A Letter to the new Minister of State for Education

On 18th July 2024 we wrote to Labour’s Minister of State for Education to offer our support as the Department for Education begins to assess what needs to be done to put education ‘at the heart of change and the forefront of national life’. You can read the letter below, along with a response received from the Minister on 30th July.

Dear Minister,

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, the Membership and staff team at the UK Association for Music Education – Music Mark, I would like to congratulate you on your appointment as Minister of State for Education.

Alongside the ISM and MTA, The UK Association for Music Education – Music Mark, represent music education organisations and individuals from across the UK who aspire to provide a high quality, diverse music education for all young people from early years to higher and further education. For us this includes the Music Hub Partnerships in England and the National Youth Music Organisations, alongside over 3,000 schools and individual music education practitioners across the country. In addition to this, we work in partnership across the sector with a wide range of stakeholders including the Music and Dance Scheme Schools and Centres for Advanced Training – all funded by the Department for Education.

As you will know, music is a core curriculum subject up to the end of Key Stage 3 and through sustained government funding additional opportunities beyond the classroom augment and complement that. As a subject it provides students with the opportunity to learn about something they love(1), but that can also provide them with the knowledge and skills for the future. That future might be in the music industry – which employs over 210,000 people and is worth £6.7bn to the UK economy(2), but may alternatively complement other studies through the many non-musical skills obtained through the study of music(3). Music can also be a significant resource in tackling the wellbeing challenges facing our young people and provide a life-long love and desire to engage in music and the wider creative arts.

As you and the rest of the ministerial team within the Department for Education begin to assess what needs to be done to put education ‘at the heart of change and the forefront of national life’, Music Mark and its broad membership are keen to help. Many of the areas you have outlined are at the heart of the work we are doing:

1.Teacher recruitment – the national shortage of teachers includes an above average shortage of those who can teach music. Partly due to recruitment but also because of poor retention. We have been working together on developing ways to support both trainee and qualified teachers for a number of years. This has included work as the subject associations on a web – #CanDoMusic – which was refreshed in the spring. However, the importance of the subject is still not universally understood despite our collective ongoing advocacy. We would therefore be keen to find out how we can support your work through the use of the portal as well as our wider collective and individual advocacy and training.

2. Curriculum reform – you will understand and appreciate that as a Music Subject Association we would want to promote and champion music as part of the curriculum. Sadly the previous government whilst supporting music education through a National Plan and a Model Curriculum, contradicted their commitment to the subject with a focus on STEM through school progress and attainment measures and the EBacc. Labour’s pre-election statements demonstrated that you are keen to review what is taught in schools – to enable all young people to achieve and thrive in the 21st century. We obviously represent the subject of Music, but would also wish to highlight the need for schools to support and provide access to all the creative subjects(4).

3. Assessment – music educators across England have welcomed a refreshed focus on the curriculum subjects by Ofsted in the past few years and Deep Dives into Music have demonstrated some good (and not so good) practice which is valuable to school leaders. However, it remains a significant concern that a school can be awarded a high assessment despite limited or no musical learning provision (curricular and extracurricular). This adds to the challenge of promoting the subject to head teachers and MAT leaders as a vital element within the school offer. As a Subject Association we would be happy to talk more about assessment and how best to challenge and support schools who need to do better at providing an offer which supports the talent pipeline and teaches young people skills for the 21st-century workplace.

As you begin work on these and the other areas of education development and reform we stand ready to work with you, providing further information, advice and access to the music education workforce, as well as making the resources of our organisation available to support the government in our mutually shared aims.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Bridget Whyte

1 https://youthmusic.org.uk/sound-of-the-next-generation-2024
2 https://www.ukmusic.org/research-reports/this-is-music-2023/
3 https://www.musicmark.org.uk/resources/the-power-of-music-an-exploration-of-the-evidence-2/
4 https://www.saveoursubjects.org/

Response from the Minister:

Dear Ms Whyte,

Thank you for your correspondence of 18 July, offering your congratulations on my recent appointment to the Department for Education. It is a great privilege to serve, and I will work hard to deliver our manifesto commitments.

I will work hard to ensure we break down all barriers to opportunity for every child and young person. This includes ensuring high and rising standards in education, so that everyone can enjoy the best start in life.

The ministerial team is now working with departmental officials on plans to deliver our manifesto commitments. We have already begun the process of resetting the way the department works in partnership with our workforces – including our brilliant teachers and school staff – to ensure there are no limits on the ambitions of young people in Britain.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

Yours,

Catherine McKinnell MP