Curriculum and assessment reform Prior to the pandemic there was an increasing awareness of the detrimental effects of policy on the creative curriculum and calls for exams and accountability measures to be reformed. Reports such as those by Edge Foundation45, the CBI46 and Durham Commission47 highlighted the impact of a narrow, arts-poor curriculum on the wider skills that employers look for, such as creativity, resilience, communication and problemsolving. As Edge Foundation stated in their 2016 report 14-19 Education: A New Baccalaureate, ‘the current structure of the curriculum through the EBacc and Progress 8 effectively tries to address the problem of Twenty-First Century skills using a late Nineteenth-Century approach to education.’48
Calls for reform also came from within government with Robert Halfon MP, the Chair of the Education Select Committee, and the One Nation Caucus of Conservative MPs suggesting that GCSEs could be scrapped and replaced by a holistic baccalaureate at age 18. The latter also called for a review of KS2 tests. More recently, reports from PEC49, EPI50 and the Times Education Commission51 have raised the issue of narrow academic programmes of study, accountability measures and how these affect employability skills. Proposals for exam and assessment reform have also been put forward by educational coalitions such as Rethinking Assessment and New Era Assessment, who recognize that the current system is not working for either young people or employers.
Footnotes 1 Hallam, S. and Himonides, E. (2021) The Power of Music: an exploration of the evidence OSF. Preprint https://osf.io/p9yva/ 2 CBI (2019) Getting young people ‘work ready’ https://www.cbi.org.uk/ media/2960/cbi_work-readiness.pdf 3 Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (2021) DCMS Economic Estimates 2019 (provisional): Gross Value Added https://www.gov.uk/ government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-valueadded/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-provisional-gross-value-added 4 Daubney, A., Spruce, G., Annetts, D (2019) Music Education: State of the Nation. London, UK: All-Party Parliamentary Group for Music Education, University of Sussex, ISM https://www.ism.org/images/images/Stateof-the-Nation-Music-Education-WEB.pdf 5 Farquharson, C., Sibieta, L., Tahir, I. and Waltmann, B. (2020) 2021 annual report on education spending in England https://ifs.org.uk/ publications/15858 6 Child Poverty Action Group (2022) The cost of the school day in England: pupils’ perspectives https://cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/ policypost/The_Cost_of_the_School_Day_in_England_Pupils_ Perspectives_0.pdf 7 Department for Education (2020) Music education: call for evidence https://www.gov.uk/Government/consultations/music-education-callfor-evidence 8 Department for Education (2021) Music education – Report on the call for evidence conducted February – March 2020 https://assets.publishing. service.gov.uk/Government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ data/file/1006059/Report_on_the_call_for_evidence_on_music_ education.pdf 9 Department for Education and Gibb, N. (2020) New National Plan to shape the future of music education https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ new-national-plan-to-shape-the-future-of-music-education 10 Department for Education (2020) Music education: call for evidence https://www.gov.uk/Government/consultations/music-education-callfor-evidence 11 Department for Education (2021) Music education – Report on the call for evidence conducted February – March 2020 https://assets.publishing. service.gov.uk/Government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ data/file/1006059/Report_on_the_call_for_evidence_on_music_ education.pdf 12 Ibid 13 Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 77-101. 14 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee (2019) Changing Lives: the social impact of participation in culture and sport: Government Response to the Committee’s Eleventh Report https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ cm201719/cmselect/cmcumeds/2597/259702.htm
22
Music: A subject in peril? 10 years on from the first National Plan for Music Education
MARCH 2022
15 http://www.musicmanifesto.co.uk/ 16 https://www.singup.org/about-us 17 Department for Education and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2011) Music Education in England: a review by Darren Henley for the Department for Education and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/music-educationin-england-a-review-by-darren-henley-for-the-department-foreducation-and-the-department-for-culture-media-and-sport 18 ibid 19 Department for Education (2011) The importance of music: a national plan for music education https://www.gov.uk/Government/publications/theimportance-of-music-a-national-plan-for-music-education 20 Department for Education (2021) Model Music Curriculum: Key Stages 1 to 3 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/Government/uploads/system/ uploads/attachment_data/file/974366/Model_Music_Curriculum_Full. pdf 21 Farquharson, C., Sibieta, L., Tahir, I. and Waltmann, B. (2020) 2021 annual report on education spending in England https://ifs.org.uk/ publications/15858 22 Fautley, M. and Whittaker, A. (2018) Key Data on Music Education Hubs 2018 https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/ Music%20Education%20Hubs%2C%20Key%20Data%20-%202018.pdf 23 Child Poverty Action Group (2022) The cost of the school day in England: pupils’ perspectives https://cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/ policypost/The_Cost_of_the_School_Day_in_England_Pupils_ Perspectives_0.pdf 24 ISM (2018) Consultation on the future of music education https://www. ism.org/images/images/Future-of-Music-Education-ISM-reportDecember-2018.pdf 25 Ofsted (2002) The Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools 2000/01 https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ ukgwa/20091016100033/http://www.archive2.official-documents. co.uk/document/deps/ofsted/hc500/352-03.htm 26 Ibid 27 Ofsted (2018) An investigation into how to assess the quality of education through curriculum intent, implementation and impact https://assets. publishing.service.gov.uk/Government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/936097/Curriculum_research_How_to_assess_ intent_and_implementation_of_curriculum_191218.pdf 28 Ibid 29 Daubney, A. and Mackrill, D. (2018) Mapping music education in English secondary schools 2016-2018 https://www.sussex.ac.uk/ webteam/gateway/file.php?name=changes-in-secondary-musiccurriculumprovision-2016-18-november2018.pdf&site=319
23
