The ‘why?’
I had already joined the MU Education Committee, attended Westminster briefings and Music Mark meetings, followed articles about music education in the press and written letters to papers. The public consensus seemed to be that music education was poor, with an implication or a declaration that it was the teachers’ fault. Worse, it was professional musicians who were making such pronouncements. (Two honourable exceptions were the singer-songwriter Rumer, who spoke about staff teaching in the portacabins at her high school, and composer Howard Goodall, who, on hearing how things had deteriorated, went on to discover, in a series of television programmes, how excellent teachers could be when they had the wherewithal – from accommodation to status.)
At one Westminster briefing a famous cellist told us that what schools needed were conservatoire teachers to come in and demonstrate good practice. Someone gave me a roving microphone – I opined otherwise. They were wrong on so many counts, which I listed. I got a massive round of applause but nothing changed; in fact, things got worse.
My first National Union of Teachers’ conference, in 2016, was the ‘lightbulb moment’: speakers making their case with ease and confidence and, by doing so, making a difference. I can’t pretend ego wasn’t part of it. I love playing with my steel bands, interacting with an audience, and I loved the idea of making a speech good enough to win hearts and minds. After two years as an observer, and with the NUT now the ‘National Education Union’ after merging with another union, I took the plunge. As an anti-SATS, anti-academies and anti-PFI campaigner, I made three supporting speeches, always working music education into these.
Was I making speeches for the cause or for myself? I had to put aside personal demons around ego and imposter syndrome, and get on with it. As an ex-schoolteacher turned peri, and as a music-specialist parent, I felt uniquely positioned to see things from so many angles.
The ‘when, and how?’
My current concern is with the parlous state of music education in our state system (music education being not at all parlous in the independent sector). For example, there are no dedicated music rooms in almost all our primary schools, and the value/place of music within the curriculum is in free-fall, along with budgets.
I needed to write a motion for the NEU conference and needed the backing of all subject teachers. Music and the arts are for everyone; they are part of our cultural entitlement. They are proven to develop the grey cells and improve academic performance, but they should also be studied as ‘subjects’ – arts for arts’ sake.
Victoria’s motion (‘The importance of the arts and music in education’) to the 2023 NEU Harrogate conference
You don’t have to play an instrument to a high standard, and in fact music might not be everyone’s choice of art. But all art-forms calm the nerves, bring pleasure, bring a spiritual dimension to life, and help us find our place in the world – to say nothing of future musicians, artists or actors needing informed audiences.
Confident I had the backing, I worked with officers from both the MU and NEU. In 2019 David Barnard from the MU came on a reccy to NEU Liverpool (where I was speaking against academies); then, after Covid, Chris Walters secured the MU a stand at NEU Bournemouth in 2022. Here, I tried to piggy-back a motion of having a broad and balanced curriculum, to big up the arts. When I was eventually called up, having deleted my speech because I thought the moment had passed, the hall was treated to a desperate, but ultimately successful, stand-up routine which I don’t recommend to anyone of a nervous disposition!
Also in 2022, from Leeds NEU, Helen Bellamy and Patrick Murphy embraced my proposed motion, taking every opportunity themselves to promote it more widely.
Having now successfully proposed a motion for the 2023 NEU conference in Harrogate, I think, in the end, it was the right motion in the right year. Post-Covid, children’s mental health is at an all-time low and school refusals are at an all-time high. A lack of arts in schools impacts the poorest most, or most in need or those with SEND. In my experience, Special Schools appreciate the arts more, but new-builds of all schools have woefully inadequate accommodation for music – the schools’ grand entrances belie the cupboards that pass for ‘music rooms’ hidden inside.
The MU and NEU work together as partner unions, offering a joint membership for those whose work encompasses classroom teaching alongside instrumental/vocal teaching, performing or music writing. Find out more at http://musiciansunion.org.uk/become-a-member/join
