On the beat

‘It’s not about transforming your school overnight; this is going to take time’ – Bridget Whyte, chief executive, Music Mark

What’s the big idea?

As the UK’s National Plan for Music Education is unveiled, questions still remain about the amount of funding behind the initiative, as well as the number of trained teachers

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Young cello students will be among those helped by the NPME

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On 25 June the UK government unveiled its long-awaited National Plan for Music Education (NPME) for England. Titled The Power of Music to Change Lives (PDF: bit.ly/3vejGFU), the NPME refreshes an elevenyear-old national plan, and while the music education sector has widely welcomed the ambitious scope, focus and aims of the new plan, big questions remain about funding levels and the training and development of the classroom teacher workforce.

The NPME, which is non-statutory, features positive language about the importance of music in schools, and about inclusion and access, stating on its opening page that ‘music is an essential part of a broad and ambitious curriculum for all pupils. It must not be the preserve of the privileged few. Music should be planned and taught as robustly as any other foundation curriculum subject.’ Whereas a major outcome of the 2011 plan was the establishment of a network of music hubs to provide music services across England, the refreshed plan recognises the central role of schools in delivering music teaching. The NPME restates a goal of last year’s Model Music Curriculum for schools to provide at least one hour of curriculum music every week for key stages 1 to 3. In addition, the plan envisages high-quality school music provision as giving pupils access to lessons across a range of instruments and voice; a school choir; a school ensemble; space for rehearsals and individual practice; a termly school performance; and a live performance at least once a year.

New to the refreshed plan are sections on developing early years music provision, and on pathways through to further and higher education.

In addition to their relationships with local schools, music hubs will be expected to identify and partner with a small number of lead schools with highquality music provision, which will work with the hubs on the design and delivery of continuing professional development (CPD) and peer-to-peer support for schools in their area.

To support the delivery of the plan, the government has committed to continue funding the music hub programme with £79m a year up to 2025, and will also provide £25m of new money for the purchase of musical instruments and equipment.

Additional financing will support a pilot Music Progression Fund ‘to support disadvantaged pupils with significant musical potential, enthusiasm and commitment’, as well as the establishment of four national centres of excellence – based in music hubs – for inclusion, CPD, music technology and pathways to industry.

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While the £25m for instruments came as a welcome surprise to the sector, music education organisations are saying that the £79m a year of hub funding will not be enough. Deborah Annetts, chief executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM), the UK’s professional body for musicians, says: ‘What really struck us when we surveyed classroom and peripatetic music teachers for our March 2022 report [Music: A subject in peril?] was just how badly funded many school departments are. Asking schools and music hubs to deliver more when they’re already struggling is a very difficult thing.’

Who should schools turn to if they think they won’t have the resources to deliver on the goals of the refreshed plan? Bridget Whyte, CEO of UK music education association Music Mark, says: ‘Schools need to connect with colleagues in their local areas, with other schools that are delivering music well, and ask them for advice about budgets and resourcing. A lot of peer learning could take place. I would say to schools that there is a network of individuals and organisations, such as Music Mark and the ISM, who want to help you help children access musical education and opportunities. A key message is that it’s not about transforming your school overnight – this is going to take time.’

For Annetts, the refreshed plan will not be effective if it cannot mitigate the effects of the Progress 8, Attainment 8 and EBacc school accountability measures in squeezing music in the curriculum at GCSE and A-level. With data from the Joint Council for Qualifications showing an 18 per cent reduction in GCSE music take-up between 2011 and 2021, and a corresponding 44 per cent drop in music A-level entries, Annetts asks: ‘Is the plan going to reverse what is happening with music disappearing in some schools?

It is definitely a step forward, but the fundamentals of the accountability measures and the funding have not been addressed.’

Fewer young people taking music at A-level, funding cuts for university arts courses, and a decrease in the number of music teacher training courses will have an impact on the workforce needed to deliver on the refreshed plan. ‘At secondary level, we know that the numbers training to be music teachers are not enough to cover all the music teachers that we need,’ says Whyte.

‘And in primary, the challenge is that there aren’t enough confident music educators among the teaching workforce.’ But Whyte points to the CPD elements in the refreshed plan, and says the plan recognises that there are online resources and in-person training opportunities that can help build confidence in teaching music: ‘We can throw it back to careers advisers and young people considering their career, and say that being a music teacher is a viable career.’