Music sector experts have sounded warnings about insufficient funding and the impact of the reduction of music hubs across the country.
Schools minister Damian Hinds and experts from the sector were questioned by the Commons Education Select Committee this morning as part of a one-off evidence session to interrogate the problems facing music hubs.
The session came amid the restructuring of music hubs, which will reduce the number from 116 to 43 from September this year. The move follows the publication of a national plan for music education (NPME) in 2022.
Music specialists have previously criticised this restructuring, with the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM) last year calling for former schools minister Nick Gibb to provide answers on the plan to cut the number of hubs.
Here are six things the MPs’ committee heard as part of today’s session:
1. Experts call for ‘benchmarking’ on music hubs
Asked by the committee what measures needed to be taken to ensure that the music hubs programme is a success, John de la Cour, chair of the board of trustees at the Severn Arts music hub, called for “benchmarking”.
Mr de la Cour said: “There is no information as to what the level of proficiency and attainment and so on among young people in the country [is], and therefore we don’t know what we’re aiming for.”
Responding to criticism of a “lack of key metrics and benchmarks” for the music hub programme, Mr Hinds mentioned ongoing work by the Music Education Monitoring Board, which was set up to monitor the government’s refreshed national plan.
He said the board was looking at “appropriate measures like the amount of teaching time there is for music...the amount of teaching time that there is for music in the early years, how many children at that stage are reaching an early learning goal for musical expression, obviously the number of children who enter qualifications”.
But Mr Hinds admitted that “a lot of it is qualitative”.
He added that there will be an evaluation of music hubs “over three years”.
2. Concerns over music hub restructuring
The committee heard from a number of experts about the perceived impact of the reduction of the number of music hubs from September.
Stuart Darke, director of legal services at the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM), raised concerns about the time frame that music hubs were given to respond to the consultation and submit their bids to become hub lead organisations (HLOs).
Mr Darke added that there is a “real pressure” on successful hubs to put plans in place ahead of September when they are “already tasked with delivering music education”.
Meanwhile, Andrew Lane, managing director of the Dynamic Medway music hub, said that the delivery of music hub activity in Medway is at “enormous risk” because of a lack of partnership with the new HLO.
He said he was concerned that provision in the area “could be heading in a dangerous situation” and “could fall off a cliff”.
Carolyn Baxendale, head of Bolton Music Service, said some “good things” could come out of the restructure but that there was a “risk of a top-down model”.
3. Music education lacks sufficient funding
Witnesses who gave evidence to the committee raised concerns about funding.
Mr de la Cour claimed that the implementation of the music hubs programme is “acting against its own ambitions” and said it was a “badly constructed funding programme”.
Michael Summers, manager of music education at Durham Music Trust, said that the “aspirations of the national plan are fantastic”, but warned that the funding “isn’t sufficient”.
Mr Summers claimed that Durham and Darlington had lost the equivalent of around £1 million in funding over the past nine years, taking inflation into account.
He claimed that this meant he was having to “increase costs to parents or schools” and it had resulted in a restructuring of staff, impacting the hub’s reach.
4. Hinds ‘cautiously optimistic’ about national plan rollout
Under the national plan for music, schools are asked to offer at least one hour of music curriculum a week and have a designated music lead or head of department.
When committee chairman Robin Walker asked the schools minister if the DfE had received reports from the monitoring board for the national plan, Mr Hinds said that the DfE was “cautiously optimistic about the progress” but “there is always more we need to do”.
Mr Hinds said that, while the one-hour target for music was being met mostly at key stage 3, more work needed to be done at primary school level.
However, Bridget Whyte, chief executive of the Music Mark music association, said that the “biggest challenge” is that the model music curriculum is non-statutory.
And accountability measures are not allowing schools to “choose music”, she warned.
Music teachers have previously called for a reform of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) and Progress 8 accountability measures, amid concerns that they have “negatively impacted music education” in secondary schools.
5. Constraints on grant for musical instruments
As part of the national plan, the DfE announced that schools would get £25 million to purchase instruments and equipment.
The grant will be allocated to the new hub lead organisations and spread across 2024-25 and 2025-26.
However, Mr Summers said that while the money was “welcome”, the conditions on the grant were “unsustainable”.
For example, he said hubs cannot pay for repairs of instruments using the grant, which cost the hub around £12,000 a year.
And he was also concerned that second-hand instruments had to be sourced from buyers on a “portal” so cheaper options from suppliers such as eBay were not an option.
Jenny Oldroyd, director for curriculum and qualifications at the DfE, later told the committee that the DfE would be establishing a “supplier framework” to ensure that there is “high quality” and “longevity” in the instruments available and that they are value for money.
6. Concern over impact of pension scheme costs
Mr Walker questioned the schools minister over concerns about the cost of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme for music hub employers. The chair said: “It’s something that’s happened over a long period of time but more teachers in music hubs have moved out of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme because of cost pressures.”
Mr Hinds said that the DfE would carry out work to “understand what the pressures are”.
Chris Walters, national organiser in education and health and wellbeing at the Musicians’ Union, said that some hubs were in the process of exiting the pension scheme.
Mr Walters said there are “four already well on their way to finish their consultations” on exiting the scheme and around 1,100 teachers were affected by this.
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