The Creative Industries are a UK success story. Between 2011 – 2019, the sector grew at double the rate of the UK economy, and since 2015 has created 400,000 additional jobs. This success relies on a workforce of talented and motivated creative people, who have the right skills for the right roles.
However, the creative economy is at risk of falling into a looming skills shortage.
This report – the fourth in our State of the Nations series – looks at student participation in creative further education (FE) across all four UK nations and shows that there is a severe drop in participation.
As demand for skills grows, it is not being met by increased participation in creative learning. This indicates that there is a pipeline shortage for the UK’s growing creative economy.
The report brings together 31 data sets to provide the most comprehensive picture yet of the state of creative further education.
It was prepared by education specialists Work Advance for the AHRC-funded Creative PEC.