Introducing Art History to the Next Generation: AHLU's HPQ Course at the Courtauld

When Art History Link-Up was founded in 2016, our mission was simple but urgent: to make art history accessible to young people from state schools who had no other route into this extraordinary subject. A level Art History is offered by fewer than 19 state schools in the UK. The subject — and the careers it opens up — was in danger of becoming the preserve of the independently educated.

Ten years on, we are reaching students younger than ever before. This spring, we are recruiting for our free in-person Introduction to Art History HPQ course, running over ten Sunday mornings at the Courtauld, Somerset House from April — and I want to tell you why I think it might be one of the most exciting things we have ever done.

The Higher Project Qualification is equivalent to up to half a GCSE, and it is designed for Year 9 and 10 students, aged between thirteen to fifteen year olds. The age matters enormously. These are students who are still forming their sense of what subjects they love, what they are good at, and who they might become. Reaching them at this stage, before they have made their choices, is where real change can happen.

The course runs on Sunday mornings from 19 April to June 2026, from 10.30am to 1pm, at the Courtauld Institute, Somerset House. Students engage with art history at one of the world's great centres for the subject, benefiting from a dedicated study space and the Gallery's world-class collection. The course is taught by our highly experienced team and supported by Dr John Taylor, Pearson's Chair of Examiners for Project Qualifications — so students are in exceptionally good hands. They develop their own ideas and arguments, and have the opportunity to curate their own mini exhibitions. It is genuinely creative and intellectually rigorous. And it is completely free, including exam entry, and snacks.

The results from our pilot have been remarkable. Around 200 students from 101 UK state schools have taken part to date, with over half based outside London. Eighty-four per cent said they would take up art history as a GCSE subject if it were available to them. That figure says everything about the hunger that exists for this subject, and how little opportunity there currently is to pursue it.

What does art history give a young person? The ability to look carefully, to think critically, to make connections across time and culture, to articulate a point of view. These are skills for life — for any career, any discipline. And studying art in extraordinary spaces, surrounded by works that have endured for centuries, does something harder to measure but just as real: it expands a student's sense of what is possible for them.

If you are a teacher, a parent, or a student in Year 9 or 10 at a state school, I would love you to find out more. The application deadline is 5pm on 1 April 2026 — please don't miss it.

More information and how to apply: https://www.arthistorylinkup.org/programmes/hpq-introduction-to-art-history

Student voices from the course: https://courtauld.ac.uk/news-blogs/2025/art-history-link-up-pilots-art-history-hpq-courses-at-the-courtauld/

Rose Aidin MBE, Founder and CEO, AHLU

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