Sutton Trust report ‘shines uncomfortable spotlight’ on class inequalities in creative careers

Education and class background have a significant impact on people’s ability to reach the top of their creative profession, new research into class inequalities in the creative industries has found.

Published by Sutton Trust, the report – ‘A Class Act’ – examines social mobility in creative higher education courses, as well as the educational backgrounds of elite figures in television, film and music.

Exploring the backgrounds of people in the creative industries, the Sutton Trust found middle-class adults under 35 were four times more likely to work in the creative industries compared with their working-class peers. Privately educated people also disproportionately occupy top roles in the sector.

The study showed that a BAFTA-nominated actor is five times more likely to have attended a private school, while 43% of prominent classical musicians went to an independent school, six times greater than average.

Alongside class inequalities in creative workers, researchers’ findings highlighted the importance of higher education as a route into that workforce. While 20% of UK working-class individuals in any employment have a degree, working-class people in creative jobs were three times as likely to have been to university.

Over two-thirds of those in key creative occupations, such as actors, dancers, artists and writers, were found to have a degree, compared to 26% of the entire workforce, which researchers said reinforced an indication of inequalities in the pipeline for the creative sector.

‘The most extreme forms of class inequalities’

At higher education (HE) level, researchers found that at four universities – Oxford, Cambridge, King’s College London and Bath – more than half of students on creative courses came from “the most elite upper-middle-class backgrounds”.

For Russell Group institutions, the most significant percentages of upper-middle-class creative students were found at King’s College London (51%), Durham (48%) and Exeter (43%), while the lowest was at Queen’s University Belfast (25%), Southampton (29%) and Liverpool (31%).

Meanwhile, at former polytechnics, Glyndŵr (8%), University of the Highlands and Islands (11%), and Wolverhampton (11%) were the universities with the lowest percentage of students from upper-middle class backgrounds.

Researchers said “longstanding fears” surrounding the place of creative subjects in the education system had played a part in an unequal pattern of mobility. They added that “the stratification of inequality in creative HE” was “striking” and “worrying” with “institutional prestige going hand in hand with the most extreme forms of class inequalities”.

In assessing the reasons, the study cited “the collapse of access to music teaching over the past 14 years, along with marginalisation of arts subjects in the state school curriculum”.

It continued: “Broader issues associated with the long-term struggle to widen participation beyond the upper middle class have a significant impact on the absence of working-class students from Russell Group institutions. These contextual factors play into the explanations for the class crisis in creative HE. They do not, however, excuse it.

“At a time of huge financial pressure for HE in the UK, institutions may be tempted to avoid the pressing need for equality of access. In spite of these significant problems for universities and the pressing need for a new financial settlement, creative HE will struggle to attract support if it continues to be exclusive.”

An ‘arts premium’ for schools

Among recommendations for the government, the Sutton Trust suggests introducing an ‘arts premium’ funding package for schools to help them pay for arts opportunities, including music lessons, focused on children eligible for free school meals.

A similar policy was included in the Conservative Party’s 2019 election manifesto 2019 before being shelved by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2021.

For the higher education sector, researchers suggested that conservatoires in receipt of state funding should be banned from charging for auditions and called for a specific review of access to specialist arts institutions “where access can be worse than the most prestigious universities, but which have historically been held to much lower levels of scrutiny”.

Proposals affecting creative employers included tightening existing legislation on unpaid internships and making socio-economic inclusion a condition of arts funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England.

Sharing accountability

Dr Richard Boffey, head of AccessHE at London Higher, said the report shines “a welcome if uncomfortable spotlight on the inequalities that characterise access to creative careers,” adding that it makes clear “the higher education sector must share accountability for an unequal playing field in the creative sector and can do more to level it”.

Boffey, whose organisation represents universities and higher education institutions across the capital, described London’s higher education sector as “a tale of two halves” regarding increasing social mobility.

“Some of the least socio-economically diverse intakes in the country are to be found at conservatoires and creative specialist institutions in the capital. Other London-based providers, by contrast, lead the way in the proportion of working-class origin students they admit to creative programmes.”

He added that as part of its efforts to improve access, LondonHE had developed its Creative Apply Guide, which “debunks unhelpful perceptions around creative degrees and helps prospective students understand what it means to pursue a creative career”.

A business critical risk

Melanie Rodrigues, CEO of Creative Access, said employers and institutions need to work together to remove obstacles “in a more joined-up way”.

She agreed the findings “sadly reflect the everyday experiences of working-class talent across the UK, who face a multitude of barriers to accessing and maintaining creative careers”.

“Addressing socio-economic barriers is a complex task, but it is business critical to nurture and progress talent from all backgrounds. There is a huge risk that the creative industries will lose what makes us great if we don’t embrace the myriad of stories and experiences that make up the society we live in – and that can only be achieved via a diverse and representative workforce,” said Rodrigues.