Quick start for music plan

Amidst largely positive reactions to ‘The Importance of Music’, the first ever national plan for music education, serious concerns have been raised about the rapid pace at which it is to be implemented. Under the plan, all children aged 5 to 18 are to be given the chance to sing, learn a musical instrument and perform as part of an ensemble or choir. This new agenda for music education will be delivered by music education ‘hubs’ which will build on the work of existing local authority music services and radically change the way music is delivered to schools. These will typically consist of a number of organisations working in partnership to align existing music activities at local authorities and local music organisations, and draw together resources.

An open application process has been launched by Arts Council England (ACE) for the leadership of the hubs, which will be expected to be up and running as early as September 2012.The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) has warned of the dangers of an ill thought through implementation process. Both the ISM and Making Music, which represents voluntary music organisations, have called for a funding process that is “transparent and accountable”, to ensure that conflicts of interest cannot arise.

Making Music is offering to help voluntary groups applying to join the music education hubs, and hopes “that the Arts Council will consider the strength of voluntary sector relationships when assessing hub applications, and will be on hand to promote the cause of voluntary groups during the application process.”

A new national formula will be used to allocate music education funding across the UK on a ‘per pupil’ basis, with a weighting for deprivation. Government funding for music education this year is £82.5m, but over the next three years the budget has been reduced and only £171m will go to the music education hubs.

NAME, the professional body representing all areas of music education, has stated that the challenge for schools will be how to integrate their curriculum with that of the hubs. The aim is that children have a seamless experience of music education with access to progression routes both within and beyond the school, and that the funding of music through schools complements the funding of music education through hubs, but NAME warns: “Much rests on the way in which Arts Council England will work with the Department for Education, the way that arts organisations will work with organisations focused on music education, the way that Music Services and other potential hub leaders will work with schools.”

It is not yet clear whether these changes will lead to the inclusion of music in the English Baccalaureate, as called for in the Henley Review of Music Education (see AP232). However, speaking on BBC Radio 3’s Music Matters programme, Education Secretary Michael Gove said: “Anyone looking at the care and dedication that’s gone into the national music plan… would presume that it would be eccentric of the Department for Education not to have music in the national curriculum. I can’t go further than that. That’s as big a hint as I feel I can drop at this point.”