Teachers: Music, Drama, Art and Design, and Dance

Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Smith of Malvern

Monday 17th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Keeley]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what action they will take to support an increase in the numbers training to be teachers of music, drama, art and design, and dance.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education, and the Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Smith of Malvern) (Lab)]

My Lords, we are working with the sector to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession across all subjects, including the arts. That is why this Government have increased teacher pay by almost 10% over two years and are providing bursaries this year worth up to £10,000 for trainees in art and design and in music. We are already seeing a positive impact. The number of new trainees and teachers has increased significantly in art and design and in music over the past year.

[Baroness Keeley (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for her Answer. The undervaluing of music in state schools by successive Conservative-led Governments since 2010 led to the loss of over 850 full-time equivalent music teachers since 2011; high vacancy rates and poor retention rates of music teachers, with only two-thirds of those who qualified five years ago still teaching; and music teacher recruitment targets being missed 11 times in 12 years. There is a great deal for the Labour Government to do. Sustained bursary funding for initial teacher training has shown more stable recruiting. Can my noble friend look at reinvesting in the music teacher training bursary and then sustaining it for a number of years? That must be backed by Ministers who emphasise the central place of that music teacher training bursary rather than just those for science and maths.

Curriculum and Assessment Review

Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Smith of Malvern

Monday 10th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

I can give the noble Baroness the assurance she asks for on the development of the oracy framework. As she has identified, being able to speak and listen is an enormously important skill that employers say they need young people to have. On the point about media literacy, as she says, in a world in which young people need to distinguish misinformation and disinformation, it is enormously important that they are supported with media literacy. That is why media literacy will be embedded in English, in history and in citizenship. I share her view about the importance of the BBC, both at home and abroad.

[Baroness Keeley (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome the Curriculum and Assessment Review, particularly the removal of the EBacc, which has damaged the provision of arts and music education in state schools. I also welcome the emphasis on both media literacy and music provision in the curriculum. It is important to highlight the significant inequalities in access to music in state schools. The annexe to the review highlights that in 2023-24, one in four young people may not have been able to access a music qualification at key stage 4 in their school, even if they wanted to.

A further aspect of inequality highlighted in the review concerns those pupils whose parents cannot afford extracurricular tuition. Can my noble friend the Minister assure me that the Government will double down on these inequalities to ensure that the ability to read music and play an instrument becomes available to all students in state schools, and that the number of specialist music teachers will start to be restored to the much higher level it was at in 2011?

Music and Dance Scheme

Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Smith of Malvern

Tuesday 24th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Baroness Smith of Malvern) (Lab)]

My Lords, improved access to the arts is important for all young people, which is why the Government are committed to continuing to fund the music and dance scheme, including the centres for advanced training, in the academic year 2025-26. The bursary support will continue for the more than 2,000 students benefiting from it, and at the same rate. It will remain means tested, so that it is targeted towards supporting students from lower-income families.

[Baroness Keeley (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend the Minister for her reply. I, too, welcome that DfE has confirmed the continued funding for bursaries, at least for 2025-26. However, there is no commitment beyond 2026 and DfE did cut the outreach funding for the schemes earlier this year. Can my noble friend tell me what steps the Government will take to ensure that young people from rural or economically disadvantaged areas continue to have equal access to dance training, given that short-term funding cycles create instability in delivery, and that outreach funding has already been cut?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The Government will launch a new centre for arts and music education to take forward the ambitions, which my noble friend rightly asks of us, for improved and more equitable arts education in state-funded schools, including a focus on dance. The music and dance scheme is a long-standing programme and the department will consider future funding in due course. Tough decisions have had to be made to get our finances back under control, including, as my noble friend identifies, on additional funding that was made available to dance outreach. Nevertheless, all eligible MDS students for dance have continued to receive bursaries.

State Schools: Creative Education

Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Smith of Malvern

Wednesday 15th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Keeley]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the value to state school pupils of school visits to theatres, museums and galleries, and of the value of a creative education for all pupils.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Baroness Smith of Malvern) (Lab)]

My Lords, a creative education and enriching experience must be for all, not just the preserve of the privileged few. Drama and theatre studies students at GCSE and A-level are entitled to experience live theatre, and schools can and do decide which other visits to offer to other students. But it is also important that students can benefit during curriculum and lesson time. That is why the independent curriculum and assessment review will seek to deliver a broader curriculum and consider how best to support a young person to develop the knowledge and skills needed to thrive.

[Baroness Keeley (Lab)]

My Lords, there is evidence that the experience of attending live theatre helps children to learn, while structured arts activities at school increase cognitive skills across all subject areas. Companies like the Royal Ballet and Opera and the RSC are doing amazing work in opening their doors to schools, but the Sutton Trust still reports that state school trips were cut by 68% in the most disadvantaged schools in 2023. Further, since the introduction of EBacc and Progress 8 there has been a systematic downgrading of arts subjects and experiences in state schools. Can my noble friend the Minister tell me if it is a priority for the Government to start to reverse these trends and to ensure access to a creative education and arts experiences for all state school pupils in order to help build their confidence and skills?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend rightly identifies that there has been a decline in student entries into, for example, the arts and creative GCSEs, a reduction in the number of staff available to teach them, and a fall-off in the ability of schools to support students with visits and the type of experiences that she rightly outlines. That is why it is so important for this Government that we ensure that creative subjects such as art, music and drama are important elements of the education that every child deserves, and that we do better in ensuring that culture is an essential part of supporting children and young people.