The Cultural Capital Gap – More needs to be done together

Introduction

A world without theatre; a world without music; a world without galleries, concerts and dance.  A world without these things would be a world without colour, without joy and without creativity.  Now imagine a world where these things exist but due to reasons outside your control, these things are unavailable to you; or they are unwelcoming.  It is with this context that the Charity first embarked on its Perspectives journey, in 2016.  With our extensive experience working with schools (mainstream and special) as well as with a range of Arts organisations throughout London, we could see a huge disparity in what was available for children in mainstream schools versus the offer for children with additional needs.  Conversely, when activities were being delivered in special schools, the impact on young people was huge, and often life changing.   

Far too often, D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse young people find it difficult to access activities;  additional support is often required to access mainstream provision, and a specialist offer is rare and often oversubscribed.  Young people might often require additional levels of support to enable them to join in, which incurs additional costs; often activities need to be adapted to enable young people to participate; sometimes young people find it difficult to join in with mainstream activities for other social, emotional or behavioural reasons. 

Why does this matter?  Why should we try to change it?  

Because it is a fundamental right of all children and young people to have access to cultural capital…   

…and this is why we have created the podcast series Stronger Voices Together, to serve as a platform to champion this right to Arts and culture.

What is Cultural Capital?

In the first episode of Stronger Voices Together, Paul Morrow, Lead Practitioner of the Creative Arts at Westminster Special Schools, explains how cultural capital was introduced as part of the new Ofsted framework in September 2019.  This framework requires schools to provide pupils with ‘the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life’. 

Whilst Ofsted does not inspect the cultural capital offered by a school, it does look closely at the variety and breadth offered within its curriculum that can support children’s opportunity to access cultural capital – a ‘broad and balanced’ offer.

Why is Cultural Capital important?

The benefits of engaging in Arts activities are well documented. It is known that children who study music, for example, are likely to reap the benefits in their wider studies; engaging in Arts can be enjoyable, relaxing and help children better focus on their schoolwork. As Ali King from Turtle Key Arts describes in the podcast, engaging in Arts can have a huge benefit on emotional wellbeing, particularly in building resilience and a sense of self. The Arts can also be a useful tool in which to explore and illuminate other more complex areas of the curriculum. For neurodivergent children and young people, the Arts can be a lifeline, offering an opportunity to engage in something outside their norm, communicate with others for the first time, enjoy teamwork and can provide a sense of achievement.

What has John Lyon’s Charity done?

Over the years, John Lyon’s Charity has funded projects that bring high quality Arts activities into special schools but we recognised the need to do more.  As a funder working with a variety of different Arts organisations, we were in a unique position to have an overview of the sector; we could see the different approaches made by organisations and what was working particularly well.  We could also see how some schools felt very confident in engaging with external delivery organisations, whilst others had much more reticence at opening their doors.    

In 2016, we embarked on a research project to gather insight into this work and identify key factors that would help bring the Arts and special educational needs sectors together. The resulting document, Perspectives provides guidance to support the sector to be brave, ambitious and help share expertise to create new and stronger Arts partnerships.  In 2019, we produced a follow-up piece of work, Change of Perspectives, to understand the issues that continued to affect the sectors and learn from those who understand it best: Arts organisations, special schools, Music Hubs and funders.  The Stand up for SEND call to action was based on the thoughts and experiences of all those who contributed to the Change of Perspectives report and offered a framework for organisations to follow to ensure that when developing programmes, they were fit for purpose and sought to achieve best practice.  At that time, we had hoped to raise standards of delivery across the sectors to help special schools feel confident that the work that they engage with is appropriate for their young people. We know that it costs more to do this work and we encourage applicant organisations not to hide the costs of additional workers, specialist equipment or extra time – these things are essential in order to make the work happen and be successful. 

Fast forward to 2024 and the world is a very different place.  The impact of Covid-19 on the delivery of projects within special schools has been huge, which, for obvious health reasons, were some of the last institutions to re-open their doors to external visitors.  However, alongside some of these practical delivery challenges, what emerged over that period, was a huge dedication to innovation and the desire to find new ways to engage young people – with often surprising results.  Organisations frequently told us that they were able to reach more young people using online tools than before, particularly those with learning and access needs, and that the experience of delivering during the Covid-period would change their working practices forever.   

It therefore seemed timely to embark on a new examination of the relationship between Arts organisations and special schools in 2023, with a view to not only seeing how much progress had been made, but also to celebrate successes, achievements and innovations.   

Amplifying voices

As a funder, we are used to having conversations with all kinds of people, from delivery organisations, teachers, other funders and occasionally policy makers.  We see a crucial part of our role being to bring people together to share ideas and opportunities.  Unfortunately, we can’t bring everyone with us into these meetings but we wanted to find a way to ensure that these very special insights could be shared more widely.  Thus, the idea for our podcast series, Stronger Voices Together, was born.  Stronger Voices Together brings together people working in Arts organisations, teachers, young people and parents to share their views on various topics and issues to offer insights and stimulate further discussion and debate.  We aren’t always offering a solution, but always challenge listeners to think more about what they do and say, and how they can communicate this to others.  

Our first episode, on cultural capital, sets the scene for why we have dedicated so much time and resource to this area.   Access to high quality arts and cultural opportunities is a fundamental right for everyone; we have a responsibility to ensure that we are doing all we can to ensure equal access to these activities for all children and young people.  We hope that in listening to this podcast, we can create a positive change because more needs to be done, together.