‘New normal’ emerges in GCSE and A level arts uptake

The long decline in uptake of some GSCE arts subjects is continuing to level off.

Although fewer students registered to take drama, media/film/tv, music and performing/expressive arts this year compared with last, the falls in these subject areas were small. Drama and music registrations fell the least, with only 0.4% fewer than in 2019.

Art & design subjects, which have been the only arts subject group gaining consistent ground since 2018, continue to be popular. The uptake of these grew by a further 4.6% last year and the number of pupils studying them now stands higher than in 2015, when a dramatic decline was first seen in the take-up of arts subjects.

New normal

Figures published last years suggested that the decline in uptake of arts subjects at GCSE was starting to bottom out. This year’s figures, published by Ofqual, provide further evidence that the impact on the arts of  introducing the EBacc as a measure of school effectiveness may finally be diminishing.

The number of students taking GCSE Art & Design is now higher than in 2015, having at first declined, but since 2018 grown in popularity.

The proportion of school pupils taking music and drama looks set to stabilise around 20% lower than five years ago.

Arts GCSEs now account for only 7.9% of all GCSEs taken, compared with 11.6% in 2015.

A level

The picture is less positive at A level, with all subjects continuing to show declining numbers. Uptake of drama A level fell by 6.8% last year, and across the whole of England, only just over 1,000 students took Performing / expressive arts. Event art & design subjects – increasingly popular at GCSE – saw falling enrolments at A level.

Since 2016, when declining A level take-up of arts subjects started to emerge there have been almost a quarter fewer registrations for drama and for media/film/tv studies, and the numbers taking music have fallen by almost 20%.

But despite this, relative to other subjects, arts A levels are not losing so much ground. They now account for 11.2% of all A levels taken, compared with 12.4% in 2016.