SURVEY OF ART & DESIGN RESOURCES
IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Organised by:
Artworks: The National Children’s Art Awards
Devised and funded by: The Clore Duffield Foundation
Supported by:
As part of its commitment to art education and visual literacy, the Clore Duffield Foundation commissioned this survey of art resources in primary and secondary schools, which was carried out in late 2000 and early 2001, with the support of NSEAD (The National Society for Education in Art & Design) and the AAIAD (Association of Advisers and Inspectors for Art & Design).
Survey report compiled by:
Rick Rogers, Siobhan Edwards & John Steers
Survey administered by:
Bridget McKenzie
For more information on Artworks: The National Children’s Art Awards, visit the Artworks website: www.art-works.org.uk. This report is also available on the Artworks website.
Ó The Clore Duffield Foundation, 2001.
Published on 5 July 2001-07-03 National Children’s Art Day, by:
The Clore Duffield Foundation
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KEY POINTS
Many secondary pupils are being denied opportunities to realise their creative potential because of the lack of resources, time and expertise in art & design in schools.
A new survey, carried out by Artworks reveals that:
· Annual spending, through capitation, on art & design consumable materials for secondary pupils has deterioriated significantly over the last six years – from £2.88 to £2.68 per pupil on roll. In primary schools, the figure is just over £1 – at key stage 1 £1.18; at key stage 2 £1.29.
· Art & design teachers in primary and secondary schools lack training, expertise and confidence in using ICT and choosing the best software and websites that help their pupils.
· Less than a quarter of secondary schools require all pupils at Key Stage 4 to study at least one arts subject. Few schools (just 13%) allow every pupil to take art & design if they wish to do so.
· Class size for art & design in secondary schools is higher than the average for all subjects taken together.
· Only a minority of primary and secondary schools organise visits or residencies by artists or designers, or collaborate with local galleries.
The results of this survey suggest that lack of resources is the main challenge to effective provision of art & design in secondary schools, and that art & design in primary schools is adversely affected by lack of teacher knowledge and expertise and the continuing squeeze on curriculum time for the subject.
SUMMARY
Secondary schools
In 2000/1, the average annual spend on consumable materials is just £2.68. Some schools are spending as little as 60p a year on each pupil on roll. The maximum being spent is £7.30.
Even in specialist schools[1], the average annual spend per pupil is £3.08, with a range of 61p up to a maximum of £5.34.
In 1995/96, Ofsted reported that annual spending on art in secondary schools ranged from “the very poor” at 70p per pupil to “very good” at more than £8. The median value was £2.88.
Only a third of secondary schools report that they receive any additional funding for art & design resources on top of normal capitation. Some schools ask key stage 4 pupils to buy their own equipment.
Scottish secondary schools fare better than English and Welsh ones, with an average spend of £3.75 per pupil a year.
Independent schools in England and Wales spend almost five times more than state schools.
Much of the ICT equipment used by schools is out of date or not powerful enough. Many teachers report:
· lack of time to get to grips with the resources that do exist;
· having to use inadequate and outmoded resources;
· having to cope with computer access being controlled elsewhere;
· having too little time to become familiar with newly installed equipment.
Only half of schools have access to technical assistance. Only half of art & design departments have direct access to the internet.
Only just over a third of schools (38%) have an artist or designer in residence – or organise visits to or collaborations with galleries.
Primary schools
Only 16% of primary schools – just over one in six – have specialist teachers in art & design on their staff.
Only one primary school in ten has a specially-equipped room for art & design, and only half the pupils have access to such a room where it is provided.
One in six schools has not designated a teacher as curriculum coordinator for art & design.
Some primary schools also report that the demands of the literacy and numeracy strategies continue to reduce the time available for art & design.
One school in seven reports that the amount available from capitation for art & design is declining; although a third (30%) report that funds are increasing.
Over a third of schools depend on seeking out or being given free materials, and most will accept anything on offer.
On the plus side:
Primary schools are becoming more flexible, opportunistic and improvisatory in order to provide sufficient time for their pupils to do art & design.
About half of schools have, or are planning, visits or residencies by artists, although many find them hard to organise, and sometimes to afford. An increasing number of schools are working with a local gallery or museum – but up from only a quarter to a third.
Schools are collaborating more with other schools to increase facilities and expertise for their pupils and teachers.
THE FULL REPORT:
part one
SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Capitation
Spending on art & design resources for secondary pupils has deterioriated significantly over the last six years.
In 1995/96, Ofsted reported that annual spending on art in secondary schools ranged from “the very poor” at 70p per pupil to “very good” at more than £8. The median value was £2.88, unchanged from the previous year. The exercise has not been repeated. At the time, Ofsted commented:
Some schools have only just enough resources to sustain the range, type and scale of work that National Curriculum and examination courses demand.
In 1999, the Welsh schools inspectorate published a report Art, Drama and Music in Key Stages 3 and 4 (SPEAM/OHMCI, 1999) on its inspections of arts subjects in secondary schools. It found that the range of spending per pupil on art was lower than ever: ranging between under £1 to £5. The inspectorate commented:
Where the allocations are in the lower part of the range, this can have an inhibiting effect on the quality of pupils’ work and pupils either have to purchase their own materials, or make do with a limited range and quantity.
In 2001, the Artworks/NSEAD survey finds that annual spending per pupil on art & design ranges from a minimum of 60p to a maximum of £7.30, with an average spend of just £2.68.
For specialist schools, the average annual spend per pupil is £3.08, with a range of 61p up to a maximum of £5.34.
Secondary schools in Scotland are better off than their English counterparts, with an average annual spend of £3.75 (compared with the £2.68 in English schools) and a range of 92p up to £6.75.
Comparing state and independent sectors
There is a huge difference in spending between state schools and independent schools. The average annual spend per pupil at independent school is £12.40, with a minimum of £2.00 and a maximum of £26.68.
This difference is further highlighted when we compare the annual amount spent on those pupils taking art & design (an exercise not carried out by Ofsted). In state schools, the average annual spend is £4.87 (and £4.27 in specialist schools). But in independent schools, the figure is £28.38.
Other sources of income
Only a third of state secondary schools report that they receive any additional funding for art & design resources on top of normal capitation. Those that do, rely on small and variable amounts rather than regular sources of funding. The average annual amount in additional income is just £366.32. (Specialist schools are better off with an average of £1,449.)
The most common sources are income from taking on initial teacher training students, and successful bids for extra funds from within the school allocated by the headteacher or the parent-teacher association. One art teacher reports:
A bid has to be put in each year. Over the last four years, I have made one successful bid for £200 for art books; so it’s not guaranteed you’ll get anything!
Larger sums of money are also obtained from a variety of sources by a very few schools for new equipment or curriculum development.
Where schools do lack funds, some ask key stage 4 pupils to buy their own equipment. Other schools run art shops as a commercial venture, although more schools run them on a not-for-profit basis.
Taking art & design
At key stage 3:
Pupils in 13% of schools do art & design as part of a carousel.
An average of 6.4% of curriculum time is allocated to art & design.
There are, on average, 26.7 pupils per class.
At key stage 4:
A third of pupils take art & design at GCSE.
An average of 10% of curriculum time is allocated to the subject.
There are on average 22.5 pupils per class.
At key stage 4, the options system:
87% of schools allow every pupil to choose at least one arts subject.
Only 22% of schools require all pupils to study at least one arts subject.
Only 13% of schools allow every pupil to take art & design if they wish to.
Many teachers expressed concern about the lack of options available to pupils, and the continuing squeeze on the time for art & design., which, says one teacher “often clashes with other options”. Another reports:
There are very few options left these days. There are insufficient numbers to warrant two groups but too many for one group really.
On the issue of whether pupils are free to do art & design if they wish, one teacher replies:
In theory, yes; in practice, we couldn’t cope with the numbers!
At years 12 & 13:
On average, 25 pupils in each school take A/AS level art & design.
An average of 21% of curriculum time is allocated to the subject.
There are, on average, 11 pupils per class.
In 21% of schools, years 12 and 13 are taught together.
Less than one school in three (30%) offers GNVQ in art & design.
Class sizes
Average class size for art & design in the state secondary schools surveyed is:
26.7 at key stage 3 22.8 at key stage 4 11.5 at years 12/13
The equivalent figures for independent schools are: 18, 16 and 10.
We can compare these figures with the (provisional) statistics issued by the DfES for January 2001, on the average class size across all subjects:
all subjects (DfES) art & design (Artworks)
years 7 to 9 (ks3) 25.5/25.4/24.9 26.7
years 10 & 11 (ks4) 22.2/21.6 22.8
years 12 & 13 12.0/9.5 11.5
This suggests that class size for art & design is higher than the average class size for all subjects taken together.
Staffing
Secondary schools have, on average, 2.7 full-time equivalent specialist art & design teachers. However, almost a third (30%) of schools use non-specialist teachers for 17% of teaching time for art & design.
In addition, half of art & design departments have a full-time or part-time technician working an average of 11 hours per week.
Art & design teachers attend, on average, 3 continuing professional development, or INSET, courses a year, but only one a year with an ICT focus. This might be accounted for by the fact that, on average, art & design departments have an annual training budget of just £200 a year.
Accommodation
On average, state secondary schools have three specialist rooms for art & design. However, over a quarter (27%) of lessons are still taught in non-specialist rooms. The proportion of schools with specific facilities are:
% with specialist area
84 ceramics 38 photography
60 ICT 23 textiles/fashion
53 3D activities 14 graphic design
ICT and art & design
A quarter of art & design departments in state secondary schools have computers permanently on hand, with an average of 4 computers per department. However, half the computers are more than two years old; half have less than 4mb of RAM which means that they have too little memory capacity to make effective use of CD-Roms or graphics programmes.
Art & design departments have an average of 1.5 colour printers. But there are many reports that departments have printers and other equipment which are obsolete or do not work. The speed of innovation is destroying the capacity of schools to adapt. In addition, only half of schools (52%) have access to technical assistance for computer maintenance.
While over half of schools (52%) claim to have direct access to the internet from their art & design departments, 76% report they are part of a network, and 71% report that they have to book computer time.
The schools surveyed list over 200 software applications, some 100 CD-Roms, and 190 websites. The top five in each category are:
software CD-Roms websites
Photoshop National Gallery tate.org.uk