Conclusions and recommendations

Ensuring schools-based music is delivered at a consistently high standard for all children and young people requires a renewed focus on innovation and partnership across the sector, with a rigorous, evidence-based approach to realising the power of music in children and young people’s lives. Major changes in how schools are funded and governed, and the establishment of Music Hubs, are creating new conditions for schools based music. There is room to improve those structures and systems, and to propose different ways to link elements of the musical ecosystem, but the music education framework in development now has much to recommend it, and rather unusually the sector itself did made a large contribution to its design via the Henley Review and the articulation of the NPME. The challenge now is to think radically about how to link together the many very strong elements of our music eco-system into the most effective dynamic whole.

There will always be a need for vigilance in protecting public, charitable and private investment in music. The arguments for sustained funding are well-developed but need constant refreshing and re-focusing in the light of changing government policy, social and cultural developments and the organisation of schools. More long-term investment would help significantly in specific parts of the picture; particularly around ITE and CPD for teachers, and to support more consistent partnership working.

However, at the time of writing, increased government funding looks unlikely in the life of this or the next administration. It is therefore the job of all partners and stakeholders in music education to take hold of the available resources currently at our disposal and use them more creatively, more ambitiously and more strategically to achieve our collective vision. Improving quality of provision and inspiring more Governing Bodies and Senior Leadership Teams to place a high value on music requires changed attitudes and behaviours from across our sector, and a concerted leap of faith into a radically evolved shared approach to quality, standards, inclusion, progression, partnership and the place of music in children and young people’s lives.

There are five high-order conclusions to be drawn from the findings in this review:

The great opportunity now presenting itself is to thread together the new National Curriculum and the NPME. An outcomes-based approach would enable schools to plan routes through musical learning and creative development taking account of all that should be available through the mixed provision advocated in the NPME. This would require radical, innovative thinking about curriculum and timetable planning, delivery strategies, quality assurance and assessment; and would yield immeasurable benefits in terms of quality, reach and range, with more partners sharing responsibility for ensuring that the entitlement is delivered for all children at the right standard. 

Against this background, all stakeholders in the music eco-system need to work together to improve the quality of provision and to disseminate best and next practice. There are strong examples across the country of teaching and leadership practice that is inclusive, differentiated, innovative and creative; supported by the right resources, and underpinned by up to date research and evidence. This must become the norm, not the exception.

The sector itself must lead this drive to consistent quality and integration in order for it to be sustainable – top-down initiatives have hadvalue in catalysing innovation and challenging structures, but the ongoing quality and impact of music learning experiences are the direct responsibility of the practitioners and partnerships facilitating and supporting that learning. There needs to be a sector-led, distributed leadership approach to the next phase of improvement. 

Current models for music teacher education and post-qualification CPD need to thoroughly reviewed and improved to match the complex and wide ranging musical needs of children, young people, schools and communities in the 21st century. Professional training for music education should be located in best practices, research and evidence; and employment should include support for a mandatory individual requirement to maintain professional standards through CPD.

Governing Bodies and Senior Leadership Teams need to be inspired and supported to understand and demand high-quality music education – at the heart of school life – so that all partners can then work together to provide it. Without a shift in viewpoint at this level it will be impossible to drive systemic change and improvement.

The recommendations that follow are designed to speak to these five points.

Recommendations for Paul Hamlyn Foundation

The respect for PHF across the sector has been notable in the individual responses to this review. Colleagues from a wide variety of different perspectives see PHF’s sustained commitment to music education – specifically through Musical Futures and to a lesser extent Musical Bridges – as having played an important role in helping to catalyse and sustain important debates about music education philosophies and practices at KS3 in particular. There has been a widespread view expressed that PHF is seen as an honest broker, without a vested interest in any particular faction within the music education community, and this neutrality is very much respected. The recommendations that follow for PHF¹ are designed to capitalise on this position, using it to help stimulate, articulate and disseminate best practice and innovation in order to improve quality, range and reach of provision.

one

Establish a Music Education Innovation Fund in partnership with other charitable funders – e.g. Youth Music, Esmée Fairbairn – designed to stimulate and reward teacher-led innovation in schools-based music practice and its dissemination, supported by research and evidence.

Two

1. Convene and resource a time-limited Expert Commission with representation from different strands of the sector to –
2. Produce clear, comprehensive guidance to assist teachers and music leaders in making choices about curriculum and pedagogy within both the National Curriculum and the wider NPME, linked to an overarching guide to the purposes and benefits of sustained, high quality
   music education;
3. Produce a clear, comprehensive, simple guidance document for schools on how to engage with and draw benefit from the NPME for their students, including how the new National Curriculum and the NPME can be threaded together into a whole via an outcomes-based
   framework, integrating within- and beyond-the-classroom opportunities.
4. Produce clear, comprehensive guidance on effective approaches for understanding and supporting music retention and progression, to be disseminated widely to all schools via teacher education providers and schools, and reinforced by Hubs and the Department for Education;
5. Take forward existing work on best practice in music leadership CPD and produce a curriculum and delivery proposition for an accredited postgraduate level CPD module in Facilitating Music Learning;
6. Develop and test sustainable peer-networking models for music teachers/leaders for dissemination of best practice, peer challenge and support for innovation.
7. Bring together examples of best practice and innovation in use of digital and mobile technologies and disseminate widely with suggestions for local adoption.
8. Produce an online information/supported training programme for Senior Leadership Teams and Governing Bodies, underpinned by the NPME and the National Curriculum, to help them to realise the untapped potential of music to improve the life chances of their pupils, raise standards and improve culture in their schools, and understand what good music teaching and learning look like.

Three

Invest in Musical Futures to make the transition to becoming an independent social enterprise. MF philosophy and practice is valued by many schools and teachers, and has an important place in the future development of music teaching and learning.

Recommendations for the music education sector

1. There is a pressing need for significant changes to music ITE strategies and provision, at both primary and secondary level, to address the serious issues of framework, resourcing and infrastructure that are undermining what can be achieved. This should become a clear focus for pan-sector lobbying and strategic development activity.
2. A consortium of Higher Education and other partners should seek research funding to establish a dynamic Research Observatory strategy bringing together national and international research on music education for senior leaders, teachers, music leaders and students to enable understanding of benefits and best/next practice50.
3. The NPME is clear and comprehensive. It should be used across the sector to support and audit statutory National Curriculum provision as well as music beyond the classroom – in its requirements, processes and outcomes. All providers should use it pro-actively to drive planning at the local level, and examples of innovation and best practice in achieving this should be systematically disseminated and discussed.
4. Funding for music education should be aligned to reflect this integrated approach, with expected outcomes and standards articulated and monitored consistently across all funders – public, charitable and private.
5. Ofsted general inspections should look at more classroom music, and music inspections should use the NPME as the reference point for underpinning observations and judgements about music at whole school level.
6. Decision makers need to listen more to young people in a structured, systematic and respectful way. Active consultation at school, Hub and national level on the development and implementation of the NPME and the National Curriculum should include significant representation from young people – both those actively engaged in music-making and those who are not.
7. The next round of Hub investment should include clearer requirements of prospective Hubs in respect of needs-based planning, partnership engagement, their offer to schools, local coordination and the implementation and monitoring of high quality standards, related to the outcomes based approach advocated above.
8. An appropriate, mandatory Music Education Leadership qualification should be developed for all Hub leaders and their senior staff, managed via the National College of School Leadership.
9. Music Hubs should work closely with Bridge Organisations to embed support for Artsmark and Arts Award into their planning and delivery with schools and young people, with focus on using those tools to increase both engagement and progression.
10. Use of mobile and other digital technologies needs to be embedded in music classrooms across the country, building on the pioneering work being done at a local level. Stronger connections should be made for young people between in school and out of school music-making using technology. This should be achievable through focused partnership working between schools, Music Hubs
    and young people themselves.
11. A single annual professional development conference and year-round reflective network should be supported by all the separate membership bodies, with a planning group made up of national leading specialists and researchers, and those membership organisations should work together to drive year-round engagement with online platforms for debate and innovation.
12. All stakeholders should support a time-limited Expert Commission to produce advice and guidance geared to improvement and innovation, aimed at schools, Music Hubs, cultural partners and independent providers.