Like the weather during the current climate emergency, extremes characterise the cultural learning landscape this summer. Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement are washing away what we took for granted and throwing into greater relief the lack of social justice in Britain. This blog looks at the raft of different proposals and initiatives that are developing as a result of the changes.

Joe Hallgarten, Principal Consultant at the Education Development Trust and a member of the CLA Advisory Panel writes here in a personal capacity about how we can respond to a ‘pandemic of certainty’.

This month we bring you news of research from the Education Endowment Foundation showing the attainment gap could widen by 36% as a result of school closures; updated Department for Education guidance for school reopening and reopening dates from Scotland and Wales; Let’s Create packs from Arts Council England; Covid secure guidance being developed for arts and heritage learning spaces; a call for CLA members to contribute to ‘task and finish’ groups; and a survey on arts and heritage learning services and spaces.

Paul Reeve, CEO of Into Film, a film learning organisation working across all four UK nations and a member of the CLA Advisory Panel, responds to the question: What is Covid-19 teaching us we can do differently in arts and cultural education? 

This month we bring you news that the Welsh Government has extended Creative Learning through the Arts; resources from the EEF and DfE to help education settings; recommendations from the EPI on preventing the disadvantage gap from increasing during and after the Covid-19 pandemic; and the Education select committee Inquiry into the impact of Covid-19 and interviews with the Ofsted Chief Inspector and Minister for Education.

Sally Bacon, Executive Director, Clore Duffield Foundation and founder member of the CLA writes about looking after the corona class of 2020, and why cultural organisations must keep the lights on for learning.

Jacqui O’Hanlon, Director of Education, Royal Shakespeare Company and Chair of the CLA writes about what she thinks the future has in store and how we can respond.

There have been a raft of different support programmes announced specifically for arts and cultural organisations in the past weeks, as well as support individuals working in arts and cultural education can access.

This month we bring you news of how GCSE and A Level grades will be decided this year; the Education Endowment Foundation’s concerns about the impact of school closure on the attainment gap; and advice on how to stay creative and keep your family sane during lockdown – from the world’s best teacher.

On the 25 March the Cultural Learning Alliance gathered a snapshot of how the Covid-19 crisis is affecting cultural education freelancers.

This is a summary of our findings.