News and Blog

Lucy Marder (SCEP Lead) provides insight into what an Andy Burnham leadership could look like for cultural education.

With Andy Burnham widely expected to become the UK’s next Prime Minister, many in the education and cultural sectors are considering what this could mean for arts and cultural learning. While it is too early to predict specific policy changes, his record as Mayor of Greater Manchester suggests a strong belief in culture as part of a wider civic agenda, linked to education, wellbeing, skills, regeneration and local identity. 

A recurring theme in Burnham’s work has been the redistribution of power away from Whitehall and towards cities and regions. Recent speeches have reinforced his commitment to devolution and greater local control over public services, skills and economic development. For Southampton, this could create opportunities for cultural education to be shaped more strongly through local partnerships between schools, colleges, universities, cultural organisations and local authorities. A more devolved approach may enable places to align cultural learning more closely with local priorities, creative industries and community needs. A potential challenge for Southampton is that, despite significant social and economic inequalities, it is not always perceived as a place requiring the same level of intervention as areas further from London. 

Commentators also suggest a Burnham government could place greater emphasis on technical and vocational pathways, stronger links between education and employment, and broader measures of success for young people. This may create new opportunities to position arts and cultural learning as contributing not only to creativity and wellbeing, but also to skills development, employability and economic growth.

For SCEP members, the key question is how cultural education can demonstrate its value within wider agendas around opportunity, enrichment, skills and place-making. If decision-making becomes more locally driven, partnerships in Southampton may have greater scope to influence how arts and culture support young people’s learning and development. 

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Further reading:

• The Art Newspaper – What Andy Burnham’s achievements in Manchester tell us about his views on the arts https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/06/26/what-andy-burnhams-achievements-in-manchester-tell-us-about-his-views-on-the-arts
• Schools Week – What would a Burnham government mean for schools? https://schoolsweek.co.uk/what-would-a-burnham-government-would-mean-for-schools/
• Cultural Learning Alliance – Latest News Early July 2026 https://www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk/latest-news-early-july-26/
• Directory of Social Change – What does a new Labour Prime Minister mean for the voluntary sector?: https://www.dsc.org.uk/content/what-does-a-new-labour-prime-minister-mean-for-the-voluntary-sector/?dm_i=6S7,995GM,9B5Q4X,12UT3U,1,0,0,0

Lucy Marder (SCEP Lead) reflects on the new Department for `Education Enrichment Framework.

The DfE (Department for Education)’s new Enrichment Framework, published in June 2026, is non-statutory guidance designed to help schools and colleges plan and improve enrichment opportunities for all young people. For SCEP members, the framework is particularly significant because it identifies Arts and Culture as a core area of enrichment and places strong emphasis on partnership working, creating new opportunities for collaboration between schools, colleges and cultural organisations. 

The framework is structured around eight benchmarks covering areas such as strategic planning, accessibility, partnerships, impact and continuous improvement, encouraging schools to take a more coordinated approach to enrichment. 

While the framework does not directly introduce dedicated new funding for arts and cultural activity, it is likely to become an important reference point for schools when planning personal development and enrichment provision. In parallel, through the Enrichment Expansion Programme (part of the National Youth Strategy) the DCMS (Department for Culture, Media & Sport) are procuring a delivery partner who can work across the 9 English regions and whose approach can be flexed to ensure its offer of support to schools includes 400 target schools that will be funded to provide an enhanced enrichment offer.

Schools and cultural partners can access the framework, benchmarks, self-assessment tools and supporting resources on GOV.UK through: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-enrichment-framework-for-schools-and-colleges.

The Cultural Learning Alliance have published a handy timeline that puts the Enrichment Framework in the context of the Government’s wider education reforms: https://www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CLA-Education-Reform-Timeline.pdf.

On Tuesday 23 June 2026, Lucy Marder and I (Philippa Evans) attended Cantell School’s Careers Fair. Despite the hot weather, we were met with 1000 young people, eager to learn about creative careers. The event reached students from Year 7 to Year 10, demonstrating to us the importance of educating young people of all ages about the benefits of pursuing a creative career.  

As usual, we presented our members’ offerings to students and used the student’s interests as a jumping off point to discuss creative careers, and creativity within careers. We gathered 150 young people’s answers to the question, 

‘What will you create in your career?’ 

Which sparked several informative discussions surrounding careers in the design of sailboats, architecture and music. One young person was excited to create spreadsheets, and another had the ambition to create a name for themself.   

Thanks for having us, Cantell! We look forward to the next career event.  

Be visible – new directory linking culture and education in Southampton

We’re creating a new SCEP Cultural Education Directory – designed to help your work be more visible to schools, youth services and alternative provision across Southampton. 

The format of the directory has been shaped through our dialogue with the Southampton Education Forum (SEF). They’ve told us what decision-makers in schools and other settings need to know, in order to commission services from arts partners.

Why take part?

This is about making sure your offer can be seen, understood, and commissioned by the people who need it.

The directory will help:

• Schools, colleges, youth settings and PRUs find you more easily
• Partners quickly understand what you offer and who you work with
• Open up more opportunities to deliver your work with young people

This is an important step in strengthening connections between Southampton’s cultural sector and the full range of settings supporting children and young people – particularly those with the least access to cultural opportunities.

Add your organisation

It covers:

• Who you work with
• What you deliver
• Key practical information that commissioners look for

The directory questions reflect what partners have told us they need in order to move from interest to booking and delivery. The aim is to increase your chances of being approached and commissioned.

Your support needs

We know that not all arts organisations or freelancers will have everything in place yet. So there’s a question about the support SCEP members need to build readiness to work with a wider range of young people and settings. Your response to the ‘support needs’ section will not be published in the directory. We’ll use it to inform our member support offer. 

Timeline

Deadline: 12 noon on Monday 27 July 2026

Directory live: Autumn term 2026

On Wednesday 6 May 2026, the SCEP team (Lucy Marder and me, Philippa Evans) attended the O2 Guildhall in Southampton to represent SCEP at EBP South’s Get Inspired for Your Future event. The event inspired students from 23 local schools, and SCEP engaged over 100 young people, as well as parents and carers in the evening session.  

It was a delight to speak to so many young locals, sparking conversation about what a creative career might look like for them. The SCEP stand shared leaflets to demonstrate our members’ offers, and we used these as a springboard for discussing creative and cultural interests, and what that might look like as a career path. Excitingly, some students knew the career they wanted to take so we discussed skill development and how they can be creative within that role. 

As we’ve done previously, we asked young people the question, “What will you create in your career?” 

This question encourages participants to consider creative careers, as well as the creative aspects of non-creative careers. Unsurprisingly, the young people of Southampton provided a variety of insightful responses. We met one impassioned young wrestler who wanted to create a personalised wrestling gimmick. As well as an aspiring welder, who resolved to create the perfect welds.  

It was a pleasure to encourage and speak with so many aspiring creatives.  From future nail artists to future filmmakers and drummers, we’re excited to see what these young people create in their futures. 

We’re looking forward to representing our members again on the 23 June at Cantell School’s Careers Fair.