Why Art Can’t Be the Afterthought Anymore

Why art provision matters - despite time, budget and accountability demands.

I’m a former primary teacher. I loved teaching art - but I’ll be honest: most of the time, it was the subject that had to give.

That reality really hit home after a recent conversation with a friend who is a secondary art teacher. We talked about Year 7 pupils - their confidence, their skills, and the anxiety that shows up as soon as they’re faced with a blank page. The overwhelming sense was that many children arrive in secondary art and design feeling completely unprepared: lacking basic practical skills, unsure how to begin, and carrying very low self-esteem about their ability to draw, make or create anything at all.

I recognised it immediately and know other primary school teachers will too.

The quiet gaps pupils arrive with

Secondary art teachers see patterns very quickly. Pupils who don’t know how to draw from observation - who haven’t had time to slow down and really look. Pupils who struggle to use basic tools and media like scissors, rulers or paint confidently. Pupils who hover with a blank page, waiting to be told exactly what to do, because starting feels dangerous.

This isn’t just anecdotal. A YouGov survey reported by the National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD) found that “77% of educators have witnessed a worsening in pupils' ability to perform precise movements such as holding a pencil, drawing, writing, or using scissors.”

Many educators link this decline to the rapid increase in children’s use of digital, soft-touch technology that requires very little pressure, control or dexterity. As opportunities for hands-on making reduce outside school, exposure to high-quality materials, tools and physical processes in school becomes even more important. Art and design lessons are now one of the few remaining spaces where children can properly develop fine motor skills through sustained and meaningful practice.

Why art is the subject that “gives”

In primary school, you’re responsible for everything. English, maths, phonics, science, safeguarding, interventions, data, assessments and more - all of it under constant scrutiny.

When the pressure ramps up, especially around SATs, something has to bend. NSEAD found that “89% of primary teachers in state schools reported that during the two terms before key stage 2 National curriculum tests, the time allocated for art and design had decreased.” Art doesn’t disappear because teachers don’t value it. It disappears because the system quietly tells you it matters less.

Add shrinking budgets, limited materials and very little specialist training, and art becomes something you squeeze in - a finished outcome for the wall, rather than a process to sit with.

The children who lose out the most

This matters most for the children who struggle across the curriculum. The ones who find writing exhausting, maths bewildering, reading slow or confidence-shattering. They spend much of their school life being reminded of what they can’t do. This also matters for those who have a real passion and talent for the visual arts, but who quickly absorb the message that it isn’t a “real” subject or something to be taken seriously beyond a hobby.

A genuinely process-led art provision can change that.

Not because children suddenly become “the best” at art, but because success looks different. Process-led means exploring, experimenting, trying things out, making decisions, and learning that mistakes aren’t failures. It means the work belongs to the child. There isn’t one right answer. Teaching children how to reflect, question and make improvements means they can see - sometimes over the course of a single lesson - real progress in their work. For pupils who struggle elsewhere, that sense of movement is powerful; for those with talent and passion, it recognises their ability, offers challenge, depth and the freedom to develop their own visual voice.

UK research supports this. A large study analysing data from over 6,000 children found that arts participation can “give rise to a sense of accomplishment and to feelings of self-worth.”

The National Centre for Creative Health also reports that “Participating in creative activities has been shown to positively impact behaviour, self-confidence, emotional regulation, relationship building and sense of belonging, contributing to resilience and mental wellbeing.”

For some pupils, art isn’t a break from learning - it’s where learning finally makes sense and feels possible.

What secondary teachers are left to rebuild

When pupils arrive in secondary without these experiences, art teachers don’t just teach techniques. They rebuild trust. They teach pupils that it’s safe to start, safe to try, safe to get things wrong, and safe to keep going.

And they’re doing that while also preparing pupils for an increasingly demanding curriculum. Unsurprisingly, “Over half (53%) of secondary art and design teachers reported that on entry to year 7 there had been a fall in levels of art and design attainment reached by pupils joining their school.” That’s not about talent. It’s about opportunity.

So what can schools do?

As a former primary teacher, I know two things to be true on this subject: art is often an afterthought in primary - and primary teachers are not to blame.

If schools want to enrich their art provision without adding to teacher workload or budget stress, one practical option is to work with teaching artists. Projects like those offered by the Teaching Artist Project are designed specifically for primary settings: fully resourced, process-led art projects that give children time to explore, experiment and create work that is truly their own without teachers having to source materials or plan specialist lessons from scratch.

For schools where timetable space and budgets are tight, another powerful option is a parent-funded after-school art club. These can be a low-risk way to see the impact of a genuinely process-led approach: children growing in confidence, independence and pride, often in ways that spill back into the classroom. Especially for the children who need it most.

If we want children to feel more confident, capable and emotionally safe in their learning right now and are able to handle tools independently, make choices, take risks and recover from mistakes - then art cannot sit on the edges of the primary curriculum.

When children regularly experience a process-led approach in art, the benefits are immediate: greater engagement, stronger self-belief, calmer classrooms and pupils who see themselves as competent learners. Those same children then arrive in secondary not fearful or frozen, but ready to begin with the skills, resilience and mindset they need to thrive rather than catch up.

Ready to change this?

If this resonates - if you recognise the frozen start, the low confidence, the missed opportunity - it doesn’t have to stay this way.

The Teaching Artist Project offers fully resourced, process-led art projects designed specifically for primary schools. All materials included. No extra planning load. Just high-quality art experiences that give children time, space and permission to explore, experiment and succeed.

Whether you’re looking to enrich curriculum provision or trial the impact through a parent-funded after-school club block, it’s a practical, immediate way to put art back where it belongs - at the heart of children’s learning.

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