Creative Arts and 21st Century Skills

What are the benefits to studying the Creative Arts?

Date08/03/22

AuthorSandra Allan, Head of Creative Arts Curriculum, AQA

Data showing that creative arts graduates earn less than those taking STEM subjects is one reason we often see the prioritisation of STEM subjects.[1]

However, some stakeholders are now asking whether it is time to rethink creative arts, not as a ‘soft’ choice, but as developing core, fundamental skills for our future society – so-called 21^st century skills?

According to the World Economic Forum 2020 report, 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025, and creativity, originality and initiative are in the top 10 skills they will require.[2]

The creative arts can help students develop these key skills needed. The arts play a fundamental role in how our society is shaped, indeed the DfE’s National curriculum for secondary education highlights that the Arts help to equip students with “knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create” – skills that are highly prized in all industries. Similarly, the Arts can “increase [students’] self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.”[3]

What else do the arts teach you?

Besides creativity, learning creative arts subjects equips students with skills that are transferable – meaning they can be applied in many other contexts.

The Arts help develop ways of communicating ideas and meaning to an audience through choices of form, style and convention. Creating their own art work, performance, composition, website etc, and examining the work of others, students learn to analyse, interpret, reflect on and evaluate pieces – important skills for life and any line of work.

Creative arts subjects have plenty of practical learning components where students develop problem-solving abilities, think critically, communicate with others, collaborate, increase confidence and empathy as well as build resilience, self-esteem and social skills that are important in the coming future.

The field of creative arts is also reaping the benefits from the rise of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, 3D printing and media. There are a range of programmes that students can specialise in, where they can work with the latest technology to develop video games, apps, websites and other digital products. In addition, many companies recognise the importance of visual appeal in product design, branding, packaging, marketing and advertising.

Without the artistic skills, students risk not being adequately prepared for these careers.

Can you get a job with only arts subjects?

There are a multitude of job prospects for those who study the creative arts. Before the pandemic, the UK’s creative industries contributed more than £111 bn to the UK economy in 2018 — more than five times larger than growth across the UK economy as a whole.

Between 2011 and 2018, creative industries employment grew by 30.6%, compared to the UK average growth of 10.1% during the same period. More recently, the creative industries accounted for up to one out of 10 jobs in the UK.[4] These are the jobs and industries of the future – innovative, resistant and built on our collective creativity.

There are clearly valuable skills to be learned in the apparently ‘softer’ GCSEs than people realise. So, with all the benefits of studying the arts, should we look to change STEM to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics)?[5]

[1] Graduate outcomes (LEO), Tax Year 2018-19 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK (explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk)

[2] WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf (weforum.org)

[3] National curriculum in England: secondary curriculum - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

[4] Employment figures - The Creative Industries

[5] Lachman, R. (2018). STEAM not STEM: Why scientists need arts training. The Conversation, 18.

Computing

Could girls be the secret to boosting the UK’s growth as a technology superpower?

What if women played a more central role in responding to the rapid technological changes in our world? Girls in England outperform boys at every grade level but disproportionately don’t take Computer Science at GCSE.

Assessment

What can this year’s GCSE entries tell us to look for in tomorrow’s results?

With GCSE Results published on 22nd August, Dr Chinwe Njoku looks into the underlying data on what subjects this year's cohort took and how this has changed from previous years.

Assessment

A-level maths students hit six figures – what’s behind its popularity?

On Thursday, more than 100,000 A-level maths students in England will find out their results – 11.4% more than last year. Why the upturn? Dr Chinwe Njoku, AQA Education Insights Lead and former maths teacher, was heartened by the news and keen to look at the story behind the data.

Education Policy

What comes after ‘urgent’ for the new Education Secretary?

After the burning issues are addressed, what should come next for the new Education Secretary?

Education Policy

Labour’s oracy plans: They need clear goals

Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants to boost students’ confidence by raising the importance of speaking skills – oracy. In this previously published blog, Reza Schwitzer, AQA’s director of external affairs, applauds the ambition but warns there needs to be clear goals

Education Policy

Through the looking glass: How polling the public can help policymakers learn about themselves

Public attitude data is key to effective policymaking. Proper polling can reveal what people think about existing policies and what they want for the future. But, if looked at from a different angle, it can also help policymakers question themselves and their assumptions about the public. In this blog, AQA’s Policy and Evidence Manager Adam Steedman-Thake, reveals the lessons he learned about himself while reading a recent public attitude survey.

Assessment

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

Oracy skills are vital to success in school and life. And yet, for many children, opportunities to develop them are missed. Educationalists are engaging in a growing debate about where oracy fits into the school system. Labour has put it at the heart of its plans to improve social mobility and an independent commission is looking at how it is taught in the classroom. This renewed focus on oracy means it is more important than ever that teachers have a way to reliably assess and understand their students’ attainment and progression. Amanda Moorghen of oracy education charity Voice 21 explains how Comparative Judgement can help with that and why it may be a game changer.

Education

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

Jack Black is probably best known in educational circles for playing a renegade substitute teacher in School of Rock. But the Hollywood star has made a more conventional foray into education by backing the use of TV subtitles to improve child literacy. Stephen Fry and the World Literacy Foundation also want parents to use their TV remotes to get children reading. So, could this simple click of a button be a solution to boost pupils’ reading skills? AQA’s resident expert on language teaching, Dr Katy Finch, casts her eye over the research to see whether it stacks up.

Data Analysis

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Is data the solution to all education’s issues? About a decade ago the prevailing wisdom said it was. Advocates of this Data Wave argued that harvesting internal statistics would help schools solve issues such as teacher accountability and attainment gaps. As with all waves, after crashing onto the beach they recede, leaving space for another to roll in. In this blog, teacher, author and data analyst Richard Selfridge looks at the legacy of the Data Wave to see what schools can take from it.

International Approaches

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

Finland was once recognised as one of the most successful educational systems in the world. At the turn of the millennium, it topped the PISA rankings in reading, maths and science. But by 2012, decline set in. The last set of results showed performances in maths, reading and science were at an all-time low. In this blog Dr Jonathan Doherty of Leeds Trinity University outlines some reasons that may account for the slide.

Download a PDF version.

Download a copy of this content to your device as a PDF file. We generate PDF versions for the convenience of offline reading, but we recommend sharing this link if you'd like to send it to someone else.

Creative Arts and 21st Century Skills

What else do the arts teach you?

Can you get a job with only arts subjects?

Could girls be the secret to boosting the UK’s growth as a technology superpower?

What can this year’s GCSE entries tell us to look for in tomorrow’s results?

A-level maths students hit six figures – what’s behind its popularity?

What comes after ‘urgent’ for the new Education Secretary?

Labour’s oracy plans: They need clear goals

Through the looking glass: How polling the public can help policymakers learn about themselves

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

Join the conversation on Twitter

Download a PDF version.

Sign up to our newsletter