‘Time in Art and Design’ hosted by The National Portrait Gallery (28 Nov 2025), and organised by Nitya Paul, head of art and design at Burlington Danes Academy, together with colleagues from Ark education charity and network. The event was organised following what NSEAD is best described as the perfect storm for art and design in education. With year-on-year education policy changes impacting on teachers and their schools, the event organisers, speakers and delegates considered for example, how high-stakes performance measures specifically impact on art, craft and design teachers and their learners.
'Time in Art and Design' included presentations and responses by past students; four exam boards; art and design HMI, Ofsted; a veterinary graduate and a professor and representatives from MATs. The event was chaired by Sally Bacon CEO of Cultural Learning Alliance. Leaders of cultural organisations and art schools; NSEAD and art and design representatives from four exam boards.
The event began with Conor Addison and Divine Southgate Smith, former art and design students of Burlington Danes Academy. They eloquently described their GCSE and A level art and design experience, and called for urgent change. Conor said:
'In art and design I gained a work ethic. But I reached the goal in an improbable environment'.
Divine Southgate Smith said:
'Art helps us make sense of the world and to manage ambiguity but the problem is the uncertainty of standards and a focus on quantity. The problem is not the passion, it is the structure... we need to focus less on quantity of work, and more on the PURPOSE of education.'
Nitya Paul, head of art and design at Burlington Danes shared evidence from an indicative survey that illustrates the risk of grade predictions and the pressures and expectations on teachers and in turn their learners. She also called on galleries and museums to create meaningful opportunities for art and design students to exhibit work. Art and design leaders from four MATs shared their fellow teachers hopes and concerns. Anne Miele from Harris Academy shared how art and design's externally set task has a 12-week window – but during this time, many candidates are pulled in multiple directions that lead away from the art room.
Adam Vincent HMI for art and design, described how art helps us to hear, see and make; Art and design is not an 'add-on' but helps us to learn that mistakes matter, to be curious, and to use time differently and purposefully.
Suri Paul, a final-year veterinary graduate at University of Liverpool, described the value and necessity of art and design education; how it helped her to notice the small details. She also shared the time-intensive demands of our subject. Professor Paul Lunn, University of Liverpool, reflected that art helps with clinical reasoning and that in the nineteenth century art and science were better connected.
Four examination board representatives attended and, as indicated by the the CAAR report, change is needed.
NSEAD, represented by Canon Marlene Wylie, immediate past-president, and Sophie Leach, deputy general secretary, shared our position and reflections:
Our subject is not thriving. Not in terms of the current curriculum or the demands in time on teachers and learners. With 15 years of high-stakes performance measures and school league tables impacting on education like never before; with less time to teach, fewer specialist art and design teachers and reduced funding too – teachers are being asked to do more with less. With the CAAR Report now published, this is the right time to address, collaborate and action the changes we want to see.
Special thanks to Nitya Paul, and her Ark colleagues Caroline Doherty and Becky Martin, for organising Time in Art and Design. This was a highly pertinent and very well organised event, which galvanised so many key policy makers; collated essential evidence, and collectively explored what changes that are needed. Nitya and her colleagues at Ark Academies are now working on the wealth of feedback they received.
Following the Curriculum and Assessment Review report's publication (all phases) together with the DfE’s response, this is the right time to address curriculum changes in and through art and design. The event provided essential ‘qualitative’ evidence that change is welcomed and needed.
Please let us us know here the changes you want to see.
Michele Gregson, CEO and deputy general secretary of NSEAD says:
'This is a tipping point in education. As is expressed so readily by organisers, presenters and delegates now is the time to join up the curriculum – across all key stagers – and locally and nationally for all learners to see themselves in a relevant and 21C curriculum.
'When former art and design student Divine Southgate Smith, calls for education to be purposeful; and when Conor Addison ,again former student, asks for learning environments and goals to be achievable – it is time for policy makers and exam boards to join the dots. From cradle to career, we need education to be relevant and engaging. Now is also the time to address the growing demands of time required for art and design. At GCSE level and beyond, we call for policy makers to seize the opportunity presented by the CAAR review and to address the increasingly impossible demands of examinations and assessments on art educators and their learners.'