A new Ofsted report into music teaching has highlighted the impact of a lack of specialist teaching in schools.
Its subject visits to schools found examples of secondaries where leaders had made the decision to temporarily remove music from their curriculum because of a shortage of specialist teachers.
And the study, published today, found more than two-thirds of primary schools it visited in the study used non-qualified specialist music teachers.
The report comes in the same month as the deadline for schools to have a revised or new “music development plan” in place that sets out how they will deliver last year’s national music education plan.
The report draws on findings from 25 primary and 25 secondary schools, with research visits carried out between December 2022 and June 2023.
Here are five findings from Ofsted’s subject review into music:
1. Two-thirds of primary schools are not using specialist music teachers
The report found that in more than two-thirds of the primary schools visited by the inspectorate, the curriculum was being delivered mainly by non-specialist teachers.
And Ofsted found that many primary teachers reportedly lacked the confidence and musical knowledge “to teach aspects of the curriculum well”.
In more than half of the schools visited by Ofsted, inspectors found teachers did not have enough subject knowledge to teach the curriculum well and the inspectorate found that half had no instrumental or vocal lessons.
Earlier this year, subject experts warned that a government plan to revive music education in schools would not become reality unless there was increased training and support for primary teachers.
2. Secondary leaders are removing music from the curriculum owing to teacher shortages
The report also found that in a few cases of the secondary schools visited, leaders had been forced to temporarily remove music from the curriculum because of a shortage of specialists.
The findings come after the Department for Education missed its target for secondary music teacher trainee entrants by over a third last year.
And it found that where non-specialists did deliver the curriculum, they were “rarely supported or given any training to deliver the music curriculum”.
Ofsted claimed that this meant that most non-specialists did not have enough subject knowledge to deliver the curriculum, provide ongoing feedback or model confidently to students.
3. The pandemic has left a mark on music provision
Many headteachers and music leaders told Ofsted that the pandemic had had a significant negative impact on the range of extracurricular activities on offer, with many still trying to re-establish this extracurricular provision.
And secondary teachers also reported a decrease in the number of Year 7 students who had learned an instrument while in primary school.
4. Inequalities from 10 years ago persist
Ofsted also highlighted in its report that some of the inequalities in provision found in the last subject report in 2012 remain.
The inspectorate claimed that it found that the divide between the opportunities for pupils whose families can afford to pay for music tuition and for those who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds was still present.
Many school leaders visited by Ofsted also reported that they had reduced the extent to which they were subsidising instrumental lessons over the past few years owing to pressures on school budgets.
5. A quarter of headteachers are ending links with music hubs
About a quarter of headteachers visited by Ofsted said that they had decided to end their links with their local music hub and “teach whole-class instrumental programmes in-house”.
Leaders mostly said this was due to “competing priorities in school budgets”.
A DfE spokesperson said that the national plan for music education makes clear that all state-funded schools are now expected to teach music to 5- to 14-year-olds for at least an hour a week each term.
