Minority ethnic artists and their work are significantly under-represented in the school curriculum, a report has suggested.
Only 2.3% of all named stand-alone artists referenced in GCSE art and design exam papers are from black or South Asian backgrounds, according to the race equality think tank Runnymede Trust and charity Freelands Foundation.
The analysis – which looked at the art and artists referenced in GCSE assessment materials from four exam boards across three years – found “shocking levels of under-representation”.
The work minority ethnic artists represents only 10.8% of mentions in exam papers, while work by white artists represents 89.2%, the research found.
The report said: “The level of representation offered by the exam board assessment materials is woefully inadequate and sets poor expectations for what teachers should be teaching in the art classroom.”
Minority ethnic artists and their work are significantly under-represented in the school curriculum, a report has suggested.
Only 2.3% of all named stand-alone artists referenced in GCSE art and design exam papers are from black or South Asian backgrounds, according to the race equality think tank Runnymede Trust and charity Freelands Foundation.
The analysis – which looked at the art and artists referenced in GCSE assessment materials from four exam boards across three years – found “shocking levels of under-representation”.
Work by minority ethnic artists represents only 10.8% of mentions in exam papers, while work by white artists represents 89.2%, the research found.
The report said: “The level of representation offered by the exam board assessment materials is woefully inadequate and sets poor expectations for what teachers should be teaching in the art classroom.”
An ambitious, enriching, broad and inclusive curriculum should be something everyone can work together for
There have been calls to decolonise and diversify the curriculum in schools for some time.
Participation levels of minority ethnic students studying art and design have been increasing in recent years, but the study concluded that art education in schools “remains overwhelmingly narrow in terms of both curriculum content and exam assessment”.
The research analysed 27 GCSE art and design exam papers from exam boards AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas over three years between 2018 and 2023.
The years 2020, 2021 and 2022 were omitted from the data as the exam series was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Of 975 references to named contemporary artists, there were just 17 references to named contemporary black artists – which included Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui and Kenyan-born potter Dame Magdalene Odundo.
There were only 11 mentions of a contemporary South Asian artist – and three of these referred to the British Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor.
The report concluded: “Exam boards play a critical role in shaping curriculum expectations and content, and the research reveals that they are currently architects of a woefully inadequate system.