Today, the Department for Education has announced £79million of
funding for music education hubs across England for 2020-21.
The funding announcement comes after the ISM and Music Mark, the
two subject associations for music, wrote jointly to , the Secretary of State
for Education, calling for confirmation of the Government’s
ongoing investment in music education hubs and for that funding
to be sustained at the level of £100m per annum for at least five
years.
Music education hubs were set up in 2012 as part of the National
Plan for Music Education, and they built on the work of local
authority music services. Music education hubs bring
organisations together to deliver a range of music activities in
schools and in other settings.
The National Plan for Music runs until 31 March 2020 and its
timeline for review has yet to be announced.
Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive of the Incorporated Society of
Musicians said:
‘The ISM welcomes the Government’s long-awaited announcement of
approximately £79million funding for music education hubs, an
increase of about 5%. Music education hubs form an integral part
of music education in our primary and secondary schools, and the
work of teachers within hubs is incredibly valuable. We are
delighted that the Government has increased the level of hub
funding which will enable hubs to cover the increases in employer
contributions into the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and the increase
in employed teachers’ salaries, which have come into force.
There is no doubt the Government is committed to music education.
Therefore as a matter of urgency we call on government to reform
the EBacc which continues to have a detrimental impact on music
and the other creative subjects in our schools. There is a huge
amount of research, not least the APPG for Music Education’s
State of the Nation report shows that music is no longer taught
at Key Stage 3 in more than 50% of state-funded secondary
schools. In other schools it has disappeared altogether.
We therefore urge the Government to add a creative subject to the
EBacc, in line with the recommendations from both the Durham
Commission and the CBI in the last few weeks.'
About Music Education Hubs
Music education hubs were set up in 2012 as part of the National
Plan for Music Education, and they built on the work of local
authority music services. Music education hubs comprise groups of
organisations – such as local authority music services, schools,
other music education hubs, arts organisations, community and
voluntary organisations.
Music education hubs were designed to augment and support music
teaching in schools (a guaranteed statutory requirement to the
end of Key Stage 3) so that more children could experience a
combination of classroom teaching, instrumental and vocal tuition
and input from professional musicians, as set out by the Plan.
The structure of the various organisations also meant that music
education hubs would be able to deliver a music offer that drew
on a wide range of expertise. The Plan stated that the Hubs in
‘every area will help drive the quality of service locally, with
scope for improved partnership working, better value for money,
local innovation and greater accountability’.
Music education hubs were also promoted as having an important
role in ‘first access’ to music through continuing to develop the
whole-class instrumental and vocal programme for a minimum of a
term in primary schools, as well as providing broader
opportunities and progression routes inside and outside the
classroom. The idea was that class teachers and specialist
instrumental teachers working together could maximise
opportunities for musical progression and provide for different
needs and aspirations of pupils beyond the music curriculum.
