Our refreshed vision for a creative education

Reflections on the Durham Commission eighteen months on

The Durham Commission, published in October 2019, was a rallying cry to ensure all children and young people have access to creativity in schools outlining ten key recommendations to implement change.

Since publication, the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted every aspect of our lives. Children and young people have had to adapt to huge changes with school closures and subsequent home-learning, alongside being physically isolated from their friends and school community.

Despite the changing landscape of education, the original Commission recommendations have lost none of their validity. On the contrary, the pandemic has demonstrated the enormous value of creativity for mental health and wellbeing, supporting individuals to adapt and remain resilient in ever changing circumstances.

The role of the Commission following the pandemic

Considering the pandemic, we’ve reflected on the aims of the Commission and asked ourselves what learnings are still right to take forward, or perhaps need to be taken forward with even more urgency.

So today we’re publishing a new report, with a refreshed outlook looking forward to the next three to five years and asking what children and young people will need and how we can best equip them to manage their futures.

The Commission will continue to build on its original foundation but sharpen its focus to work on six of the original ten recommendations, which address the most pressing needs:

  • Development of a national network of Creativity Collaboratives to model school-led development underpinned by teaching for creativity.
  • Better support for young people to engage creatively and critically with the digital technology that has become a significant part of their everyday lives.
  • That arts and culture should be an essential part of the education of every child.
  • The purpose and place of creativity and teaching for creativity should be recognised and encouraged in the early years (0-4).
  • In-school opportunities to develop creativity should be complemented by diverse routes to take part in creative activities outside of school hours.
  • Young people should be better prepared for the changing world of work with the creative capacities that employers are looking for, which will enable them to be resilient and adaptable.

The report also celebrates the role of teachers and schools during the pandemic and recognises their continued input in the coming months and years. We want to take this moment to acknowledge their resilience, creativity and significant impact in supporting children, families and communities during such a challenging time.

Next steps

The report outlines how we will integrate this work into the Delivery Plan 2021-24 for our ten-year strategy, Let’s Create, which we introduced in March and will fully publish this summer.

The work’s already begun, with us recently launching Creativity Exchange, an online platform to share ideas and practice to cultivate teaching for creativity in classrooms up and down the country.

Following on from the success of Creativity Exchange, in May we will launch Creativity Collaboratives, a new national network of eight lead schools, working within their communities to explore ways to nurture creativity in education. This is an exciting opportunity to support schools to use the Commission’s recommendations in action, with the intention to share their research with schools across the UK.

The opportunity to pause and reflect in light of the pandemic has given the work of the Commission more agency than ever. We hope the new report re-inspires your enthusiasm for the value of embedding creativity across school communities. Over the next phase, as we continue develop Creativity Exchange and nurture our Creativity Collaboratives, we will work to ensure all young people have the opportunity to develop the creative capabilities needed to adapt and thrive in the future.


Authored by Nicky Morgan, Director of Special Projects at Arts Council England.


Read the Durham Commission Second Report

Find out more about the original Durham Commission

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