Today the Cultural Learning Alliance published its latest report card on the state of arts education in the UK.

The report bends over backwards to give the government credit for saying the right things and beginning the process of reversing the decline in arts education. What it does not emphasise strongly enough is this: despite the fine words, very little has actually changed. As a result, arts education in many schools is worse today than it was a year ago.

Fine words butter no parsnips.

Most government announcements have focused on future curriculum reform in secondary schools. But the pace is glacial. Changes are unlikely to arrive before 2027, with implementation taking years beyond that — and with no meaningful new resources attached.

Most damning of all is the absence of urgency about the catastrophic state of arts education in primary schools.

If that is not tackled, there will be no meaningful progress in secondary schools. Children do not suddenly develop an interest in art, music or drama at age 11 if they have barely experienced the arts during their primary years.

For the first time, the CLA commissioned a major survey of primary school teachers – almost 2,900 of them – because the government itself does not collect this data. One has to ask why.

The findings are stark.

As in secondary education, there is now a huge gap between arts provision in private and state schools. The decline in arts education in state schools is continuing, and it is worst in areas of greatest deprivation.

Only 6% of state primary teachers report having more than two and a half hours of arts education timetabled each week, compared with 47% in independent schools.

Meanwhile, a quarter of state primary schools report having less than one hour a week for the arts. One hour!

In that time schools are somehow expected to cover art and design, music, drama, dance, design technology and oracy.

Nearly half of primary schools say they work with no external cultural partners at all to help deliver arts education.

The report also highlights the growing disadvantage gap. Almost a third of teachers in schools with the highest proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals report a reduction in arts teaching hours over the last two years. In schools with the lowest proportion of disadvantaged pupils, the figure is still an alarming 22%.

This comes despite repeated government statements about the importance of arts education.

Keir Starmer has spoken about every child having the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. Yet over a quarter of primary teachers report that arts hours have fallen in the past two years, with 8% saying they have decreased significantly.

The report also confirms that the arts entitlement gap continues to widen.

Socio-economic background remains one of the strongest predictors of participation in arts subjects at GCSE and A-level. Pupils eligible for free school meals remain underrepresented across arts GCSEs. Children with SEND are also underrepresented in most arts subjects at GCSE level, particularly in dance, music, media and film studies.

The workforce picture is equally troubling.

Around a quarter of expressive arts teachers have no subject-relevant qualification beyond A-level. In primary schools, the figure is likely to be much higher.

This underlines the importance of external arts organisations, artists and cultural partners working alongside schools if children are to experience high-quality arts education.

Yet the report finds that while around a third of primary schools have contact with a Music Hub, only 10% have contact with an artist or local arts organisation. Nearly half have no external arts partners whatsoever.

The report also exposes how misleading some official statistics can be.

Arts Council England claims that 90% of schools engage with a Music Hub. Teachers in this survey suggest the real figure is closer to a third.

We have discovered that, in official statistics, almost any contact counts as “engagement” – even a telephone call asking about resources. No meaningful national statistics are collected on how many primary school children actually receive regular singing support or instrumental tuition through Music Hubs.

At Cotswolds Arts Through Schools we see every day the appetite children have for creativity when they are given the opportunity. We also see the huge inequalities between schools and communities.

If the government is serious about opportunity, wellbeing and social mobility, arts education in primary schools cannot remain an afterthought.

Creativity is not an optional extra. It is fundamental to a child’s education, confidence, imagination and future.