Triple first for East Midlands and music education

Teachers from Derbyshire and Nottingham City are the first in the country to gain a prestigious new qualification for music teachers.

The Music Education Hubs of the East Midlands (MEHEM) are the local centre for the Certificate for Music Educators (CME) course and have beaten off competition from around the country to produce the first three graduates for this exciting new qualification.

The Certificate for Music Educators (CME) has been created in response to recommendations in the national review of music education carried out by Darren Henley, currently CEO Arts Council England, with the intention of creating a new ‘in-service’ professional development route for the large numbers of music teachers in the country with no music education training.

Chris Walters, Head of Music Qualifications at Trinity College London, who validate the CME nationally, is “delighted with how the East Midlands CME programme is developing…congratulations to the first three learners to complete this qualification. We’re looking forward to seeing many more music educators in the region benefit from it in the future.”

Vicki Brown from Derbyshire Music Hub, lead assessor for the MEHEM consortium, feels “It has been a thoroughly rewarding experience for senior staff from across the music education hubs to design and implement this exciting new course, and it has been gratifying to see the impact it has had on the first cohort of learners, and especially how they have become much more reflective in their own practice.’

Lucy Kerslake, one of the first three to complete the qualification, has recently gained a regular post with Nottingham Music Service: “Gaining the CME gave me a boost with my musical teaching career; it provided me with the skills and understanding necessary to be a more confident practitioner in the classroom.  I am much more positive about applying for musical teaching roles with the experiences I had through my CME course”.

Melanie Marubbi from Derbyshire, another of the first three, is also clear about the impact of the course: “I have just agreed to work in a special school for the first time.  This time last year I wouldn’t have felt able to accept”

The CME is for anybody working in the field of music education and is designed to complement and work alongside learners’ regular work. It consists of a mixture of face to face courses, mentor support, coursework and assessment on the ground, and covers areas such as planning and leading musical learning, behaviour management, equality, diversity & inclusion and safeguarding.

Ian Burton, CEO of Nottingham Music Hub and chair of the local CME board, thinks that “Many of those working in the music education sector do not have any formal teacher training, and the CME fills an important gap by providing an in-service route to help develop skills, knowledge and understanding of the complexity of music education. We have seen the growing confidence and skills of our CME cohort in Nottingham, and will be looking for all new staff without a formal music education qualification to gain this new Certificate”.

The East Midlands course is full for this current year, but those interested to start next September should see www.mehem.org/cme/ or contact Trinity College London for a list of other centres offering the course.