Education reforms could open school doors to more musicians

Reforms to teaching qualifications will enable subject specialists such as musicians to start teaching in state schools before completing a formal teaching qualification. Musicians could enter the teaching profession “on a pathway to full accreditation, where their skills can be recognised”.

Under proposals published in the Government’s new education White Paper, ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’, the requirement for teachers to attain Qualified Teacher Status before entering the classroom would be replaced by “a stronger, more challenging accreditation based on a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom”. This would “put the best headteachers in charge of accrediting new entrants to the profession”, and aims to give schools more scope to bring in experts, such as musicians, from other fields.

Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM), responded to the proposal, saying: “…we look forward to contributing to the new proposals relating to teacher education and teacher training to ensure that subject specific expertise and knowledge in music is not lost, a challenge rightly identified as needing specialist training by the Government’s own Carter Review .”

She continued: “However this good news is at complete odds with the Department for Education’s announcement today that they intend to press ahead with plans for an un-evidenced, deeply damaging English Baccalaureate (EBacc) which will devalue music, art, design and other creative subjects in our schools.

“When the Secretary of State for Education suggests that schools can bring in ‘experts from other fields – for example, a talented musician or coder’, we need to recognise that the skills shortages in music will have a harmful impact on this ambition and the EBacc will only exacerbate this.”