The Music Workshop Company Blog 

Each month the Music Workshop Company publishes two blogs. One blog, written by the MWC team addresses a key issue in Music Education or gives information about a particular genre or period of music. The other blog is written by a guest writer, highlighting good practice or key events in Music Education. We hope you enjoy reading the blogs. 
 
To contribute as a guest writer please email Maria@music-workshop.co.uk 

Posts tagged “THREATS TO MUSIC EDUCATION”

In an extremely troubling move that will further sideline arts education in England, the Government has confirmed that it will be cutting the teaching grant (T-grant) for Higher Education arts by a devastating 50% this coming academic year.  
 
This is despite the results of the Government’s own consultation in which 95% respondents strongly disagreed with the cut, strong opposition across the creative industries and education, and a petition from the Public Campaign for the Arts which has generated more than 166,000 signatures. 
Last month our guest blog featured Sarah Evans, a secondary school teacher and professional cellist who shared her concerns about the lack of exposure to classical music for children aged 11 to 14. However, according to the ISM, the problem is only set to deepen as arts subjects become increasingly sidelined within schools. 
 
In December 2015, we shared the ISM’s campaign regarding concerns over the government’s promotion of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) and its negative impact on arts subjects in schools. It has now been over a year since the Bacc for the Future campaign launched, yet according to Mary Bousted, General Secretary, Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM), the thousands of individuals and organisations who responded to the consultation are still awaiting a response. 
The profile of classical music in schools is complex, with provision, inclusion and expectations differing wildly between primary and secondary age groups. Professional cellist and secondary school classroom teacher Sarah Evans describes her experiences of teacher attitudes, her frustration that classical music continues to be viewed as too challenging, and her determination to let her students make up their own minds. 
There has long been discussion about the structure of secondary education. Recently this has centred around the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), a school performance indicator linked to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). 
 
The EBacc is designed to measure the percentage of students in a school who achieve five or more A* to C grades in GCSE mathematics, sciences, foreign languages, history or geography. It is called a baccalaureate, but it is not like the French baccalauréat, which qualifies students for entry into universities and tertiary education. 
This month, we wanted to bring to your attention the Protect Music Education campaign, a drive launched in April by the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) to rebuild Government support for music education. 
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