discussion about Assessment’s impact upon Pedagogy, and Vice Versa

A Discussion about Extracurricular

A Discussion about the Connection between Art and Creative, Critical and Higher-Level Thinking Skills

A Discussion about teacher and pupil wellbeing and engagement.

Is Art Thriving?

We can see an example of how looking through a narrow lens will hold us back by exploring how the panel currently perceives the state of art education.

The Review panel considers art and design to be “thriving” due to its numbers showing those taking art at GCSE is broadly stable. This, despite the evidence put before it in the form of the Art Now report, and other publications, in particular the Sutton Trust showing the disparities between those accessing high quality creative education and careers, and those missing out on these opportunities.

This is also despite the panels’ own evidence given in the “Polling of key stage 4 and 16 to 19 learners and parents” document, where the panel share:

“For key stage 4 learners, 45% studied an arts subject and 54% did not. For those who did not choose to study an arts subject, 51% did not do so because they did not enjoy them; 45% because they were not very good at them; 38% because they did not think it would be useful to their future…”

AccessArt would like to see the panel demonstrate an appetite and ability to forensically question and challenge the notion that this is somehow good enough; that we can choose to allow the 54% majority who choose not to take art, to leave school thinking art has no place in their lives. Here we can see how the potential unwillingness to look beyond the scope of the review plays into a blinkered mindset. Despite the panel being tasked with exploring how every child can receive the best education, we have yet to see the rigour and courage needed to ask why 51% of children in KS4 do not think they are good at art. The answer is not only in curriculum, but also in staff training and pedagogy – two areas the panel are not able to consider.

We don’t have to, and shouldn’t, write those children off. In line with Article 31 of UNESCO Convention for the Rights of the Child, “Every child has the right to rest, relax, play and to take part in cultural and creative activities.” We are able to keep a far greater number of children engaged in art. In the AccessArt survey of schools using the curriculum these figures rise considerably. We can do this by enabling and enthusing staff with greater training, by creating relevant curriculum underpinned by rigorous pedagogy which schools can adapt and which give pupils ownership of their learning.

During the next stage of the review AccessArt, calls for a more joined up and expansive conversation about the interrelationships around curriculum and assessment, and about how we can use this conversation to do better, for every child.

Instances of words in the Interim Report:

Maths: 61
English: 63
Science: 23

Art: 5
The Arts: 10
Music: 8
Drama: 5
DT: 6
Dance: 0

A Discussion about Art, Craft & Design as a Unique Subject Area

Whilst the Ofsted Subject Review Art & Design (February 2023) acknowledged that art as a subject requires a unique approach, and that many systems applied to other subjects do not best serve art, there is little reassurance in the Interim Report that this thinking is embraced. Indeed, at our Curriculum & Assessment meeting it was acknowledged that the same metrics had been used for art as other subjects.

An example of how the language and approach used in other subjects might limit excellence in an art curriculum is the use of the word “mastery.” The Review panel define “mastery” in this context as “the process of ensuring students understand a particular foundational concept before moving to the next one.” Once again, we cannot use words like mastery within a conversation about curriculum without understanding or at least being willing to talk about the pedagogical implications of this word, in the context of art. Making and talking about art is a deeply iterative process. It does not comply with a linear, sequential or tick box progression. Skills do not neatly build in the way the panel hope. All artists understand this. This is not to say we don’t believe we should equip pupils with the skills and knowledge they need to enable them to express themselves, but is it appropriate to talk about mastery for pupils of school age? We would like to see the panel demonstrating an understanding of the value of play and exploration in art, alongside opportunity to visit and revisit. Perhaps then the 54% majority who think art is not for them can feel welcome to stay in the room. “Mastery” implies endpoint, which pedagogically speaking can shut down artistic exploration. (Unless of course mastery is in the exploration itself, in which case please let’s clarify the language. Semantics are vital if we are to express precise intention).

During the next stage of the review, AccessArt would like to see a curiosity towards, and understanding of, the fact that the language which works for one subject, may not work for art. We need to use language precisely if we are to enable teachers and pupils.

Instances of words in the Interim Report:

Mastery: 12
Pedagogy: 0

A Discussion About Knowledge

It is no surprise that the “knowledge-rich” mantra of the past years is retained. Evidence is cited that the recent focus on knowledge is a success reflected in uptake at GCSE and pathways at 16+, although it is recognised that this does not work for all.

The Ofsted Subject Review for Art was useful in its discussion of convergent and divergent knowledge. In addition, AccessArt would suggest a third state: emergent, as being vital to the processes of acquiring knowledge in art. In all stages, it must be understood that where a proportion of knowledge can be “taught,” the majority of knowledge in art needs to be experienced. Thinking about the curriculum only in terms of taught knowledge is a reductionist approach. Again, by embracing pedagogy, we can better appreciate the importance of creating experiences which ensure that knowledge is personally discovered through exploration and meaningfully understood. Added to this, enabling young people to feeling comfortable (and see the value in) being in a space of “not knowing” is vital not only to creative exploration but also to the ways of being in the world.

Pursuing only measurable knowledge, and avoiding immeasurable knowledge (like self-knowledge, or changed ways of being) is allowing the tail to wag the dog, and again results in a reductionist approach.

During the next stage of the review,  AccessArt would like to see a conversation about the types of knowledge in art, and how we enable them.

Instances of words in the Interim Report:

Knowledge: 54
Pedagogy: 0

A Discussion about Assessment’s impact upon Pedagogy, and Vice Versa

It is outside the remit of our response to comment on the value of assessment generally at various stages of education, but in art education, summative assessment in particular can be counterproductive to nurturing a creative curriculum. If we want to enable our learners to feel safe in taking creative risks, and our teachers to feel safe to nurture an exploratory classroom, then we need to be aware that summative assessment can place pressure on these processes.

During the next stage of the review, AccessArt would like to see a conversation about the impact of assessment on Pedagogy, and vice versa. We cannot ignore the connection.  

Instances of words in the Interim Report:

Assessment: 154
Pedagogy: 0

A Discussion about Extracurricular

“The arts are a good illustration of some of the dilemmas for this Review, in that not all of the issues that have been identified relate to the curriculum or assessment framework. For example, in arts subjects we have heard calls for improvements in equipment, more specialist teachers and better access to extra-curricular activities. These are important issues, and where we received evidence that extends beyond curriculum and assessment, we have passed that on to the Department for Education, who will reflect it in wider work.”

Can we tread carefully here? We need to ensure that we do not shrug off our responsibilities to help teachers deliver an excellent art curriculum to all, by making up for lost opportunities in the classroom via an extracurricular offer. We know that it is the most vulnerable who will least access an after-school offer. We already know that a large percentage of Primary Schools only teach art every other half term, due to curriculum pressures. Our efforts should be in ensuring first that all children have access to engaging art curriculum each week.

During the next stage of the review, AccessArt would like to be reassured that the new Curriculum does not see an extracurricular offer as a buttress to excuse a part time / carousel type curriculum.

A Discussion about the Connection between Art and Creative, Critical and Higher-Level Thinking Skills

The Interim Report does not yet demonstrate an understanding of the link between the arts and creative, critical and higher-level thinking skills. This may be because of the lack of interest in talking about pedagogy. Round and round we go. But we do need to make this connection – and to help teachers, parents and pupils to make this connection, if we are to feed this through to the Curriculum.

During the next stage of the review, AccessArt would like to see a conversation about how art can help learners cultivate Creative, Critical and Higher-Level Thinking Skills, at all ages.

Instances of words in the Interim Report:

Creative Thinking: 1
Oracy: 0
Critical Thinking: 1 (With reference to AI)
Creativity 2: (Both with reference to the last review of the curriculum between 2011-2013)

A Discussion about teacher and pupil wellbeing and engagement.

We understand wellbeing and engagement are outside the remit of the Review, and yet, if our pupils do not attend, and our teachers leave, it won’t matter how shiny and polished our Curriculum is.

At this point, the Review does not communicate an interest in the love of learning and love of teaching. There is a movement (outside the Review) to acknowledge as a whole that this is where we need to turn our attention. With regard to art education, we do need to help pupils and teachers hold the subject with joy, so that it is a personally meaningful experience. This is not difficult, if again, we truly understand pedagogical mechanisms. By exploring the how and the why, as well as the what, we can embrace everything that art education has to offer, including what we learn through art, as well as about art, and truly embrace how art education can help shape our next generation.

Instances of words in the Interim Report:

Wellbeing: 1
Enjoyment: 0

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report

Paula Briggs, CEO & Creative Director AccessArt, March 2025

Open Letter to Government: Why Art Education Needs to Change: Inclusion, Wellbeing, Employment & Creative Industries

It is time for us to create a rigorous, fit-for-purpose, value-led arts education for all pupils. It is time for the government to connect education back to heads, hands and hearts, and value the arts alongside all other subjects, ensuring high quality arts education is a mandatory part of all regular curriculum entitlement for ALL pupils.

As a Subject Association for Art, and as a Registered Arts Education Charity, AccessArt invites you to sign our open letter to Keir Starmer Prime Minister, Bridget Phillipson Secretary State for Education, Lisa Nandy Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Sign Now!

This Fair Processing notice refers specifically to AccessArt’s use of your personal data collected through our open letter of March 2025. We will use your personal data to include your name, organisation and/or interest in the open letter (if you select this option). 

We collect four types of information about you:  

1. Your name  
2. Your Title  
3. Your interest in the issue 
4. Your email address  

Your name  

• We ask for your name so we know to whom to address communications. 

• We ask you for your name so we can identify who has signed the letter. 

• We ask you to specifically opt in for us to share your name, you can choose to remain anonymous. 

• We intend to publish this letter on our website and social media accounts.  

• We are also seeking publication in the national media.  

• The letter may also be reproduced in international media.  

• If you opt in for us to share your name you will be identifiable in all these environments as a signatory to this letter. 

Organisation or job title 

• We ask you to supply information relating to your job title or organisation (if applicable). 

• This information may appear alongside your name when the letter is published if you opt in for us to share your name. 

Interest 

• We ask you to select your role when signing the form (Teacher, Creative or in Industry). You do not have to choose one of these, but it will help our understanding of who is signing the letter if you choose to do so. 

• This information may appear alongside your name and title when the letter is published or will be shared as an alternative to a name or title if you opt to remain anonymous. 

Your email address  

• We ask you to supply your email address so we can stay in touch with you about this campaign by electronic means. 

• When you give us your email address, you are giving us your consent in accordance with data protection legislation to receive electronic communications from us about this campaign. 

• We will not share your email address with any other party (except for data backup purposes with our appointed contractor).  

Retention  

We will retain your information for as long as this campaign is active. We will delete securely any personal data we hold once we decide to close this campaign.  

If at any time you wish to unsubscribe from our emails, please let us know. Please contact info@accessart.org.uk or use the ‘unsubscribe’ option in the emails that we send you. If you have any questions or concerns about this issue or AccessArt’s approach to data protection, you can read the AccessArt’s Privacy Policy.  

Data controller details  

AccessArt is a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales under company number 36882 is a data controller. Our registered office 6 West Street, Comberton, Cambridge,CB23 7DS. Please contact our Business Manager via alison@accessart.org.uk if you have any queries. 

As a Subject Association for Art, and as a Registered Arts Education Charity, AccessArt invites you to sign the open letter below. We currently have over 1300 signatures and will be sending our letter to the press very soon. Please do sign now – our combined voice will carry greater weight.

Please do share this page within your networks and on social media, thank you.

Please find our Fair Processing Policy here.

Please note if you leave a comment on this page below, that is not the same as signing the letter (pls use the form to sign). 

Open Letter to Keir Starmer Prime Minister, Bridget Phillipson Secretary State for Education, Lisa Nandy Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Dear Members of Parliament,

With the Interim Report of the Curriculum and Assessment Review imminent, experts and advocates of arts education understand the significance of this opportunity. Will the government demonstrate that they have listened to the powerful, combined voices of experts in the field, and understood the unified message: that the current Curriculum approach – the “knowledge-rich” mantra, the unnecessarily stringent approaches to testing, and the unfair bias placed on schools by the EBacc and Progress 8 – is failing to provide all pupils with a fit-for-purpose arts education.

We are deeply concerned that if the Review decides the arts in schools are “good enough” then a once in a lifetime opportunity will be missed and the Government will fail to meet its own commitments.

We need to hold Keir Starmer, Bridget Phillipson and Lisa Nandy to account, and remind them; we are looking to them to demonstrate the curiosity, courage and creative thinking we so badly need to nurture in our children to responsibly prepare them for their futures.

We remind the government of their verbal commitments:

Inclusion

“… A review of the curriculum to put arts, sports and music back at the heart of our schools and communities where it belongs.” [i]

“The arts, creativity, drama, music — they must be available to every child, to us all. Excellence is for everyone, and background must be no barrier to opportunity.” [ii]

‘I will help working-class pupils defy the odds to succeed – just as I did’ [iii]

Wellbeing

“That’s why thriving and belonging will feature so prominently in our work in the opportunity mission, hand in hand with attainment… Healthy, happy children coming to school ready to learn – if we get this right, those children will achieve time and again… The best schools understand this. They also understand that it’s not easy, it’s not soft.” [iv]

Employment

Alongside CEO’s of AI companies, the government’s own website says that in preparing for the workforce of the future, “creativity, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence are still absolutely vital.” [v]

Creative Industries

“Labour will deliver a broader curriculum, to tap into the unbelievable creative talent of all our young people.” [vi]

“Every young person must have access to music, art, design and drama. That is our mission. Because we know that for our creative industries to flourish, every child needs to be given a chance.” [vii]

It is time for us to create a rigorous, fit-for-purpose, value-led arts education for all pupils. It is time for the government to connect education back to heads, hands and hearts, and value the arts alongside all other subjects, ensuring high quality arts education is a mandatory part of all regular curriculum entitlement for ALL pupils.

Where people are feeling fear, art can help people process and express.
Where people are feeling fragmented, art can help people connect.
Where people are feeling despair, art can create optimism.
Where people are feeling disempowered and unheard, art can empower.

Paula Briggs, Co-Founder, CEO and Creative Director AccessArt

[i] Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, September 2024
[ii] Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education, X, 14th August, 2023
[iii] Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education, The Guardian, 20 July 2024
[iv] Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education, Confederation of School Trusts’ Conference, November 2024
[v] https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2025/01/what-ai-means-for-jobs-and-how-were-preparing-the-workforce/
[vi] Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education, The Rest is Politics, June 2024
[vii] Keir Starmer, March 2024

<< Back to AccessArt Lab 

The AccessArt team will use the AccessArt Lab to devise, trial and develop content for the AccessArt website. Explore the Areas of Focus and Core Values of the AccessArt Lab here. 

As part of this process, we will be running in-person workshops at the studio at Stapleford Granary, Cambridgeshire.

These workshops sessions will evolve over our time at Stapleford and fall into two workshop types:

Open sessions

The Open In-Person Sessions will be open to various audiences. These sessions will be programmed over the following weeks and months. 

To make sure you are kept up to date when we announce new in-person, open sessions, please:

• Register for free at AccessArt if you are not already a free subscriber or member

• Join the AccessArt Network Facebook Group

• Follow us on Instagram

   

Invite-only sessions

The Invite-Only Sessions will be open to selected experts in the field to help the AccessArt team brainstorm and better understand content and approach. This is an exciting opportunity for more experienced educators to join in and help contribute to stimulating thinking and discussion.

If you are an educator and would be interested in attending any in-person, invite-only sessions, please read our “AccessArt Lab Areas of Focus & Core Values” post to make sure you understand the spirit and intention which will drive these sessions. If you would then like to be added to our register of interested educators list, please email paula@accessart.org.uk with the following information:

• Name and contact details

• Brief outline of educational areas of interest / experience, including audience/pupils.

Whilst the outcomes of the AccessArt Lab will be shared via AccessArt, Paula Briggs will also be sharing her own personal thoughts and observations about how we enable the creative process through nurturing a safe and exploratory space via The Everyday School of Art on Substack. 

The AccessArt Lab will begin in January 2025. Please join the AccessArt Network Facebook group and register at AccessArt for free to be kept in touch.

Stapleford Granary is an Arts Centre whose aim is to foster cultural understanding through education.

The venue offers music, art, education & conversation in a beautiful 19th century farm complex, situated at the foot of the Gog Magog Downs, just 5 miles from the centre of Cambridge.

Please note the AccessArt registered office and all contact details remain as detailed here. 

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AccessArt Lab Areas of Focus & Core Values

How tiny Art Schools grow

<< Back to AccessArt Lab

The AccessArt Lab provides AccessArt with the opportunity to focus on practical and pedagogical exploration of key areas of interest which have emerged over the last few years. The work in the AccessArt Lab will be guided by the areas of focus and core values described below. 

Find out about the in-person sessions we will be running at the Lab to help facilitate these areas of focus. 

Areas of Focus

The AccessArt Lab will be exploring the following areas of focus. New areas will be allowed to evolve over time.

• Exploration of Inhabiting “Spaces of Not-Knowing”  – What does it feel like to be in spaces of not-knowing? What are the risks and benefits? What might be the outcomes? How can we enable these spaces?

• Exploration of Social Models of Learning – How can we embrace shared experiences and outcomes to discover more open, inclusive and diverse ways of thinking and acting? 

• Re-Connection to Physical Senses, Body-Based Activities and Exploration of Resistant Forces – Whilst not turning out back on digital, how can we better protect and appreciate time spent in the physical world? How can we build tolerance of what resistance feels like (in interaction with materials and ideas, and in communication between people), and how can we more positively manage our relationship to resistance?

• Teenage Enquiry-Based Learning – How can we devise a rich, diverse and adaptable curriculum to engage all teenagers?

Core Values

The work undertaken in the Lab will be guided by the following principles:

• Awareness of the programming and messaging of our everyday lives and how this impacts upon our thought, action and wellbeing. Alongside this, an exploration of how we can explore a gentler, yet more physical way of thinking and acting, and the benefits this might bring.

• Permission for “Pause” – in all forms – space to think, space to act without outcome, space to play… 

• Appreciation of “question” over “answer” – Where do we put the emphasis and how does it change our experience? 

• An understanding that exploration of all areas of focus within the lab ultimate benefit others (people, communities and society) through accessible sharing of practice and ideas. 

Whilst the outcomes of the AccessArt Lab will be shared via AccessArt, Paula Briggs will also be sharing her own personal thoughts and observations about how we enable the creative process through nurturing a safe and exploratory space via The Everyday School of Art on Substack. 

To make sure you are kept up to date with all the AccessArt Lab news, please:

• Register for free at AccessArt if you are not already a free subscriber or member

• Join the AccessArt Network Facebook Group

• Follow us on Instagram

The AccessArt Lab will begin in January 2025. Please join the AccessArt Network Facebook group and register at AccessArt for free to be kept in touch.

Stapleford Granary is an Arts Centre whose aim is to foster cultural understanding through education.

The venue offers music, art, education & conversation in a beautiful 19th century farm complex, situated at the foot of the Gog Magog Downs, just 5 miles from the centre of Cambridge.

Please note the AccessArt registered office and all contact details remain as detailed here. 

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AccessArt Lab Workshop Sessions

How tiny Art Schools grow

Recording of a presentation delivered by Paula Briggs, CEO and Creative Director of AccessArt, at the All Party Parliamentary Group for Art, Craft & Design Education on 17th December 2024.

<< Back to AccessArt Lab

AccessArt has always advocated for the role artists can play in creating dynamic, engaging and relevant art education experiences for the whole community. We have seen through the AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum how activities that were devised, trialled and tested in community settings, led by artists working with small groups, have then been very successfully transferred into more formal education settings. Artists bring to education an opening of what is possible, together with a depth of understanding and clarity of purpose. Artists help educators ask important and often challenging questions: What is the purpose of art education, and how can we best inspire and enable?

AccessArt has been at the forefront of this approach for 25 years, and we have helped thousands of schools, organisations and individual artist educators transform their practice. Our recently launched Tiny Art School Movement is helping to encourage artists to reflect upon their potential as educators and to work with local communities.

Now we are ready to open the first ever AccessArt Lab as part of our continuing commitment to push the boundaries of what is possible when artists and educators from all settings work together. Led by Paula Briggs, Creative Director of AccessArt and the AccessArt Lab, the studio at Stapleford Granary, Cambridge, will provide a space for an ongoing creative (and practical) conversation between AccessArt and our audience.

“We are very excited about the potential of the AccessArt Lab. We’ll be using the space to devise and test new content, especially around the creation of resources for teenagers, and around how we nurture creative thinking for all. But over and above these key areas, we’ll be exploring (and celebrating) what it is like for learners to enjoy being in a space of “not knowing.” Too often, education focuses on the accumulation of precise and nameable knowledge, and then on measuring knowledge retention. Art provides a valuable alternative to this kind of thinking, providing opportunities to acknowledge there are other types of intelligence, and that there is real value in helping learners and teachers experience the benefits of operating in a space of play, feeling safe but inspired in the space of “not knowing… yet,” and empowered by personal discovery.

As a predominantly digital organisation with a national and international reach, the AccessArt Lab will provide an opportunity for us to engage with audiences in new ways, and of course everything we learn and create in the Lab will be shared with all our audiences via the AccessArt website. We are excited to see how this develops into what we hope will be a vibrant and meaningful creative conversation, helping our combined voice and expertise to be heard across all settings, and to help affect change.”

The AccessArt Lab will begin in January 2025. Please join the AccessArt Network Facebook group at and register at AccessArt for free to be kept in touch.

Stapleford Granary is an Arts Centre whose aim is to foster cultural understanding through education.

The venue offers music, art, education & conversation in a beautiful 19th century farm complex, situated at the foot of the Gog Magog Downs, just 5 miles from the centre of Cambridge.

Please note the AccessArt registered office and all contact details remain as detailed here. 

You May Also Like…

AccessArt Lab Areas of Focus & Core Values

AccessArt Lab Workshop Sessions

A collection of evidence-based reports which help map the changes to the art education (and wider arts) landscape over the past few years, and a collection of articles to help share solutions to the issues raised.

If you would like us to add a link to a report or relevant article please email paula@accessart.org.uk.

Paula Briggs, CEO & Creative Director AccessArt, 2024.

Evidence

A Class Act

Social Mobility and the Creative Industries, Sutton Trust 2024

The State of The Arts

Campaign for the Arts and the University of Warwick, 2024

The Art Now Report

Commissioned by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Art, Craft and Design Education

The Arts in Schools: Foundations for the Future

Published by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and A New Direction

Urgent Reform needed in 11-16 Education

The Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee, December 2023

Culture in Crisis: impacts of Covid-19 on the UK cultural sector

Culture in Crisis shares research findings from one of the world’s largest investigations into the impacts of Covid-19 on the cultural industries.

Solutions

Can Labour Show It Really Understands The Power Of The Arts To Transform Lives?

Why Would We Ignore What The Arts Can Do For Us?

The Current Education System: Too Much Beta, Not Enough Alpha

Rethinking the Space in Which We Learn

Taking Control of the narrative

Why We Need To Change The Narrative Around Art Education

Not Just Ideas: Action

Explore AccessArt’s vision and the impact it is having on art education.

AccessArt’s Pedagogical Approach

Over the past 25 years AccessArt has helped define a rigorous yet highly accessible approach to visual arts education.

Education: The Fundamentals

Produced by Nesta and the Education Policy Institute

Visual Arts Manifesto

24 Arts Organisations share a vision

On Monday 1st July 2024 we celebrated AccessArt’s 25th birthday by hosting the first ever AccessArt Draw-Along!

The AccessArt team led a number of drawing exercises, and Rowan Briggs Smith was our live drawing demonstrator.

Thousands of participants watched the live event on their whiteboards or devices following along in classrooms, halls, community spaces or homes. You can find images of drawings from the session on this Padlet.

Register Your Interest in the Next Draw-Along

Wherever you are, whoever you are, you are invited to our next Draw-Along event (date to be confirmed) to draw alongside us in a participatory event!

Keep an eye on the CPD Zoom Events page to get updates on when the next Draw-Along will be.

The event will be open and free of charge to AccessArt members only.

Please Remember:

• The exercises are suitable for everyone – ages 5 through to adult

• By showing the event on a whiteboard you can have as large a participatory audience as you like. You only need to book one place per device used to share from.

• You must not charge participants for the event.

• The event is free of charge but only open to AccessArt members. The Zoom webinar link will be behind the AccessArt membership wall – so please make sure you are a member of AccessArt and can login! 

• These events will NOT be recorded.

AccessArt has joined forces with the National Education Union and a coalition of organisations in the arts and education sectors to spotlight the eroding of the arts across the curriculum.

The Arts Apocalypse statement offers policy solutions that the signatories believe would help save the arts from catastrophe.

We urge politicians of all parties to consider the statement, take notice of the critical situation and commit to implementing the solutions offered.

Please download the full statement and share

Arts Apocalypse: Time For Change in a Failing System

The crisis in our schools is deep, multi-faceted and worsening. The current state of arts education is one of the clearest signs of what has gone wrong with our whole system.

A commitment to arts education is essential to arrest the decline and to build an education system fit for the 21st century.

We call on politicians of all parties to recognise and respond to the problems on the scale that is necessary. We encourage educators and the wider arts community to push for radical change in their schools and communities.

The arts are essential to human fulfilment; they are meaning-making activities which have a personal, social and economic value. But in education, what is recognised in principle is often denied in practice. In an underfunded system, we have seen arts education decimated as school leaders are forced to make impossible decisions on an ever-dwindling budget and a damaging focus on a narrow curriculum.

In primary schools, the demands of testing all too often push arts education into a corner of the curriculum. Primary teachers report that they do not feel enabled to be successful arts educators. Initial Teacher Training fails to prepare teachers to deliver arts subjects with confidence. Opportunities for professional development are rare.

In secondary schools, the move towards ever greater accountability rooted in the promotion of the EBacc system has a similar effect: students are actively discouraged from pursuing Arts-based routes. Subjects, like English, which the government sees as important have been stripped of their creative content. Assessment in other arts subjects is overloaded with written tasks. Increasingly, the government steers schools to deliver a prescriptive, often centrally planned curriculum, focused on examinations, in which Arts are sidelined. The impact on behaviour, mental health, school engagement and attendance has been catastrophic.

We demand systemic change

Learning to be a teacher of art or music – indeed of any subject – should mean learning about the skills and knowledge associated with that specialism. Reshaped by government, teacher education has come to mean something else – a training in generic skills, a lowering of quality.

The numbers are plunging. As a generation of students who have been through the declining system reach adulthood, recruitment of specialist teachers in the Arts subjects has fallen to dangerous levels. This negative spiral threatens the very existence of quality Arts education in schools. Where good practice does exist, it is in spite of the system, not because of it.

The consequences of not changing course are bleak. We have a system that does not help students reach their potential, that neglects their cultural experiences at home and in the community, that adds to problems of poor mental health, behaviour and attendance.

The relegation of the Arts subjects to third class citizens in our education system threatens the future of the creative industries in this country, but it also hinders our ability to nurture children to fully develop their talents and interests. It obstructs their access to the Arts, rights which are protected in Article 29 and 31 of the UN Convention on the Human Rights of the Child.

We believe that the benefits of a rounded, broad curriculum with an equal focus on the Arts can bring huge societal, economic, and personal mental health benefits to future generations. We demand systemic change.

We want politicians to pledge the following:

• A significant increase in education spending, with specific funding for Arts education.

• To increase the supply of teachers in the Arts, where ITT recruitment falls well short of targets.

• To conduct a full review of curriculum and assessment from EYFS to Post-16 with the stated aim of broadening and improving Arts education. Practices such as Progress 8, EBacc and SATs that work to sideline Arts education should be ended.

• To no longer use damaging low value language and ‘Mickey Mouse’ rhetoric to describe arts subjects.

• To rebuild Arts education organisations which support schools.

• To give education and arts trade unions, subject associations, arts educators, arts organisations a seat at the table when the curriculum is reviewed.

The Arts Apocalypse statement is supported by the following organisations:

National Education Union, AccessArt, WGGB – The Writers’ Union, Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, Black Lives in Music, Equity, Musicians’ Union, One Dance UK, Susan M Coles -Arts Creativity Educational Consultant, Artist, UK Literacy Association, Music for Youth, National Drama, London Drama and National Society for Education in Art & Design.

At AccessArt, we are keen to share our insight, experience and vision as to how we might rethink the value and purpose of art education in particular, and education in general. 

With a new Labour government and a Curriculum Review promised, we are at a pivotal moment in the UK.

The following articles have been curated to help share our thoughts and start a conversation. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss further, share your ideas, or lend your support. 

Arts Education In Crisis: We Have The Evidence – Now We Need The Solution

Evidence and Solutions

A collection of current reports into the state of the arts / education, and solutions.

Can Labour Show It Really Understands The Power Of The Arts To Transform Lives?

What can art do for us, and why we shouldn’t ignore it…

Read why we need to see that Labour understands the true value of the arts to individuals and to society.

Taking Control of the narrative

“I realised through conversations with school leavers that they could no longer use words like intuition, entitlement, dreaming, invention, play. These words are unfamiliar to them, and they no longer resonate. These words, and therefore the ways of being they describe, are not available to them right now.”

Read why we need to change the narrative and speak with more courage about the purpose of education…

The Current Education System: Too Much Beta, Not Enough Alpha

Is our current education system helping to break, not build?

Can awareness of brainstates help us move forward to a more balanced curriculum?

Why AccessArt Can’t support oak national academy

“Like many educational publishers, we were concerned at the time about both the nature and quality of the resources created, the ethics of the creation of a curriculum by government, and also the potential impact of a so called “free” curriculum on commercial and charitable educational suppliers…”

Read why we think Oak is a flawed idea…

Not just ideas: Action Too

“One cold, rainy morning in January 1999, I received a phone call from the then DfES. The woman started the call with the words: “What is the best news someone could call you with on such a rainy January day?””

Explore and understand all that AccessArt has achieved and the impact we are making

Please Get In Touch

If you are thinking about joining AccessArt during 2025, you can find lots of information here to help you understand more about how AccessArt can help develop excellent art teaching and learning in your school. Explore below:

• Our offer to schools – learn more about our approach and what makes AccessArt so special.

• Read teacher feedback about AccessArt.

• Find ideas about how you can trial our resources with your pupils and teachers, and how you might transition from existing planning.

• Access a recording of a Zoom introductory session, including Q&A’s, access to a Powerpoint to introduce teachers to AccessArt, & art material freebies! 

• Ask for help 🙂

• How to Join AccessArt.

The AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum

AccessArt CPD

AccessArt CPD Recordings

AccessArt Offer to Primary Schools

EYFS

Organisational Core Values

The AccessArt Offer To Primary Schools

AccessArt is a UK Visual Arts Education Charity and we are also a Subject Association for Art. We have over 22,000 members using our resources in schools and community settings, and over 41,000 subscribers. 

What makes us special? We are passionate about what we do. We have just one charitable aim which is to further the advancement of visual arts education, and through our creative vision we are proud to help support the visual arts education of hundreds of thousands of individuals. Our approach is trusted also by many Universities who use our resources within arts teacher training contexts. 

We offer schools access to the AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum,  a rich, diverse, engaging and highly flexible curriculum. We also offer ongoing CPD to build teacher understanding and enjoyment, and you can also use our resources and approach to expand upon your own planning or scheme. 

We are a self-supporting charity and our independence gives us strength of vision and autonomy.  We also work with experts in the field who help support the considerable in-house expertise. We do not create resources for anyone else – instead we remain true to our vision, knowledge and experience. Explore our Core Values. 

The AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum – Impact & Evidence Autumn 2023

Since the launch of the new AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum in 2022, we have seen a large number of new members sign up to use the resources in schools to help inspire and enable a rich, diverse and flexible visual arts curriculum for all pupils.

In the summer of 2023 we invited users to complete a survey to feedback their experience of using our Primary Arts Curriculum in their school. See the report here. 

The AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum – Impact & Evidence Autumn 2023

Ten Minutes, Five Times a Week

Ten Minutes, Five Times a Week Zoom Event with AccessArt & DRYAD Education

Trialling & Transitioning

If you would like a 15 day complimentary membership of AccessArt so that you can explore all our resources, please contact Andrea, our Membership Manager. 

If you would like advice about introducing AccessArt to your staff, or to ask questions about how you might transition from your existing approach to our approach, please book on to our “Preparing To Use the AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum” session detailed below. 

A great way to test drive our resources with staff and pupils is to try our Ten Minutes Five Times a Week exercises. We also have a Zoom session in October, sponsored by Dryad, when we will be sharing these exercises in more detail and you can win art materials! 

Preparing To Use AccessArt in Your School and Introducing Staff to Us  

If you’re thinking about using AccessArt as your Primary Art Curriculum provider in Autumn 2024 watch this session recording where we share the ethos and practice of the AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum.

In this recording we talk through how you might introduce AccessArt to staff, how you can transition from your existing scheme or plan, test driving activities with children and teachers, and how you can prepare the materials and resources you will need to deliver our curriculum.

Organise a staff meeting to introduce staff to the curriculum.

You can find a presentation here, created with an introductory staff meeting in mind.

Preparing To Use the AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum

Ask for Help 🙂

We know it can be challenging deciding which scheme to use, or devising your own planning. We are a small team of experts and we love talking about pedagogy and practice. If you have something you would like help with, especially in regard to our Primary Art Curriculum, then please email us with your question. 

You might also like to send us a quick video made on your phone, sharing pupil or teacher experiences and outcomes, and let us know what it is you are struggling with. Send all enquiries to paula@accessart.org.uk and we’ll answer as soon as we can. 

Send any questions or enquiries to paula@accessart.org.uk

Join AccessArt

Join AccessArt

Joining AccessArt offers incredible value for money and gives you access to the most innovative yet accessible visual arts teaching resources. Don’t forget that when you join AccessArt, you are also joining a Subject Association, so we can help you every step of the way in your art teaching practice.

See all membership benefits here. 

AccessArt Core Value #4 “Through small acts of understanding we can enable big thinking.” illustrated by Rachel Ng

Rachel Ng is a young illustrator from Hong Kong, currently studying illustration at Arts University Bournemouth. Her vibrant digital illustrations with bold characters are deeply inspired by fauvism and minimalism. Creating expressive and heart-warming illustrations, with different textures and shapes is one of her main explorations.

We love the story that this illustration by Rachel Ng tells. Building from a simple seed, the days and nights pass providing the nourishment that the seed needed to grow. The little faces and characters put such a smile on our faces and the colours are so joyful, it’s hard not to feel excited by what the small acts of understanding can bring us when you see this illustration.

We feel that this illustration really resonates with the AccessArt core value, highlighting that great ideas and growth can take time, and the importance of trusting in the bigger picture and the incremental steps to get there, remaining patient and open to the journey, no matter how long it takes.

AccessArt Value #4

Through small acts of understanding we can enable big thinking.

How can we create small stepping stones of experience which enable us to explore complex ideas and experiences?

Comforting as it is to know that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,”* knowing what that single step might be is not always easy. In reality, growing our understanding so that we can aim to be expansive, visionary thinkers, whilst able to act incrementally to make change, doesn’t just happen; it requires planning, effort and commitment.

At AccessArt we have always been inspired by big thinking, and we have never hesitated to have our heads in a cloud space where ideas swirl around. We have always been interested in the why as well as the how; at our heart we are a philosophical organisation.

But our feet are firmly planted on the ground, and understanding how we create and present a series of smaller experiences which help us move towards an often unknown, but always intriguing, bigger understanding, is one of our strengths.

Keeping clear sight of the bigger picture, whilst being able to distil down key ideas or skills, is vital in enabling individuals or communities to feel like they can trust the logic of the next step, or the next stage, whilst being inspired onwards by the bigger prize. Trusting too that understanding builds even when the process isn’t linear, and that getting lost along the way might make for a richer journey and deeper understanding.

This way of thinking applies to all creative thought and action – from the teachers and children in Primary School, to decision making in larger organisations. We are proud that as an organisation we can help enable this way of thinking and acting.

*Lao Tzu

See our other Core Values here.

Paula, April 2024

AccessArt is a truly digital organisation – we have no offices and all team members work remotely. It’s been SO long since we met up in person, and it was fantastic to meet up with the Trustees and the team members who could make it for two days in York. 

We reach our 25th year with nearly 23,000 members and over 38,000 subscribers, and the conversation was far reaching, insightful, celebratory and ambitious. We’re excited for the years ahead. If you are already part of our journey thank you, and if not please find out more about how we are celebrating 25 years and join us! 

Paula Briggs, Co-founder, CEO & Creative Director
AccessArt 2024

The AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum takes a holistic approach to art education. 

Please watch the Thinking about Curriculum Content and Progression in Primary Art recording to understand more about how the disciplines, skills, behaviours and traits in the documents below are developed through our curriculum. 

Explore Resources…

Overview of disciplines, skills & behaviours developed from eyfs to ks2

Please explore the different tabs on the excel to view EYFS, KS1-2 and Additional Pathways.

Assessment & Progression

Explore how we might rethink assessment and explore sensitive approaches as a beneficial tool.

Paula Briggs from AccessArt shares thoughts about how we might more usefully connect the curriculum we choose to teach with the progress we’d like to see…

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Disciplines, Skills, Behaviours & Traits Developed through our curriculum

Using Circle Diagrams to Celebrate Progression

Assessment & Progression

By Paula Briggs

In the recording “Thinking About Curriculum Content & Progression in Primary Art” we discuss the use of Circle Diagrams as a gentle, learner centred way to think about assessment.

The circle diagram above is a sample used in the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) for Year 12. In this instance the circle diagram enables the learner to think about the areas/skills/traits they would like to progress, placing them around the periphery of the circle. Each week or month as these skills are developed, through tasks, the learner can colour outwards as a pictorial representation of their growth.

AccessArt would like to invite teachers of Primary-aged children to explore the use of this method. The “Thinking About Curriculum Content & Progression in Primary Art” describes the range of skills and traits which we think it is important to develop. By creating a simple circle diagram with your chosen skills/traits, children can become aware of their own sense of development over time.

There are many ways of succeeding in art – for some children looking at and talking about art will be their skill, for other children drawing skills will be their strength, for others making. We don’t want or need to make sure all children succeed equally in all areas – of course children will progress all skills, but the circle diagram enables everyone to celebrate each child’s particular strengths without pitting them against another child or a fictitious standard. The aim is not to see the whole circle coloured in, but instead to use the diagrams to recognise where strengths (and perhaps areas to be developed) exist.

Remember:

• Keep it light and celebratory! There is no need for heavy handed assessment – creativity is a fragile thing and it can be easily damaged.

• Think holistically! Learning takes place through art, as well as about art, and the development of the pupil as a whole person is important. Never rely on measurement of certain skills (such as technical skills) above all other skills. Watch the video here. 

Download our template circle diagram here.

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Assessment & Progression

In the summer of 2023, a year on from the launch of the AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum, we conducted this survey to invite users to feedback their experiences of using the resources so far.

You can find everything you need to know about the AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum here. The survey did not include feedback to the EYFS element of the Curriculum, though many respondents mentioned the benefits of this addition in their qualitative responses.

A total of 447 people completed the survey – thank you to all those who took the time. We hope you find this summary useful.

You can find a pdf of the report here including an appendix of qualitative feedback.

How do Schools Use AccessArt?

How is AccessArt Being Used Across Schools?

The majority of respondents use AccessArt as a scheme, with a smaller percentage using our resources to support their own planning or to extend the resources of other schemes such as Kapow.

How Large is Your School?

How Long has Your School Been Using AccessArt?

The smallest school that uses AccessArt as a scheme has just 18 pupils.

The majority of schools are 1 form entry and a significant number teach in mixed year groups.

AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum Versions

We offer four versions of the Curriculum: the Full (36 pathways based upon one week of art each week), the Split (for schools who alternate Art with DT), the Mixed (for schools teaching art full time in mixed year group classes), and the Split & Mixed (for schools teaching in mixed year group classes and alternating with DT).

Interestingly, and a clear indicator of the pressures on schools across the timetable, the single largest sector of schools use
our Split Curriculum. This may also be an indicator of the flexibility of our Curriculum for schools working in this way.

Which Curriculum is Used by Schools?

Some schools did comment that using the Split Curriculum successfully
in their school had strengthened their argument to move art to a full time basis; clear evidence that if we can create an enthusiasm for art in schools amongst teachers and pupils, and demonstrate its purpose and relevance, then we can create a demand.

When making choices about which scheme to use, it is vital that teachers choose a scheme whose ethos matches or informs that of the school.

The Pathways, Creative Ethos, flexibility and adaptability all scored highly as reasons teachers choose AccessArt. The Curriculum also comes highly recommended by other teachers and trusts.

Why do Schools Choose AccessArt?

Impact Upon Teaching

We are thrilled to see dramatic increases in staff experience, confidence, and enthusiasm in teaching art after just a short time of using our resources, as perceived by the Art Lead.

Staff Feeling Before AccessArt

Staff Feeling After AccessArt

Over 67% of respondents feel that their arts curriculum is now more diverse, contemporary and relevant, and therefore there was more appreciation for art as a valuable subject in their school. Over 66% of teachers feel that they now have a clear structure from which to explore art, and that they understand how their teaching fitted into the bigger picture in school. 62% of teachers have a better understanding of the importance of an open-ended exploratory approach and how to enable this kind of learning.

Class teachers reflected upon changes to their own understanding, with 47% / 49.4% teachers agreeing / strongly agreeing that their confidence had increased, 39% / 58.5% of teachers agreeing / strongly agreeing that they felt more enthusiasm to teach art, and 50% / 45.1 agreeing / strongly agreeing / that their understanding in teaching art had increased.

Impact Upon Teachers

65% of teachers responded saying they felt using our resources had helped them feel more connected to their own creativity.

Adaptability

Over 68% found it easy to adapt the Pathways to their pupils / needs.

Ofsted

Of those who answered, 26% were due for an Ofsted Visit imminently and 13% had just been visited. AccessArt will be inviting teachers to submit experiences to share on AccessArt.

Impact on Children

As with the teachers, we saw large increases in confidence, enthusiasm, skills and knowledge from the children, as perceived by the teachers. This is especially heartening to hear given the short amount of time most schools have been using AccessArt. We expect these increases to compound over time as children are exposed to AccessArt approaches and pathways each year.

Pupils Before Using AccessArt

Pupils After Using AccessArt

Skills and Knowledge

Teachers report demonstrable growth in skills and knowledge relating to drawing (77.4%), sketchbooks (71.9%), painting, printmaking & collage (45.5%) and sculpture (45.5%), amongst others. These figures follow the emphasis in weight given to these areas in the Pathways with drawing and sketchbooks underpinning all creative activity.

Oracy

Oracy skills have dramatically improved.

Behaviours

The AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum
is a holistic curriculum, and teachers reported the following behaviours had been developed through Curriculum use:

• Enjoyment of Exploring 92.8%

• Willingness to Take Creative Risks

  82.1%

• Sharing Ideas 60.7%

• Pleasure in Discovery 60.1%

• Opening of Minds 50%

• Listening to Others 38.2%

• Sense of Identity 28.9%

You can find a pdf of the report here including an appendix of qualitative feedback.

Explore examples of the work made by schools inspired by the AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum.

This is a duplicated post, available on both AccessArt and The Everyday School of Art, to explain the thinking behind a new Substack venture aimed at creating a shared space to inspire personal creative exploration.

Creative cycles ebb and flow. There are times in your life when creative thought and action feels important and becomes all encompassing, and times in your life when leaving behind the pressure to create is a welcome relief. And then times in your life when you know creativity is part of you, but it seems to exist just behind or just in front of you, never quite with you now.

I’ve always been interested in why we are creative beings, and how we enable our creativity to flourish. For many years, as a child, teenager and young person, this manifested itself as a desire to actually make – enjoying tactile experiences shaping materials in the real world. But there came a point when I stopped making – and even at the time I knew why I stopped: I could no longer see the point. I knew I wasn’t going to be a “great artist” (I thought in those terms back in 1995), and I didn’t understand what the relevance was then of me making things, that no one needed or perhaps wanted – it felt too insular, too indulgent. We even had a tutor at The Royal College of Art who came round each studio and asked us “Do you really think the world needs another one of those?” It was a damming question and one to which I could only answer no. Not understanding the relevance or purpose of art to my life was a nail in the coffin, and I see the same pattern emerging today when others have no understanding of the importance of art in our lives: art tends not to flourish (let’s say the British Government 2010-2023+, or certain individuals, or certain sub-communities of people).

So, I stopped making my own work, and instead returned purposely to the child version of me, the kid who liked to make, and thought about how I could inspire and enable the next generation to make, and that endeavour became my creative outlet.

That venture – thinking how we could inspire and enable the next generation to make, became AccessArt, a registered UK Charity. We now have over 20,000 members, grown 7000 members since last September. Apparently 20,000 people will fill the O2 stadium – so that’s a lot of people, and each of those members uses the AccessArt resources with their own pupils/students/audiences to inspire visual art education. Good stuff.

The people who use AccessArt; the teachers, artist educators and parents, spend a huge amount of time and energy nurturing creativity in others. Driven by their passion for art and their belief that art education can change lives, it’s an exciting, stimulating role, but it takes energy, and often it takes the energy away from our own creativity – we just don’t have enough hours in the day.

Time and again, through conversations, we hear how teachers and educators care so much about enabling their audiences or pupils with limited time and resources that the educators themselves are often subsumed. Their own creativity is put on the back burner for the sake of some greater good. The same is true of my relationship with AccessArt, and that is why, together with my daughter, Rowan, who is at a very different stage in her life, we have decided to create The Everyday School of Art.

We see The Everyday School of Art as being a place where all educators, parents and carers can finally emerge from behind their roles, and begin to see themselves as artists and creatives in their own right. We hope The Everyday School of Art will help us all identify and explore our individual creative potential, and feed our appetite to nurture ourselves, for once, alongside others.

So if there is a part of you which feels you would like to explore, or return to exploring, your own creative potential, then please join us over at The Everyday School of Art on Substack. Let’s show who we are as individuals and create a rich community which will surely complete the circle.

Find out more and Register for free at The Everyday School of Art here. Register before the 30th September and we will upgrade 10 registrants (chosen at random) to paid subscriber status free of charge. 

Best wishes,

Paula Briggs

Co-Founder, CEO & Creative Director AccessArt

Co-Founder The Everyday School of Art 2023