“Reform to renewal: Ensuring access to the performing arts for every young person”
Dr Eleanor Andressen, Chief Academic Officer, Trinity College London
As an independent education charity and regulated awarding organisation for music, drama, combined arts and communications, Trinity College London welcomes the renewed emphasis on music, the performing arts and communication as central to a world-class education in the recent UK government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review.
The Review’s recognition that music and drama build creative expression, confidence and transferable life skills – such as communication, collaboration, and critical thinking – is timely and deeply aligned with Trinity’s mission. These disciplines cultivate the technical and expressive capabilities that underpin human creativity and learning in its fullest sense.
We also join the wider creative community in supporting the Review’s recommendation to remove the EBacc performance measure. While its original intent to promote academic breadth was well-meaning, the unintended outcome has been to narrow curricular choice and marginalise the creative and performing arts. A more balanced framework, one that values the arts alongside sciences, humanities, and languages, is essential to ensure all young people can access and benefit from the full cultural and creative breadth that the Review envisions.
Music inclusion
Whilst music education is also about familiarisation with a range of musical genres, understanding and experiencing these through song, composition and the opportunity to play one or more instruments, the Review captures two long-standing realities. First, that sustained access to instrumental and vocal learning provides effective routes to developing genuine musical understanding – fluency, ensemble awareness, and creative discipline. Second, that such access is far from equitable. Too often, young people must rely on privately funded tuition to develop the foundational instrumental skills that allow them to enjoy and participate fully in music education and, ultimately, to progress to qualifications or vocational pathways.
As an awarding organisation that provides regulated music qualifications, Trinity witnesses both sides of this picture. The evidence clearly supports the value of structured instrumental learning and assessment as a catalyst for broader musical development. Yet a model dependent on parental funding contributes to inequity.
The renewed investment in Music Hubs and the creation of the National Centre for Arts and Music Education present vital opportunities to rebuild the national infrastructure for music learning. Such initiatives can ensure that access to high-quality musical experiences is not determined by geography or income, while supporting schools, teachers, and communities to provide sustained pathways for all, from first access through to advanced study and professional engagement. Trinity is committed to widening access via the industry-first Awards and Certificates in Musical Development which are fully-accessible and open to all learners, from those with profound learning difficulties to those on the autism spectrum and so we champion inclusivity.
Together, these developments can form the backbone of a more coherent and equitable music education ecosystem accessible to all. One that links classroom learning and qualifications, instrumental study, ensemble participation, and progression into further education or our creative industries.
Drama provision
We are equally encouraged by the Review’s emphasis on strengthening drama provision, in its own right as well as integrating into English within the curriculum to deepen the development of effective communication skills. The recognition of oracy and its integration as a core element of English education via performance, text, and response represent a welcome shift toward higher value of communication and creativity.
Recognising Drama as a distinct component creates exciting opportunities to centre learning around performing, creating, and responding to dramatic works. This reinforces its dual role as both an academic and practical discipline – enhancing self-expression, building confidence, and developing life skills that prepare students for further study, creative careers and beyond.
The Review’s call for greater breadth in the use of texts – including prose, poetry, and plays – will enable teachers to integrate performance and interpretation in powerful ways. At Trinity, this direction reflects our long-standing belief that personal choice, artistic practice, and critical learning and skills are inseparable.
Looking ahead
Building a fair, inclusive, and high-quality system for music and performing arts education requires alignment between curriculum, assessment, and opportunity. The Curriculum and Assessment Review offers a foundation for that alignment in England, and to support the creative sector that employs over 1.8 million people*. We urge the government to act swiftly and decisively to implement the Review’s recommendations, and to address the practical conditions that must underpin their success: teacher supply, sustainable funding, and equitable access.
Solving the teacher supply challenge must be a national priority. As a provider of teaching qualifications, we know that without a strong pipeline of confident, specialist educators in music and drama – both in classrooms and in instrumental teaching – the ambition for equitable access will remain unrealised.
Trinity supports robust initial teacher training, ongoing professional development, and long-term workforce planning to sustain the creative and performance education workforce alongside curriculum reform.
Trinity College London remains committed to working with educators, policymakers, and partners, such as Music Hubs, to ensure that every young person has access to meaningful creative learning and qualifications to demonstrate their progress. Music, drama, and the wider arts enrich education, provide talent for our creative industries whilst building essential life skills and empowering learners with confidence.
*Source: Creative UK www.wearecreative.uk/champion/statistics