Over 20 years ago, I started my career working as a primary music specialist and became acutely aware of the challenges of teaching music within the primary phase. Fast-forward to today, when supporting primary colleagues as a secondary director of music, I see first-hand that the challenges are even greater. Staffing, curriculum time, the demands of SATs, and subject knowledge gaps facing subject non-specialists are ever-prominent issues.
Teaching the whole breadth of the national curriculum from EYFS to KS2 is a major challenge, particularly for a single class-teacher. Pressure of time in the school day, lack of resources, the challenge of accessing wider musical opportunities and, most important, the lack of subject-specific expertise can create obstacles that prevent the consistent delivery of high-quality music lessons.
It’s very rare to find a music leader who is also a musician; this can leave subject leads, who may change frequently, struggling to plan and deliver music.
A primary headteacher’s reflections
Being required to know, understand, and teach the required knowledge and skills for 13 subjects can be overwhelming for class teachers. The National Curriculum 2014 states as one of its main aims:
'The national curriculum provides an outline of core knowledge around which teachers can develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school curriculum.' (p.6, 3.2)
Furthermore, in relation to music:
'A high-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talents as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.' (p.196)
These ambitious aims stated in the statutory guidance place high expectations on teachers and leaders to deliver across specialist areas, which can overwhelm staff and lead to a reduction in time, challenging the position of the subject within the timetable. Music, which should be a source of expression and life within the curriculum, is often unimaginative and can be missing from the curriculum offer altogether.
Secondary experience
As a director of music in a state secondary school, I see the impact of children entering KS3 with a range of music experience – sometimes very limited – from multiple feeder schools.
This can lead to numerous challenges for creating a uniform baseline in Year 7. Often the default approach is to reach for the lowest common denominator, starting with very low musical understanding for all. But the missed opportunities to access music education and instrumental tuition at primary level have a bigger impact when considering the take-up for GCSE and A Level music.
Partnerships
We need relationships and trust between both phases of education to turn these potential challenges into areas of opportunity to build effective, lasting progression through all stages of music education.
This means trust between senior leaders, when establishing models of music provision; trust between teachers, when modelling and supporting high-quality music lessons; and trust between pupils, with mentoring and aspiration at the heart of ‘what we do here’.
To build sustainable progression from primary to secondary requires facilitated strategic intent and support, which in turn requires leadership at all levels to hear, catch, and drive the vision.
Charnwood College
At the start of the last academic year, I took on a secondary school music department in Loughborough. The area is densely populated with primary schools, at times a little too far out of the city for children to access music hub provision.
I worked hard to build partnerships with local charities whose aim is to create opportunities for students from under-resourced backgrounds. As a result of these partnerships, 32 pupils across the primary and secondary sectors now benefit from funded brass lessons and the long-term loan of instruments, free of charge. Engaging the charities by inviting them to hold their meetings in schools, to see first-hand the impact of their project, also enabled school leaders to meet trustees and catch the collective vision.
The project, now running in one of our feeder primary schools, is being delivered by the same brass teacher who teaches at the secondary school. It allows for a smooth transition between phases and therefore improved progression. It has enabled a conversation between myself and primary headteachers about the benefits of instrumental tuition, and prompted discussion around the need for parental engagement and performance opportunities to motivate pupils. We’ve also discussed the structures needed within schools to support students learning, such as releasing them from curriculum time.
Bringing one charity, the headteachers, staff and parents together to celebrate the progress of these students has had the biggest impact. Students from my school have had the opportunity to mentor new, younger musicians; the charity has been able to see, at first hand, the impact of putting an instrument in the hands of students who may not have had the opportunity; and headteachers have seen the impact and joy of public performances and the engagement of students in lessons.
Combined performances
Strengthening relationships across phases to facilitate progression can happen when primary and secondary schools combine to perform together. Having a music specialist at secondary level who can be released to support a teacher’s subject knowledge at primary level has created an opportunity to establish primary choirs, where pupils have the opportunity to experience live music and be accompanied by pianists and other instrumentalists, rather than backing-tracks. This has helped to realise the aims expressed in the National Curriculum, that uses words like ‘inspired’, ‘stimulated’, ‘excited’ and ‘high-quality’. Feedback from the wider community has echoed this, with comments such as ‘The whole evening was fantastic … it gave me goose pimples’; and ‘We loved how motivated and enthused children (and staff) were in the concert. Hopefully, this will keep building their confidence in, and the enjoyment of, music.’
On seeing the relationships of trust between students during rehearsals and performances, our leaders, pupils and community were keen to celebrate the progression across phases in a Christmas carol concert. Now, three primary schools and one secondary joined together to perform to a sell-out audience.
Finally, sustaining this progression over the years requires the whole school to ‘buy in’, and staff beyond the music department to be actively engaged. Running a staff choir, with staff and volunteers from across both phases, ensures that they experience first hand the impact of progression in the understanding of music from EYFS to KS5 and beyond. Weekly rehearsals have seen our staff choir tackle difficult and demanding repertoire that has prompted the incidental learning of notation, score reading, pitching, and listening. Staff have experienced and worked to overcome the same barriers as students when singing in a choir for the first time. Sustaining this is only achieved by gaining strategic support: having staff at all levels – senior leaders through to support staff, trustees, governors and volunteers – enables them to see and own the culture and importance of music in schools. Raised aspiration and realising that a music curriculum is open to all, regardless of background or previous diverse experiences, is first experienced by staff and then translated into classroom practice.
Pupils developing a ‘love of music and their talent as musicians’ (National Curriculum, p.196) is only achieved with strategic design, support and implementation. Through proactive focus on building strong relationships of trust between the primary and secondary phase, opportunities for progression are limitless. I have seen pupils progress beyond KS5 into the wider world of TV, film, performance, orchestras, recording, and more, thanks to a strong, progressive curriculum. A particular highlight has seen ex-students return and collaborate as ECTs to inspire future generations.
