29.04.2026
| Back in November, after years of campaigning, we got some good news: the Government pledged to scrap the EBacc and reform Progress 8 – two measures that have contributed to the decline of arts subjects in England’s secondary schools.
But scrapping unhelpful measures isn’t enough. If we don’t shape what replaces them, the arts could continue to be squeezed out of our schools for another generation.
The Government is consulting on reforms to Progress 8 right now, and we’ve heard that in this consultation, numbers matter.
Please make sure your voice is counted, so that the arts count in the government’s final plans. Respond to the Government’s consultation before the 4 May deadline – we’ve made a step-by-step guide to help you do it easily and effectively in just 15 minutes.
The EBacc and Progress 8 are not qualifications for pupils, but accountability measures used by the Government to assess secondary schools’ performance. These measures are widely seen as having incentivised schools to divert resources and curriculum time away from the arts.
That’s why the Government’s pledges in November were a real, collective win: they offer the chance of meaningful change.
But now we need to make that a reality. Creating more space for arts in schools matters for all young people, and for society at large. Let’s make sure the Government hears: we want reforms that will revitalise arts education in every school.
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