Survey: Art & Design Resources
Art on a shoestring: £2.68 each year to spend on art materials for every secondary school child
A report published on 5 July 2001, the Artworks Survey of Art & Design Resources in Primary and
Secondary Schools, commissioned by the Clore Duffield Foundation, with the support of NSEAD and AAIAD, reveals that
spending on art resources in English and Welsh schools has fallen significantly in the last six years. For 5-7 year olds,
spending is just £1.18 per annum per child; 7-11year olds have £1.29; and 11-18 year olds have £2.68.
In secondary schools, the average annual spend on consumable materials is £2.68, down from £2.88 in 1995-6, and
some schools are spending as little as 60p per child per annum. Only a third of secondary schools report that they
receive any additional funding for art and design resources on top of normal capitation and some schools ask key stage 4 pupils to buy their own equipment. Over a third of primary schools depend on seeking out or being given free materials.
The survey also found that only one in six primary schools has specialist teachers in art and design, and only one in ten
has a specially equipped room for art and design.
Art and design teachers in both primary and secondary schools lack training, expertise and confidence in using ICT and
in selecting the best software and websites to help their pupils. The speed of innovation is destroying the capacity of
schools to adapt. Much of the ICT equipment used by schools is out of date or not sufficiently powerful. Only half of
schools have access to technical assistance and only half of the art and design departments have direct access to the Internet.
Art and design is a foundation subject in the national curriculum at key stages 1, 2 and 3, yet less than a quarter of
secondary schools require all pupils to study at least one arts subject. Few schools (just 13%) allow every pupil to
take art and design if they wish to do so. Class sizes for art and design in secondary schools are higher than the average
for all subjects taken together.
Only a quarter of primary schools are working with a local gallery or museum, although about half plan visits or
residencies, and schools are collaborating more with other schools to increase facilities and expertise for their
pupils and teachers.
The Artworks Survey of Art & Design Resources in Primary and Secondary Schools was commissioned by the Clore
Duffield Foundation, and supported by NSEAD: the National Society for Education in Art & Design and AAIAD: the
Association of Advisers & Inspectors for Art & Design.
Click here to download the full report of the survey as a Word document
