New reports from the Cultural Learning Alliance and the Royal Shakespeare Company

The Rapid Evidence Reviews reveal the power of Arts subjects to transform the lives of children and young people, while the 2026 Report Card exposes a deepening ‘Arts entitlement gap’ alongside some positive news for some Arts subjects and the Arts teaching workforce. 
 
Published today, the Cultural Learning Alliance (CLA) 2026 Report Card sets out the most detailed picture yet of Arts education in England's schools, at a pivotal moment as the national curriculum is being rewritten as part of wide education policy reforms. Alongside it, CLA and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) are jointly publishing a new series of Rapid Evidence Reviews for Arts education.
 
New primary school survey data in the Report Card reveals that the ‘Arts entitlement gap’ takes root in primary school and moves through the system, impacting qualifications choices at 14, 16 and 18. This year the Report Card analyses take-up of Arts subjects by ethnicity and by special educational needs and disabilities, as well as in relation to free school meal eligibility and index of multiple deprivation data.
 
The Rapid Evidence Reviews have gathered, analysed and summarised existing research on Arts subjects and represent 1,175 studies spanning different methodologies, contexts, age groups, and geographical locations. All this new evidence enriches our understanding of the value of Arts subjects and demonstrates that each discipline is a powerful support for holistic development, touching every aspect of a child's or young person’s growth.
 
This year’s edition of the Report Card includes an analysis by subject as well as the overall picture across all expressive Arts subjects.
 
The publications were launched at a parliamentary event on 13 May hosted and chaired by Jo Platt MP, where speakers included Derri Burdon and Sally Bacon, CLA Co-Chairs; Jacqui O’Hanlon, Deputy Executive Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and CLA Evidence Associate; and Geoff Barton CBE, Chair of the 2025 IPPR Inclusion Taskforce and RSC Trustee.
 
A number of sector colleagues spoke in response to the reports, including Naveed Idrees, Head of Lift Feversham primary school in Bradford; Baroness Keeley; Ed Harlow, secondary music teacher and President of the National Education Union; Sir Anthony Seldon; Catherine Sutton, Head of Programme, Education, Paul Hamlyn Foundation; Erica Love, CEO, Culture Central, West Midlands; Laura Nicholson, Head of Children and Young People’s Dance, One Dance UK; Henry Ward, Director, Freelands Foundation; Michele Gregson, General Secretary/CEO, National Society for Education in Art and Design; Bridget Whyte, CEO, Music Mark; and Tina Ramdeen, Associate Director of Young People, the Roundhouse, and CLA Trustee.
 
Dr Lynsey McCulloch, Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Shakespeare Company, also introduced presentations from the authors of the Rapid Evidence Reviews: Greta Gauhe, Jennifer Kitchen and Natalie Nazier.   
 
You can read the Report Card and Rapid Evidence Reviews on the CLA website here:
https://www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk/evidence/#annual

 You can access the Rapid Evidence Reviews on the Royal Shakespeare Company website here: https://www.rsc.org.uk/research/current-research/rapid-evidence-reviews