4.5a What are the effects, if any, of cultural education on outcomes including, but not limited to: attendance/absenteeism; attainment; non-cognitive outcomes (such as creativity); lifelong earnings; employability and wider social impacts like social cohesion. In particular, are there causal, not just correlative, relationships that are based on long-term studies with sustained impacts?

Background

The department is keen to understand how cultural education, whether in educational settings or through less formal routes/environments, helps improve children and young people’s attendance and attainment at school. We are also interested in understanding the value of cultural learning, via the approach set out in the Culture and Heritage Capital programme. In addition, we remain interested in whether cultural learning and enrichment supports children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, supports community cohesion, and supports them to develop key life skills like creative thinking, resilience, and teamwork. We are interested in how impact can differ, for example depending on the art form or frequency. We are looking to build our evidence base on how specific cultural education approaches can boost skills, support the growth of the cultural sectors and make cultural professions more accessible and impactful on the lives of children and young people.

Next steps

Get in touch with [email protected]

Related UKRI funded projects


  • Navigating Futures: arts education as a route to youth empowerment and pedagogical innovation

    This project seeks to enhance engagement with, and impacts from, research and resources produced from a previous project funded under the Global Challenges Research Fund (entitled 'From displacement to development: arts ...

    Funded by: GCRF

    Lead research organisation: University of Edinburgh

    Why might this be relevant?

    This project specifically focuses on cultural education's effects on outcomes such as attendance, attainment, and wellbeing of young people, aligning with the question's criteria.

  • Creating Welcoming Learning Environments: Disseminating Arts-Based Approaches to Including All Learners in Their Education

    The well-being of children and young people is regularly a cause for concern in the UK at the current time and the role and nature of educational experiences are often drawn into discussions about how children and young ...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: University of the West of England

    Why might this be relevant?

    This project addresses the impact of arts-based approaches on creating welcoming learning environments and supporting children's engagements, which aligns with the question's focus on cultural education outcomes.

  • A critical review of the Creative Partnerships archive: How was cultural value understood, researched and evidenced?

    Creative Partnerships (CP) was the biggest and longest running arts and education intervention in the world. It operated in England from 2002-2011 and worked intensively with over 2,700 schools, 90,000 teachers and over ...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Nottingham

    Why might this be relevant?

    While this project reviews the Creative Partnerships archive to understand cultural value, it may partially address the question by providing insights into cultural education's impact on outcomes.

  • Teenage Kicks: Exploring cultural value from a youth perspective

    There are growing concerns that many young people are increasingly being excluded from the arts and cultural activity as these subjects are being sidelined in schools and lack of funding for the arts is affecting their r...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Bristol

  • Shaping metrics for Cultural Engagement Knowledge Transfer

    Various attempts have been made to identify an appropriate method to measure the impact of Knowledge Transfer. Significant progress has been made in defining metrics for more traditional KT activities and their delivery ...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Glasgow

  • Evaluating the Relationship between Arts and Cultural Engagement and Long-Term Health Outcomes in the UK

    Research teams in the Nordic countries have generated evidence that regular exposure to cultural activities in general, and to film, live music and visual art in particular, increase longevity. In the UK, little analysis...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: Manchester Metropolitan University

  • Centre for Cultural Value

    The UK's arts & cultural sector is thriving: it contributes 674,000 jobs and £11.8bn per annum to the economy and remains one of its fastest growing sectors (DCMS, 2018). Yet despite this strong economic perfor...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Leeds

  • National Knowledge Exchange Network on participation and engagement in the arts

    This project has been encouraged by the success of a regional network that has been running since 2009 in the North of England. The network has been co-ordinated by Leeds Metropolitan University and supported by Arts Cou...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: Leeds Beckett University

  • The Impact of Culture on Quality of Life: Developing Approaches for Cultural Research

    The dominance of instrumentalism and managerialism within UK cultural policy has produced a drive for evidence of culture's contribution to wider government policy aims, including the overarching goal of improved quality...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Glasgow

  • Ubwuzu: Shaping the Rwandan National Curriculum through Arts

    This project sets out to realise the full impact of our original research project 'Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP)', which was a 'proof of concept' pilot project developed and delivered through the AHRC Network Plus project ...

    Funded by: GCRF

    Lead research organisation: University of Lincoln