The ambitions set out in the National Plan for Music Education will be “impossible” for schools to deliver amid “rising costs” and “poor funding”, a primary heads’ leader has warned.
Music experts, meanwhile, are questioning a Department for Education pledge to provide pupils with 200,000 new musical instruments.
On Saturday, the government published the long-awaited National Plan for Music Education, setting out a range of expectations for schools.
These include every school having a designated music lead or head of department, and providing at least an hour of music each week for key stages 1-3.
Under the plan, pupils should also have access to lessons in a range of instruments, a school choir and/or vocal ensemble, a school ensemble/band/group, space for rehearsals and individual practice, a termly school performance and the opportunity to enjoy live performance at least once a year.
But heads are warning that, while they support the aims of the plan, schools simply lack the resources to support it.
Paul Gosling, president of school leaders’ union the NAHT, told Tes that, as a headteacher, he would “love to put resources back into music” but that it seemed “impossible in the current climate of rising costs, poor SEN funding and poor funding generally”.
Funding for music ‘not enough’
He said that “as a musician” he supported the goals of the NPME, but that the funding being offered alongside the plan was “not enough to achieve its aims”.
The music plan would allocate schools £25 million to buy instruments and equipment, including adapted instruments for those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The government has also confirmed that it will continue its Music Hubs programme until 2025, with £79 million being made available every year under the scheme.
But, heads warn, this comes at a time when schools face extreme financial pressures and are dealing with the educational fallout from Covid.
Schools ‘having to ensure pupils are fed’
Writing in his blog Ramblings of a Teacher, primary headteacher Michael Tidd said music was not “the only priority in schools”, and that the “massively underfunded need for recovery from the pandemic often tops the list”.
Mr Tidd, who leads East Preston Junior School in West Sussex, cited other areas of pressure, including the “near collapse of mental health services” and “demands for 90 per cent attainment in English and maths”.
He said there was not a “primary head in the land who wouldn’t like to give every child the opportunity to become proficient at piano”.
However, he said, the “first priority” was “ensuring that every child is fed, in a safe home, attending school in the first place, and hopefully mastering the basics that will set them up for their next steps”.
“None of that will be improved by a music development plan,” he said, adding: “Yet now school leaders will be forced to take time and money for other priorities to focus on this.”
Primary curriculum concerns
Mr Tidd’s concerns were echoed by many teachers on social media.
Posting on Twitter, Year 6 teacher Emma Stanley questioned whether the DfE had “any idea how many subjects are taught in primary”.
Another headteacher account criticised the move, claiming the primary timetable “does not have time for one hour of music every week”.
Other leaders have highlighted difficulties in recruiting specialist teachers, as figures today show a big shortage of trainee music teachers.
The number of applicants placed on initial teacher training music courses is 32 per cent below the estimated number required to meet the end-of-year target.
This is according to an analysis of DfE data by Jack Worth, school workforce lead at the National Foundation for Educational Research.
Questions over DfE instruments pledge
Meanwhile, questions are being raised over the DfE’s promise to provide 200,000 instruments costing £100 each.
Anthony Short, executive director of the Music Industries Association, said that while the organisation welcomed “any new investment”, he felt the cost assumption of around £100 per instrument felt “quite low”.
He said the association wanted to “work with the department” to make sure that the instruments provided were “not only inspirational for those children beginning their musical journey but are also fit for purpose and represent long-term value for the taxpayer”.
The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM), which represents music teachers, welcomed aspects of the plan but also raised concerns about funding.
ISM chief executive Deborah Annetts referred to the “huge financial pressures on music education in schools through underfunding”.
The DfE has been contacted for comment.
