New research from the the Sutton Trust, including work by Dr Mark Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Methods in the School of Education, highlights the disparity within creative jobs and related higher education courses. Those who attended private schools also fared better within the creative sector.
It found that creative courses at universities typically had a larger proportion of students from upper-middle-class backgrounds and that a higher-than-average proportion of the workforce in creative industries held university degrees.
Key findings from the report found:
- Across television, film and music, high-profile figures in the creative industries are much more likely to have attended private school than the UK population (31% compared to 7%).
- BAFTA-nominated actors are five times more likely to have attended a private school, at 35% compared to the national average of just 7%.
- There are low proportions of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds on a range of creative degrees, mirroring trends seen across higher education generally.
- Up to 69% of those working in core creative occupations (such as actors, dancers, artists and writers) have degrees, compared to 26% of the entire workforce.
Nick Harrison, CEO of the Sutton Trust, said:
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tragedy that young people from working-class backgrounds are the least likely to study creative arts degrees or break into the creative professions. These sectors bear the hallmarks of being elitist 鈥 those from upper-middle-class backgrounds, and the privately educated are significantly over-represented.
鈥淏ritain鈥檚 creative sector is admired around the world, but no child should be held back from reaching their full potential, or from pursuing their interests and dream career, due to their socio-economic background. It鈥檚 essential that action is taken to ensure access to high-quality creative education in schools, and to tackle financial barriers to accessing creative courses and workplace opportunities.鈥
.