Drama GCSE entries continue rapid decline

GCSE results published by the Joint Council for Qualifications show that Drama entries in the UK for 2023 have fallen by 7.3% since the previous year, with entries in England falling by 7.4% in the same period. 

Having been in steady decline for years, entries for GCSE drama and performing arts in England have continued to decline this year amid calls for urgent reforms to the education system to better support the uptake and delivery of arts subjects.

The number of students taking Drama GCSE in the UK has seen a decline of 39.6% since 2010, decreasing from 81,592 to only 49,247 entries to the subject.

A call for change 

Many across the sector are calling for change from the government in regards to the current treatment of arts in schools, such as the ‘Foundations for the Future’ report from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and A New Direction. This report asks for schools to embrace the arts and policy makers to reconsider the status of arts in schools. 

National Drama, commenting on the provisional figures that outlined a decline in arts qualifications entries in England, says that this is an ‘inevitable consequence of ill-informed government policies’. The statement cites errors such as the government limiting students to the Ebacc basket and holding an inaccurate view that the arts develop skills that are not economically valuable. 

Vice chair of National drama, Zeena Rasheed, says: Making sure our curriculums really are balanced will raise standards and give more children richer educational, personal, and cultural opportunities, which research shows drives motivation, achievement, progress, enjoyment, and real excellence, rather than photo-shoots, tick boxes, or league tables and data’.

‘The real tragedy, however, is that more and more children and young people are being denied their right to Drama and Theatre education,' she adds