Time to follow HE trends? Critiquing the state of secondary music

The national curriculum is a concise 428-word document. This could be seen as both positive and negative, but ultimately gives curriculum leaders a level of autonomy in their curriculum decisions and design. There is a lot of room for interpretation, and the influence of teacher identity certainly plays a large part in the design, implementation and structure of each school's music curriculum. Here, I hope to highlight some of the key differences between Key Stage 3 and 4 and the disconnect between courses currently on offer in Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE).

The release of the Model Music Curriculum (MMC) in March 2021 set non-statutory guidelines for teachers to follow when making curriculum decisions. Chris Philpott (2022) reminds us that this document is heavily influenced by Western classical traditions with a focus on content rather than the nuances of what it means to construct a curriculum. To me, the MMC missed an opportunity for KS3 music curricula to be made relevant and readily accessible to many of our students, echoing the discourse that Gary Spruce identified when critiquing the original National Plan for Music Education (NPME) published in 2011.