Potential cuts to instrumental tuition show that music remains a soft cut when local authorities need to save money, Scotland’s largest teaching union has warned.
The EIS teaching union says that, despite music being a core part of Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence, instrumental music tuition is “increasingly under threat in some parts of the country”.
The union cited plans in East Ayrshire to remove instrumental music from the education service and move it into an arm’s length trust, “purely as a cost-cutting measure”.
Building pupils’ confidence
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “In addition to developing their talent, learning music also builds young people’s confidence and can have a strong positive impact on achievement, including attainment.”
She said it was “a matter of deep concern that instrumental music continues to be seen as a soft target for councils looking to make funding cuts”.
Ms Bradley highlighted the many people who “enjoy the benefits of school instrumental music provision over the festive season”, as those who started learning an instrument in school perform in bands, orchestras and shows.
She added: “Hogmanay celebrations would often not be the same without the presence of a piper - a large number of whom will have first picked up the chanter, and then the pipes, through school instrumental music provision.”
Core part of the curriculum
Ms Bradley said that “music is not an add-on, or an extracurricular activity, it is a core element of the school curriculum”.
She described plans such as those in East Ayrshire as having “serious implications for schools, for instrumental music teachers and, most importantly, for young people who deserve equal opportunity to learn instrumental music”.
Ms Bradley added: “It is simply unacceptable to have a ‘pay to play’ culture around music education in Scotland.”
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